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How Immigrant EAL Students Are Racialized by Linguistic Discrimination in the Canadian Education System

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How Immigrant EAL Students Are Racialized by Linguistic Discrimination in the Canadian Education System

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EDFT 301
Amanda Tischler
March 27th, 2022
Professor Carmen Gillies

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Linguicism: a term used to describe linguistic discrimination  (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1988, as cited in Matson, 2019).

Linguistic Discrimination:  “ideologies and structures which are used to legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and non-material) between groups which are defined on the basis of language” ( Skutnabb-Kangas, 1988, as cited in Matson, 2019), and "works similarly to other forms of discrimination such as racism, ethnicism or sexism, and promotes and maintains inequalities between groups" (Matson, 2019).

Linguistic Segregation:  “an intentional attitude of linguistic exclusion inside the classroom…[where] students created an unequal distribution among themselves based on their linguistic proficiency” (Rojas, 2016 as cited by Matson, 2019).

Racialization: "is the very complex and contradictory process through which groups come to be designated as being part of a particular "race" and on that basis subjected to differential and/or unequal treatment" (Calgary Anti-Racism Education).

Language Ideology: "a bias toward an abstracted, idealized, homogeneous spoken language which is imposed from above, and which takes as its model the written language" (Green, 1994, as cited by Matson, 2019).

Institutional Linguicism: The suppression of many languages to support the growth of one; "when educational resources and efforts are all placed into the learning of a majority language, such as English, the educational system as a whole reflects institutional linguicism" (Matson, 2019).

Ethnocentrism: is "the belief that one's own ethnic group is different yet sometimes superior to other ethnic groups" (UBC Wikki, Linguistic Discrimination Against Immigrants In Canada).

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In recent years, Canadian schools have placed a larger emphasis on the inclusion of immigrant EAL students; however, these students continue to face racialization within the education system. Discourse surrounding EAL students can be ratified by school staff and other students who facilitate false narratives or stereotypes that result in the racialization of EAL students. Instructors also implement practices into their classrooms that actively work against EAL students by isolating them from their peers, facilitating linguistic discrimination, and/or racializing their primary language. As a result of these practices, immigrant EAL students encounter a stronger sense of anxiety within the classroom and have an overall poorer experience than their peers. Schools have begun to implement practices that prevent the racialization of their EAL students, with one of the most important methods being the anti-racist education of teachers. Immigrant EAL students are racialized through linguistic discrimination in the Canadian education system by preconceived, racist Western ideologies; the solution: anti-racist education of teachers and students.

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Languages Spoken By Immigrant Students at Home 

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Languages Spoken By Immigrant Students at Home 

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Linguistic Discrimination and racialization affect a growing amount of students in the education system. "In 2016 it was reported by Statistics Canada, that 2.2 million children under the age of 15 were first-generation immigrants... This population could represent between 39.3% and 49.1% of the entire population of children aged 15 and under living in Canada in 2036" (UBC Wikki).
"In families composed of two foreign‑born parents with the same immigrant mother tongue, the use of an immigrant language along with an official language is considerable among parents (64.0%) as well as their children (53.2%). A constant remains, however: a higher proportion of children than parents spoke only English or French. Among these children, 24.4% spoke only one official language at home, a percentage 10 times higher than their parents (2.5%). Conversely, 22.3% of these children spoke only a non‑official language at home, compared with 33.5% of their parents" (Stats Canada).

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Discourse in Schools that Promotes Linguistic Discrimination Against Immigrant EAL Students

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Discourse in Schools that Promotes Linguistic Discrimination Against Immigrant EAL Students

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In Kamil Trzebiatowski's article, they mention in EAL programs, many instructors continue to support the discourse that students should only speak English in their class.  Trzebiatowski says "the myth that EAL learners should only ever speak English and never their own language appears to still be persistent with many mainstream teachers despite bilingualism research indicating the precise opposite" (2018). This discourse encourages linguistic discrimination to occur in the classroom by encouraging teachers to implement practices that would prevent students from speaking their primary language. It also supports the language ideology that students' primary languages are unnecessary and the only tool they need to understand English, is English. Adair builds on this concept when discussing the devaluation of childrens' home languages through staff discourse. She claims that "debates over the literacy skills of children of immigrants are 'imbued with discourses of difference and deficit views that undergird interventions for students 'at risk'" (2015). She explains that these ideologies push the narrative that immigrant EAL students need "fixing".

Students are also exposed to negative discourse from white, Canadian students who may make racist comments or ask why they or their "parents don't speak Engish" (Adair, 2015). Through these interactions with their peers, EAL students experience linguistic discrimination or are devalued because of their or a family member's level of English proficiency. These discourses are a part of a larger institutional linguicism that supports the suppression of other languages to encourage English as the dominant language.

