SIR – Your article about books in Urdu in Shipley Library (T&A, November 22) has generated a lively discussion about children’s attainments in school.

The views of both Mr Davies (MP for Shipley) and Councillor Flowers deserve consideration.

Mr Davies correctly links educational attainment to children’s home language experiences.

It seems to be true, as the success of children from Chinese and Indian backgrounds shows, that children who have rich experiences in different languages at home, will be more secure in their attainments in school.

Thus, Mr Davies’s concerns about Urdu books are misplaced, and, as Councillor Flowers suggests, exposure to different languages is an asset for any child.

Education Bradford has done much to foster family learning with language diversity as a positive resource. They have also developed successful work, showcased nationally, in teaching languages – including Arabic – at Key Stage 2.

The strongest message from such work, increasingly backed up by research and by education policies, is that language diversity and bilingualism are beneficial for learning. At the University of Leeds, we work closely with primary schools in Bradford, whose expertise in teaching bilingual pupils provides an excellent training for our students who will become the next generation of primary teachers.

Jean Conteh, senior lecturer in primary education and Dr James Simpson, senior lecturer in language education, School of Education, University of Leeds