Have been reading this discussion with great interest. Like Isabel, I
too feel that your well argued discussion must be published in a major
newspaper James.

It is so disappointing to have elected government representatives
contradict what the government seems to say and sometimes do.

Naeema 

-----Original Message-----
From: ESOL-Research discussion forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Simpson
Sent: 11 June 2007 23:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Ruth Kelly, translation and learning English

Hello all

The Translation issue has reared its head again on the BBC. And again a
minor matter seems to be drawing attention away from the main concern. 

The government's communities secretary Ruth Kelly laid into translation
services on the BBC Politics Show yesterday. Having information
translated into English, says Kelly, means that people have no reason to
learn English. She is quoted on the BBC website as saying: "So, for
example, it's quite possible for someone to come here from Pakistan and
elsewhere in the world and to find that materials are routinely
translated into their mother tongue and therefore not have the incentive
to learn English." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6738603.stm
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6738603.stm> 

Following this argument, Kelly seems to be making two contentions: (a)
that translation services are pointless and redundant; and (b) migrants
to the UK are not motivated to learn English because everything they
need is done for them in translation. On the first point, and given
Kelly's concern with 'integration', surely there should be more, not
less, translation of important information for new arrivals to help them
integrate? But the matter of translation is - in my view - a red
herring. The second point raises a far deeper issue. 

A government minister is yet again commenting on people's lack of
English and a perception that they are unwilling to learn (this time
because material they need is already translated). But the connection
between the availability of information on housing, health etc in
peoples' expert languages and their incentives - motivation would be a
better word - to learn English is a very tenuous one. Where exactly is
the evidence that people don't want to learn English because translation
services exist? Has any migrant to the UK ever said that they are not
motivated to learn English because someone has already translated
everything they need into their own language? I'd guess not. The main
problem for migrants when they are trying to learn English is surely the
lack of freely available, good quality ESOL lessons.  Migrants to the UK
are crying out for English classes: most ESOL providers have long
waiting lists, and provision doesn't come close to meeting demand.
Blaming the over-use of translation services for a perceived lack of
willingness to learn English deflects attention away from this.

Yet Ruth Kelly acknowledges the importance of learning English, as this
quote from the same BBC report suggests: "Ms Kelly said evidence
suggested that if someone did not try to learn English in their first
six months in the UK, they were unlikely ever to learn the language." I
can't imagine where Kelly got this information. But even so, the missing
link in this argument is provision of ESOL. To try to learn a language,
most people need lessons. The irony of Kelly's comment will not be lost
on those involved in the Save ESOL campaign. Many groups are not
entitled to free ESOL lessons until they have been in the country for a
certain amount of time, regardless of waiting lists. For example,
someone coming to join their husband or wife is not allowed to enrol
onto an ESOL class until they have been in the UK for a year. And asylum
seekers are not entitled to English lessons until they have been in the
country for six months. By this time they will be unlikely ever to learn
the language, according to Kelly. It's a good job for them she is wrong,
I suppose.  

Ruth Kelly is a member of a government which seems happy to restrict
provision for ESOL, while explicitly and insistently recognising its
importance in community building. Back in August last year, at the
launch of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, she described one
of the aims of the Commission being to 'encourage local authorities and
community organization to play a greater role in ensuring new migrants
better integrate into our communities and fill labour market shortages.'
She gave as an example of such an enterprise: 'increasing the
availability of English teaching'.
www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1502280
<http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1502280> 

The government has plenty of research evidence on which to base a
judgement about the importance of ESOL provision. A research project I
was involved in, the NRDC ESOL Effective Practice Project, stressed in
its findings the importance of English language classes for new
arrivals, and recommended that these classes should be available as soon
as people arrive in the country. The same project also pointed out what
many will know anyway: that current ESOL students are hungry for more
provision. And this was research instigated to inform the Skills for
Life policy. But it just doesn't square with the current government
position on ESOL provision. 

As for migrants themselves, they are acutely aware of the importance of
learning English, and to suggest otherwise is risible. Here is a quote
from an ESOL student in Huddersfield, which I've taken from an excellent
short film produced last month by students and tutors at Huddersfield
Technical College: "English classes are very important for asylum
seekers and refugees because it's like water and you can't live without
water and you can't live without English language in this country." 

It is paradoxical indeed  that migrants to the UK are castigated by
government ministers for not learning English, when the very same
government instigates policies which deny potential learners access to
freely available English lessons. This should be the focus of debate,
not the presence or absence of translation services. 

James

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ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
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