Map shows the approximate current distribution of languages in Europe

Researchers conducted a study with children from Years 2, 4 and 6 in two primary schools in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. The team monitored children learning their mother tongue in community language classes. Part of the study involved having the researchers collaborate with community language teachers, mainstream teachers and bilingual assistants to build up bilingual activities comprised in the primary school curriculum.

"Children who live their lives bilingually can access the curriculum through both languages," said Dr Charmian Kenner of Goldsmiths. "Learning a mathematical concept in Bengali and English, for example, deepens understanding as ideas are transferred between languages." Children also have the capacity to compare how metaphors are constructed in a Bengali poem and its English equivalent, she explained. The study's participants said that they want to use their community language in school. "Teachers were able to tap into their pupils' full range of cultural language," Dr Kenner said.

The research findings suggest that children who excel in mainstream schools are also able to do extremely well in the community schools of their mother tongue. Swapping one language for the other is easy for them and they displayed a high degree of linguistic awareness, the data show.

Figures also released by Tower Hamlets indicate that students who attend classes in their mother tongue attain better results in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two national curriculum tests, when compared against those who do not. Tower Hamlets did note however that failing to develop their mother tongue through academic work at school could result in many second and third generation children losing their multi-language skills.

For Dr Kenner, it is imperative that schools provide the resources children need in order to develop and maintain their mother tongue. These children should have access to bilingual learning activities that are linked to the curriculum at mainstream schools, she explained. "Now that the National Languages Strategy promotes early language learning and the Primary National Strategy recognises the value of bilingualism, policymakers need to encourage good practice in schools," she said. "Otherwise the potential benefits of bilingual learning will be lost to future generations."

The results of the study were presented at a conference organised by Goldsmiths and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Children's Services.