Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T03:55:56.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Learning challenges of culturally and linguistically diverse students: A framework for psychological assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2022

Nigar G Khawaja Open the ORCID record for Nigar G Khawaja [Opens in a new window]  and
Jane Wotherspoon
Nigar G Khawaja*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology & Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Jane Wotherspoon
Affiliation:
School of Psychology & Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Australian schools are experiencing an increase in enrolments for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Many of these students, who are frequently from migrant, refugee or asylum-seeker backgrounds, progress academically, but a small number experience learning challenges. In these circumstances, practitioners (school psychologists and guidance counsellors) assess the students to determine underlying factors contributing to limited academic progress, and ways in which the student’s learning can be supported and enhanced. However, formal assessment can be challenging due to language and cultural barriers. Considering the gaps in the research and training, the present article proposes an assessment framework and highlights strategies that can be adopted by practitioners at schools to enrich their decision-making and assessment process. Two case studies are used to highlight factors that can impact students’ academic difficulties. Further interview protocols and assessment measures that can be used to assist these students and their families are discussed. Ways in which school authorities can guide and support these students in the classroom and in the school are examined.

Keywords

AssessmentCALDlearningmigrantsrefugeesyouth
Type
Practitioner Paper
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , December 2022 , pp. 254 - 267
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2019). Migration, Australia, 2017–18. https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/3412.0Main+Features12017-18?OpenDocument Google Scholar
Australian Psychological Society. (2013). Working with interpreters: A practice guide for psychologists. Australian Psychological Society.Google Scholar
AUSPELD. (2014). Understanding learning difficulties: A practical guide. DSF Literary Services. https://www.emmaus.act.edu.au/storage/understanding-learning-difficulties-for-teachers.pdf Google Scholar
Carr, A. (2016). The handbook of child and adolescent clinical psychology: A contextual approach (3rd ed.). Routledge.Google Scholar
Choi, Y., Lee, M., Park Lee, J., Park, M., Lee, S.Y, & Hahm, H.C. (2020) Disempowering parenting and mental health among Asian American youth: Immigration and ethnicity. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 66, 101077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2019.101077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Correa-Velez, I., Gifford, S.M., & Barnett, A.G. (2010). Longing to belong: Social inclusion and wellbeing among youth with refugee backgrounds in the first three years in Melbourne, Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 71, 1399–1408.10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.07.018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
d’Abreu, A., Castro-Olivo, S., & Ura, S. K. (2019). Understanding the role of acculturative stress on refugee youth mental health: A systematic review and ecological approach to assessment and intervention. School Psychology International, 40, 107–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034318822688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demie, F. (2013). English as an additional language pupils: How long does it take to acquire English fluency? Language and Education, 27, 59–69. https://doi:10.1080/09500782.2012.682580 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DSF Literacy Services. (2018). Understanding learning difficulties: A practical guide. DSF Literacy Services.Google Scholar
Fazel, M., Reed, R.V., Panter-Brick, C., & Stein, A. (2012). Mental health of displaced and refugee children resettled in high-income countries: Risk and protective factors. The Lancet, 379, 266–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60051-2 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fraine, N., & McDade, R. (2009). Reducing bias in psychometric assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse students from refugee backgrounds in Australian schools: A process approach. Australian Psychologist, 44, 16–26. https://doi:10.1080/00050060802582026 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galler, J.R., Koethe, J.R., & Yolken, R.H. (2017). Neurodevelopment: The impact of nutrition and inflammation during adolescence in low-resource settings. Pediatrics, 139, S72–S84. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2828I CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jia, G., & Fuse, A. (2007). Acquisition of English grammatical morphology by native Mandarin-speaking children and adolescents: Age-related differences. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 1280–1299. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2007/090)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joyce, L., & Liamputtong, P. (2017). Acculturation stress and social support for young refugees in regional areas. Children and Youth Services Review, 77, 18–26. https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.03.016 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, I. (2009). Effects of trauma and the refugee experience on psychological assessment processes and interpretation. Australian Psychologist, 44, 6–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00050060802575715 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, I., Stolk, Y., Valibhoy, M., Tucker, A., & Baker, J. (2016). Cognitive assessment of refugee children: Effects of trauma and new language acquisition. Transcultural Psychiatry, 53, 81–109. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461515612933 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khawaja, N. (2011). Effective interviewing of culturally and linguistically diverse clients. In-Psych, 33, 1.Google Scholar
