Promoting primary school pupils’ language achievement: investigating the impact of school-based language policies

Abstract

School-based language policies (SLP) are expected to have a positive effect on student achievement. To date, few studies have empirically examined the impact of such policies on student outcomes. This study investigates to what extent SLPs are related to pupils' reading performance from an educational effectiveness perspective. In addition, the study investigates whether SLPs have differential effects for pupils at risk of underachievement. Data from a cross-sectional study involving 3,000 pupils in the first, third, and sixth grades of 28 elementary schools in Flanders, the northern Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, were analyzed using multivariate multilevel modeling. Results indicate that one SLP component, team reflective capacity for language instruction, positively affects students' decoding skills in reading. No differential effects for low-versus high-risk pupils were found.

Language Policy in Education : Types of Teachers Perception

“…Many studies into the role of the school context in policy execution in the classroom have so far taken the form of qualitative and quantitative case studies. These studies revealed the impact of language policy in education as well as the results of language policy implementation in education 4 . The findings indicate that one SLP element, team indicative capacity for language lessons, improves students' reading word recognition.…”