Research misquoted in language argument

I WISH to correct the inaccuracies in J Jones' letter (Western Mail, September 21) in which he claims that Professor Gorard research proved that pupils who are from English-speaking backgrounds who went to Welsh medium schools are behind in their education in comparison to those who came from Welsh-speaking families and went to Welsh medium schools.

Professor Gorard's research says absolutely nothing of the sort. The professor's research in 1999 compared pupils from different backgrounds and took into account gender differences.

For your readers' information, Welsh medium schools take in their fair share of pupils from deprived backgrounds, Looked After Children, special needs pupils and, pupils from traveller backgrounds.

It would be illegal if they didn't and questions would have been asked if they hadn't.

J Jones also makes false claims that, after taking into account socioeconomic status, Welsh medium schools perform worse than English medium schools. He has claimed that PISA tests prove pupils from English-speaking families who go to Welsh medium schools are a full year behind pupils who are from Welsh-speaking families.

Simply put, this is untrue and not a tissue of evidence to support it, because PISA does not produce such information. All the evidence is that WM schools do as well, if not better, than EM schools.

Previously, Howard Gunn claimed that pupils in WM schools were seven years behind those in EM schools. I looked up that person and I found a 300-page PhD thesis which compared the performances of pupils with Severe and Moderate Learning Difficulties and how proficient they were in English and Welsh.

The author never claimed that the pupils who went to WM schools were seven years behind those who went to EM schools.

They quote such research to give bogus authenticity to their attacks on the Welsh language, knowing many people, including yourselves, will not have the time or inclination to look up such research. Patrick Powell

Abertawe