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Practices That Promote Linguistic Discrimination

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Practices That Promote Linguistic Discrimination

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The structure of a teacher's classroom is essential to providing immigrant EAL learners with a positive experience that supports them in learning English and integrating into the school community. However, certain practices prevent students from having these positive experiences. "While, historically, race and language ideologies typically functioned to elevate the status of colonial languages such as English, German and French, the languaging practices of children from suppressed racial and language groups have been undertheorized" (Fránquiz & Ortiz, 2018), these practices need to be examined to better understand their effects in the education system.

Álvarez writes of several schools cutting back their language programs which "results in immigrant children [being] completely immersed in English despite never having been exposed to the language at home upon the start of their education" (2020).  Álvarez quotes Anwar, who in 2019 wrote that "this imposes a modern racist standard upon immigrants, much like the one imposed upon indigenous groups in the past" (2020). This statement reflects on strategies used in residential schools to assimilate Indigenous children into Christian, European culture. This quote also emphasizes how the restriction of a student's language separates them from their culture.

Instructors take part in conscious linguistic discrimination when they ban "the use of a student’s mother tongue under the false belief that exclusive use of the target language will produce better results" (Matson, 2019). Despite this ideology, recent research proves this theory untrue (Trzebiatowski, 2018). The restriction of a student's language is not the only way EAL learners are discriminated against in the classroom.

In EAL programs, the instructor may allow students to break themselves into groups, which in turn promotes linguistic segregation (Matson, 2019). When examining Rojas' study, Matson explains "student-made groups segregated themselves linguistically between lower proficiency and higher proficiency. This is detrimental in particular to lower proficiency students who lose valuable opportunity to benefit from communicating with students of higher linguistic ability (2019).

In an attempt to teach the importance of racism teachers often make the mistake of teaching cultural education which brings awareness to cross-cultural differences (St. Denis, 2017). This education can have "the effect of encouraging the belief that the cultural difference" (2017) of immigrant EAL students are different from themselves. In essence, this strategy can label these students as "others" (St. Denis, 2017). Until racism in schools is addressed, attempts at integrating other cultures — and therefore languages— will not be effective (St. Denis, 2017). The practice of teaching cultural education needs to be changed to teaching anti-racist education to prevent "linguistic discrimination [from being] used to dehumanize immigrants so that they constantly feel as if they are not completely Canadian" (UBC Wikki) and prevent them from feeling out of place in their class.

The UBC Wikki also details how "many immigrant students that don't speak English fluently, choose to join ESL (English as a second language) in order to learn.[6] This separates them from the regular English-speaking students and makes them feel as if they are not good enough". Students who may be proficient in English can still be linguistically discriminated against and racialized because of their accent (UBC Wikki). When a student's accent is associated with a certain race they may be racialized by other students,  "people tend to hold biases with regard to accented speech; the further the accent is from their own, the more likely they are to experience a negative reaction to it" (Derwing, 2006).

In Matson's article, she explains it is important to note that "educators do not normally intend to discriminate, but their interactions with minority students are  'mediated by a system of unquestioned assumptions that reflect the values and priorities of the dominant...culture' such as an unquestioned belief that assumes English to be the best language for education " (2019).

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Outcomes of Linguistic Discrimination in Schools

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Outcomes of Linguistic Discrimination in Schools

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Immigrant EAL students will experience a variety of outcomes from linguistic discrimination and racialization, the majority of them negative. In Matson's article, she reviews Cummins' findings that "linguistic minority groups who tend to struggle in school are disempowered educationally by interactions with the linguistically dominant group, whether it be educators or peers" (2019). Further, Matson examines how "findings show that students with lower proficiency in English who have experienced linguistic discrimination in their classroom are particularly vulnerable to affective issues of anxiety, motivation and self-confidence that impact academic performance (Rojas, 2016, as cited by Matson, 2019). Increased student anxiety will make it more difficult for EAL students to succeed as they have an increased fear of making errors which will discourage them from participating (Matson, 2019);  "during classroom observations, Rojas et al. (2016, 141) found that pronunciation was a significant point of anxiety for students (2019). Poor participation and engagement can hinder students' understanding and grades, in Adair's article, she explains that this can affect EAL students' education experience as a whole (2019).

Adair says "there is evidence that the way children are treated during early schooling affects their later behaviour and academic performance. Children who receive negative messages about themselves in school may be less likely to achieve academic success, graduate from school, and ultimately, surpass their parents' economic position" (2019). Overall, "this results in a multitude of negative psychological, academic and social outcomes. And children of immigrants in the early grades may be especially vulnerable as they are only beginning to develop an understanding of how they fit into their family, culture, and community" (Carnock, 2015).

The outcomes of linguistic discrimination and racialization are shown to be detrimental to immigrant EAL students, which is why it is essential teachers work towards preventing them from happening.

