![]() ![]() Our focus is the monolingual approach to the education of a Russian-speaking migrant pupil in Key Stage Two (primary-level schooling in England and Wales between 7 and 11 years old). We do so with reference to our research with linguistic minority pupils in England, described in policy as having ‘English as an Additional Language’ (EAL). ![]() In this article, we explore the tension between linguistic diversity – a feature of life in England’s schools (Leung 2002) – and an ideology of monolingualism in education (Blackledge 2001). Our contribution therefore builds on work in critical migrant language education, to identify the importance of enabling the presence of the L1 in learning for migrant pupils. Through an analysis of the participants’ stancetaking, we show how the pupil’s voice is inaudible in her struggle against a monolingual attitude towards her bilingualism and multicompetence. The focal data derive from participant-observation fieldnotes, visual artefacts and interviews with the child, her mother, and a class teacher over a 7-month period. The analysis and discussion explicate the prohibition of the first or home language (Russian) in the school, and reveal how denying a seven-year-old migrant child permission to use her L1 is detrimental to her learning experience and her well-being. The work is based on a longitudinal case study of one Russian-speaking migrant pupil and her schooled experience. This paper investigates a monolingual approach to the teaching of linguistic minority pupils in an English primary school at Key Stage Two (7–11 years old).
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