The effects of language proficiency and related policy on student outcomes for non-native English speakers: a case study of Glasgow secondary schools

Lack of English language proficiency impedes access to the curriculum in UK schools. The objective of this thesis is to determine (a) the nature of the association between English language proficiency and educational outcomes, (b) its implications for policy (c) and the impact on students’ life chances. Improved outcomes follow improved proficiency, to the extent that some English as additional language (EAL) students are among the top performers. However, the point where EAL shifts from disadvantage to advantage is unclear, and research on the topic more broadly across the UK is limited. Focusing on the city of Glasgow, with a bespoke dataset including a disaggregated measure of language proficiency, student background characteristics, years (2007-2016), and school characteristics, this thesis investigates in depth the relationships between English language proficiency and educational outcomes of 15-16 years-old students as well as their subsequent initial post-school destinations. This is accomplished in four empirical papers. Paper 1 investigates the association between language proficiency and educational performance using fixed effects regression models. Paper 2 explores differences between schools in that relationship via multilevel regression models. Paper 3 considers how consistent the association between proficiency and educational performance has been over time and the impact of a policy shift towards mainstreaming using multilevel difference-in-differences regression. Paper 4 assesses post-secondary school transitions within a multinomial regression framework. Each paper hypothesises an intermediate EAL level as the proficiency threshold at which those students match English as first language student outcomes. They confirm the association and hypothesised threshold. The first paper shows a positive association between higher language proficiency and attainment, which holds with a range of statistical control variables. The second paper identifies and highlights differences across schools, particularly in effectiveness for English language beginners, as well as finding an association between increased numbers of EAL students and worse outcomes for beginners. The third paper shows that those beginners may benefit from separate instruction. The fourth paper finds that a shift from further education to higher education as initial post-school outcome is associated with greater English language proficiency. This thesis contributes to scholarship by studying EAL in the distinctive Scottish context, adding to the very limited UK literature on educational performance incorporating various levels of English language proficiency rather than relying on a binary variable, exploring whether a language proficiency threshold in terms of that performance can be identified, and extending this analysis beyond schooling to encompass initial post-school destinations. By doing so it substantially adds to understanding of how lower levels of English language proficiency shape students’ outcomes in Glasgow secondary schools, with relevance to policies and practices across the UK.

Keywords: EAL
multilevel difference-in-differences regression
school diversity
NEET
secondary school education
post-secondary school transitions
Glasgow
educational attainment
peer effects
school performance
English language proficiency
destinations of school leavers
school effects
EAL policy
English as an additional language (EAL)
educational inequality
Scottish education
school effectiveness
mainstreaming
language proficiency
migrant integration
ethnicity
social inequality
multinomial regression
multilevel regression
fixed effects regression
Advisor: Nolan, B
Paskov, M