Diversity in intensive English language centres in South Australia: sociocultural approaches to education for students with migrant or refugee backgrounds

ABSTRACT

While there is a body of research concerning the education of students with migrant or refugee backgrounds, little of this research focuses on primary school-aged children. In order to address this gap, the current paper utilises data gained from an ethnographic study to consider the challenges and opportunities associated with diverse classrooms designed for students learning English, in which students come from a complex range of backgrounds and may have experienced trauma. The paper provides support for sociocultural learning approaches, whereby students’ own cultural and linguistic background are treated as beneficial to education rather than as obstacles to be overcome.

Keywords:

• Refugees
• migrants
• diversity (student)
• education
• English (additional language)
• sociocultural theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Clemence Due is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research interests include refugee and migrant studies, and child mental health.

Damien W. Riggs is an Associate Professor in social work at Flinders University, Australia, and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. His research interests include gender and sexuality, families, and mental health. He is the author (with Elizabeth Peel) of Critical Kinship Studies: An Introduction to the Field (Palgrave, 2016).

Martha Augoustinos is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide. Her research interests include a focus on race, discrimination and prejudice.

ORCID

Damien W. Riggs http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0961-9099

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [grant number DP110100732].