Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen University
Verschiedene Wege zur Zweisprachigkeit : empirische Untersuchung zur Zweisprachigkeit am Beispiel von Kindern in der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft (DG) in Ostbelgien
Abstract
dc:descriptionWithin the European Community it's increasingly important to speak more than one language. But how can someone become bilingual? Is the early learning of a foreign language as effective as a bilingual education such as "one person - one language"? This study has looked for answers to this question in different ways. A questionnaire, a picture-naming-task, a number-reading-task and three experiments (picture-naming, picture-word-naming and picture-word-matching) were developed. 437 children in East Belgium aged 3 to 13 took part in the main study in 2001. The experiments were undertaken in 2004 with 82 children aged 5 to 13. The children were first asked about the languages their parents and siblings spoke and then rated their own language knowledge. To test their word knowledge they named pictures. In the first part of the picture-book the children had to find one to three names for each picture and in the second part they had to name the picture and its colour. The results showed a decreasing difference between the knowledge of the language used as the teaching medium at school and the foreign language for the older children. The rating results revealed a difference between the foreign-language knowledge of French and German speaking children and this difference was also found in the picture-naming task. Children in the French part of the school showed a significantly better word knowledge in their foreign language German than children in the German part of the school in their foreign language French. This result was also confirmed by the experiments. But the reaction-times during the picture-naming and the picture-word-matching experiment didn't show significant differences between the languages. As expected pictures had a longer reaction time than words during the picture-word-naming experiment. This result was stronger for the weaker language. It was found that most of the children in East Belgium become bilingual through bilingual education at home and that this often results in nearly balanced bilingualism. However a few children in immersion (i.e. different languages spoken at home and at school) can cover up this advantage during their years at primary school. The study demonstrates, that learning two or more languages early doesn't overtax children.
Degree
thesis:*- Grantor dc:publisher
- Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen University
- Year dc:date
- 2005
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Wilken, Marianne
- Contributors dc:contributor
-
- Ziefle, Martina
Subjects
dc:subject × 9Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
- Language dc:language
- ger