Understanding disparities in English language education

Previous research has established that learning an additional language is often easier for bilinguals than for monolinguals. However, in Austria, national statistics show that monolingual German- speaking students tend to do better learning English at school than their multilingual peers. This disadvantage is especially noticeable amongst learners from families with lower socioeconomic status. The reasons why multilingualism does not work as an advantage for these learners are not well understood. But success in English is important, as it is a core subject in the Austrian curriculum and can provide access to opportunities in education and employment. This research project Understanding disparities in English language education is an unprecedented national investigation of the underperformance of multilingual students with lower socioeconomic status in English language education in Austria. The project, funded by the Austrian Science Foundations Elise Richter programme, will investigate middle school English teachers beliefs about multilingualism and language learning. It will also investigate students language learning biographies and language practices. The goal is to determine whether and, if so, how these factors relate to English learning. The research project will be led and conducted by Elizabeth J. Erling, PhD, who has worked internationally for 25 years in English didactics and teacher education in Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Ghana, India, and other countries. She sees the relevance of the study in addressing one of the major current political, social, and thus pedagogical challenges for all educational systems in the region. Based on the research findings, specific recommendations will be made to sustainably address achievement deficits in English language teaching and to improve English teacher education in Austria and beyond. The project will be based at the Institute of English and American Studies at the University of Vienna and is designed to run for four years. It is supported with a sum of 382,476.17 by the Elise Richter Program for Senior Postdocs, which was designed as a specific funding measure to support the academic careers of highly qualified female scientists and to promote their university careers.