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Review of literatureThis literature review will be organised thematically, considering first aspectsrelated to the nature of bilingual education itself, and then issues around boththe linguistic and socio-cultural aspects of being a bilingual child in a monolingualhabitus.The definition and development of bilingual educationDefining bilingual educationOur first challenge lies in defining the concept of bilingual education itself. Baker(2006:213) considers it a ‘simplistic label for a complex phenomenon’ and beforewe go any further, we need to briefly consider the varying types of educationwhich involve two or more languages. This will allow us to reflect on the challengesposed by the sheer diversity of the UK population (cf. Craig et al, 2010 for areview of the situation in the northern English city of York, where the diversityof the school population has grown enormously in recent years). Beginning withthe challenge of defining bilingual education will also help us to understand why,traditionally, the UK has not practised bilingual education in a truly meaningfulway. Rather it has been more a case of educating bilinguals than offering bilingualeducation. Furthermore, a consideration of the varying types of education whichinvolve more than one language provides a context for the growing interest in thedebate around the cognitive benefits of being brought up bilingual. This debatehas recently been taken up by the national media, prompted by research by, forexample Bialystok et al, (2009) and Wodniecka et al (2010).Internationally, a range of typologies and continua classifying different approaches,aims, and markers of success in bilingual education have been proposed overthe years (cf. Mackey, 1970; Baetens-Beardsmore, 1993; Brisk, 1998; Hornberger,2008), taking into consideration aspects such as the type of school, homesituations (socially and linguistically), the status of the minority language, andnational political educational aims. Some of the key features of bilingual educationprogrammes are presented in Table 1 below. In UK mainstream schools wetypically find submersion and transitional models, thereby sitting very muchtowards the ‘less multilingual’ end of Hornberger’s (2008) spectrum, with truebilingual education only really provided in Wales (Baker, 2006), and to some extentin Scotland and on the Isle of Man. In England, a bilingual education pilot studyin Bradford (Fitzpatrick, 1987) was not taken up with much interest, with manyteachers very negative about the use of the first language (L1). Research hasshown that, even if bilingual support is offered, many bilingual staff are ‘untrainedand unqualified’ (McEachron and Bhatti, 2005). But there are some success storiesinvolving small-scale projects and strong-willed individuals making a difference(cf. Kenner, 2000; Conteh, 2003; Mellen Day, 2002) although minority languagesare rarely being used as the medium of instruction, which is important for theacademic and linguistic development of bilingual children (cf. Skutnabb-Kangasand McCarty, 2007; Cummins, 2000; Usborne et al, 2009),UK Primary School | 129