{"id":2148,"date":"2016-01-26T07:30:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T06:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2016-01-26T07:30:48","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T06:30:48","slug":"why-english-language-lessons-are-not-the-answer-to-radicalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/education-languages-health\/languages\/why-english-language-lessons-are-not-the-answer-to-radicalisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why English language lessons are not the answer to radicalisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Cameron used an article in The Times<\/a> and an interview on Radio 4\u2019s Today<\/a> show to announce \u00a320m of extra funding to provide English lessons for Muslim women in the UK to prevent them from becoming \u201csecond-class citizens\u201d. The prime minister\u2019s announcement has come in for harsh criticism<\/a>, particularly his implication<\/a> that not speaking English was tied up with a person\u2019s identity and could make someone \u201cmore susceptible to the extremist message\u201d.<\/p>\n

As a researcher studying the teaching of English as an additional language, my main problem with the proposal is the underlying assumption that if mothers could only speak English fluently then their children would not become radicalised.<\/p>\n

This monolingual view of family life ignores the fact that these same mothers will be doubtless trying to raise their children to have sound ethics and morals, ready to make a contribution to society just like any good English-speaking mother \u2013 just through another language.<\/p>\n

We have no evidence to suggest that there is any link at all between parental level of English and extremism, quite the opposite. Look, for example, at how some of the appeals<\/a> made by parents of would-be Jihadis who have run off to Syria, are made in entirely fluent Standard English, often with regional accents.<\/p>\n