Language Socialisation:: A Case Study of 7-Year-Old English Additional Language Pupils in an English Primary School

Learning a language appears to be closely linked to learning the way of life of a people as cultural features are intricately embedded in languages that people speak. Language socialisation is tantamount to culture socialisation and people learning a new language evidently acquire a world view related to the latter. In educational settings, there has been a resolute intent on the part of states to impact on the teaching of language. Such attitude has influenced language policy in England where English, and moreover Standard English has been upheld as the language of the dominant cultural group. Though policy documents state their option for diversity education and underline the need for language provision for pupils learning English as an additional language in schools, interpretation and implementation of policy appears to be dependent on individual schools. This study investigated language socialisation of Year 3 EAL pupils in an English primary school and explored their experience of language use in a monolingual language socialisation and learning context with a view to understanding their perception of learning and their experience of schooling.