240 pages
ISBN: 978185856 454 8
244 x 170mm
February 2010


This is cutting edge research on complementary schooling in Britain. The book brings together new and innovative language-focused research on complementary schools which serve the linguistic, cultural and social needs of ethno-linguistic communities in Britain. It examines the language and literacy practices of complementary schools in Britain today, their policy and curricular innovation and the experiences of the children who attend them.

Complementary schools have been on the margins of educational policy and have only recently become research sites in their own right. Now recognised as 'safe spaces' in which young children can explore their identities, they are seen as central to policy initiatives for promoting the languages of Britain. This book picks up on the spate of recent research to explore

• the range of language and literacy practices in complementary schools


• their innovations in policy and curriculum


• how the pupils, teachers and parents negotiate social identities and affiliations


• the importance of complementary schools in the lives and learning of bilingual pupils.

Sites of Multilingualism is essential reading for researchers and students in the fields of bilingual education and bilingualism, sociolinguistics, sociology and anthropology. It will also be relevant to teachers and teacher educators in complementary and mainstream schools and also to policy makers.