ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a selective review of the relevant literature, focusing upon major factors in language difficulties and setting these in the appropriate context. All the language materials have been used successfully in multiracial schools and it is anticipated that the chapter offers some guidance to those teachers who find themselves in this situation for the first time and are unaware of available support. The chapter concentrates upon West Indian and Asian pupils since these represent the two largest minority ethnic groups in Britain and serve best to illustrate the kinds of difficulties that can arise in the classroom. The materials have been designed to help children develop skills which underlie success with language. In 1967 the Schools Council Project for teaching English to West Indian children was established at Birmingham University to investigate and produce materials to remedy the particular language difficulties experienced by these children.