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Linguistic Discrimination at School Follows Students Home

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Linguistic Discrimination at School Follows Students Home

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Language ideology from schools can influence parents as well (McLean, 2018). Parents understand their children will face linguistic discrimination and have better access to opportunities if their English is fluent. McLean is an immigrant and explained that her family primarily spoke English, "I was told that my grandparents wanted their children to 'do well at school', and to 'get good jobs'" (2018). As a white family, they understood their children would not face racial discrimination at school but could face linguistic discrimination. "This is just one example of how white settlers from various European countries worked to assimilate into the dominant white culture in order to gain access to social and political power" (McLean, 2018). Parents' decisions are "influenced by a desire to protect their children from being rejected or humiliated because of their inability to speak English" (St. Denis, 2017).

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So, What is the Best Solution to Language Discrimination?

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So, What is the Best Solution to Language Discrimination?

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There are a variety of proposed solutions to limit linguistic discrimination and racialization, however, I believe teaching anti-racism to teachers and students is the most important.

Matson explains "Anti-racist education requires educators to examine broader societal power structures that go beyond the educational system, to realize the ways in which these power structures have historically and presently created imbalances between linguistically dominant and linguistically marginalized groups" (2019). It is important that educators do not confuse anti-racist education with culturally responsive education, as linguistic discrimination is rooted in racism, and in order to prevent it, racism needs to be addressed. As McCreary explains, "Instead of multiculturalism and superficial 'tolerance' of difference, we need to talk about racism and anti-racism. Fundamentally, this means talking about power: who has it, how it is exercised and how it is perpetuated. While most of us recognize racism as a form of individual prejudice, racism also operates through a much broader set of social processes and institutional practices, often so normalized that they are invisible, at least to those of us who benefit from them" (2009). It is necessary for students and teachers alike to consider the root of their biases and how to change for the better.

McCreary expands further upon this "School is not a racially neutral site; we need to unravel the power of whiteness and how it is reproduced in the classroom. Educators need to understand racialized student issues within the complexity of colonial histories, and to not just assume that problems originate in the home or in the cultural deficiencies of the student’s community. Rather than gazing upon ethnic Others with the eyes of a tourist, we need to see whiteness critically from the perspective of those it has exploited, dispossessed and excluded" (2009). Unravelling the power of whiteness provides the opportunity to make schools more inclusive for minorities including immigrant EAL students. Encouraging teachers to go through anti-racist education will better equip them to teach their students anti-racist education and as a whole prevent linguistic discrimination and the racialization of languages, accents, and immigrant students as a whole.

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Immigrant EAL students are racialized through linguistic discrimination in the Canadian education system by preconceived, racist Western ideologies that are enforced by teachers and their peers. Current discourses portray outdated information that facilitates and encourages linguistic discrimination. Teachers put in place, sometimes unknowingly, practices that isolate immigrant EAL learners from other students and the class as a whole. As a result, immigrant EAL students face an increased amount of anxiety about class material and how they are perceived by others which can negatively affect them in other areas of their life. The best solution to the linguistic discrimination and racialization that immigrant EAL students face is the anti-racist education of teachers and students.

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Adair, J. K. (2015, September). The impact of discrimination on the ... - migrationpolicy.org. Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/FCD-Adair.pdf

Carnock, J. (2015, September 18). How young children of immigrants face discrimination at school. New America. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/early-discrimination/

Denis, V. S. (2007). Aboriginal education and anti-racist education: Building Alliances across cultural and racial identity. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne De L'éducation, 30(4), 1068. https://doi.org/10.2307/20466679

Fránquiz, M. E., & Ortiz, A. A. (2017). Co-editors’ introduction: The relationship between race and language in the 21st Century. Bilingual Research Journal, 40(4), 335–338. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2017.1405680

Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. (2017, October 25). This census in brief article focuses on children with an immigrant background, that is, children aged 0 to 14 years old who were born abroad or who have at least one foreign-born parent. children with an immigrant background are examined country of ancestry (country of birth of the foreign-born children or the foreign-born parents) and by selected household and family characteristics. Census in Brief: Children with an immigrant background: Bridging cultures. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016015/98-200-x2016015-eng.cfm

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Matson, L. (2019). Educational Equality: Mitigating Linguistic Discrimination in Second Language Teaching. Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English, (5), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.7146/lev.v0i5.115494

McLean, S. (2018). We Built a Life From Nothing White Settler Colonialism and the Myth of Meritocracy. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2017/12/McLean.pdf

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Trzebiatowski, K. (2018, June 18). Practical ideas for using L1 in the classroom. EAL Journal. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://ealjournal.org/2018/06/18/practical-ideas-for-using-l1-in-the-classroom/#:~:text=The%20myth%20that%20EAL%20learners%20should%20only%20ever,teachers%20despite%20bilingualism%20research%20indicating%20the%20precise%20opposite.

Tyler McCreary   Sep 1, 2009   5 min read   S. (2009, September 1). The myth of the multicultural patchwork. Briarpatch Magazine. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/the-myth-of-the-multicultural-patchwork

Álvarez, B. (2020, May 19). Linguistic discrimination still lingers in many classrooms. NEA. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/linguistic-discrimination-still-lingers-many-classrooms