Khawaja, N. (2019). Assessing Haleema, Kasim, Cheng and Gloria. InPsych, 4, 1–9.Google Scholar
Khawaja, N.G., & Howard, G. (2020). Assessing educational difficulties of students from refugee backgrounds: A case study approach. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 30, 97–111. https://doi.org/10.1017/jgc.2020.2 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khawaja, N.G., Ibrahim, O., & Schweitzer, R.D. (2017). Mental wellbeing of students from refugee and migrant backgrounds: The mediating role of resilience. School Mental Health, 9, 284–293. https://doi.10.1007/s12310-017-9215-6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khawaja, N.G. & Lathopolous, P. (2014). A qualitative study of mental health practices with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) clients. The Australian Community Psychologist, 26, 8–21.Google Scholar
Khawaja, N.G., & Stein, G. (2016). Psychological services for asylum seekers in the community: Challenges and solutions. Australian Psychologist, 51, 463–471. https://doi.org/10.1111/ap.12149 Google Scholar
King, S.M., & Owens, L. (2015). The schooling experiences of African youth from refugee backgrounds in South Australia: Key findings and implications for educational practice. In Askell-Williams, H. (Ed.), Transforming the future of learning with educational research (pp. 100–124). IGI Global. https://doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-7495-0.ch006 Google Scholar
Kirk, J., & Cassity, E. (2007). Minimum standards for quality education for refugee youth. Youth Studies Australia, 26, 50–56.Google Scholar
Klingner, J., & Eppollito, A. (2014). English language learners: Differentiating between language acquisition and learning disabilities. Council for Exceptional Children.Google Scholar
Miller, K.K., Brown, C.R., Shramko, M., & Svetaz, M.V. (2019). Applying trauma-informed practices to the care of refugee and immigrant youth: 10 clinical pearls. Children, 6, 94. https://doi.org/10.3390/children6080094 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, D. (2014). The first interview (5th ed). The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ortiz, S.O., Flanagan, D.P., & Alfonso, V.C. (2018). The culture-language interpretive matrix. http://facpub.stjohns.edu/∼ortizs/CLIM/ Google Scholar
Ortiz, S.O., Piazza, N., Ochoa, S.H., & Dynda, A. (2018). Testing with culturally and linguistically diverse populations: New directions in fairness and validity. In Flanagan, D.P. & McDonough, E.M. (Eds.), Contemporary intellectual assessment: Theories, tests and issues (pp. 684–712). The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ortiz, S.O., & Seymour, K.L. (2017). The culturally competent school psychologist. In Thielking, M. & Terjesen, M. (Eds.). Handbook of Australian school psychology (pp. 81–110). Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-45166-4_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, J. (2007). Second language acquisition in childhood. In Hoff, E. & Shatz, M. (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of language development (pp. 387–405). Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470757833.ch19 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, J. (2011). Individual differences in child English second language acquisition comparing child-internal and child-external factors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1, 213–237. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.1.3.01par CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raleigh, E., & Kao, G. (2010). Do immigrant minority parents have more consistent college aspirations for their children? Social Science Quarterly, 91, 1083–1102. https://doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00750.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, R.V., Fazel, M., Jones, L., Panter-Brick, C., & Stein, A. (2012). Mental health of displaced and refugee children resettled in low-income and middle-income countries: Risk and protective factors. The Lancet, 379, 250–265. https://doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60050-0 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sattler, J. M. (2014). Foundations of behavioral, social, and clinical assessment of children (6th ed.).Google Scholar
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2020). Asylum-seekers. https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/asylum-seekers.html Google Scholar
Vega, D., Lasser, J., & Afifi, A.F.M. (2016). School psychologists and the assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Contemporary School Psychology, 20, 218–229 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-015-0075-5 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velasco Leon, A., & Campbell, M. (2020). Assessment of academic difficulties in culturally and linguistically diverse school students. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 30, 25–42. https://doi:10.1017/jgc.2020.5 CrossRefGoogle Scholar