Bilingual Language Acquisition

This article presents several approaches to understanding bilingualism concepts. One approach is learning through experience, including academic activities, an intercultural family, and becoming bilingual. Bilingualism is the study of languages in contact at various levels. Therefore another approach to understanding bilingualism is to view situations in terms of four levels: the individual, family, society, or schools (bilingual education). Since the best conditions for language acquisition depend on the situation, this article aims to clarify viewpoints from which to understand bilingualism concepts.

BACKGROUND
2018 International Conference on Bilingual Learning and Teaching is a conference substantially funded by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (UGC/IDS16/15).
The conference is organized by Research Institute for Bilingual Learning and Teaching (RIBiLT) of the School of Education and Languages (E&L) of the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK).



AIMS AND SCOPE:
The conference aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and educators with interests in bilingual learning and teaching at all levels from all around the world.

It also aims to provide a high quality academic platform for the communities of EFL/ESL/ELT and the allied sciences to promote connections between theory and practice, and explore different perspectives on the application of research findings into different practices.

It aims to create a friendly occasion for all to share perspectives and research findings from a wide variety of educational contexts.
Above all, we value possible friendships and partnerships made and insights gained at the conference. We hope the participation here can lead to better understanding and appreciation of our profession from an international stance.

We look forward to seeing you in Hong Kong
on 25-27 October 2018!

The aim of this paper is to highlight translanguaging practices in the home among bilingual/multilingual Russian-speaking children and their parents in Cyprus, Sweden and Estonia. Multilingual families are the focus of our research: 50 in Cyprus, 20 in Estonia and 50 in Sweden. Using parental written question¬naires with the focus on general background, socio-economic status and language proficiency, as well as oral semi-structured interviews and ethnographic participant observation, our study attempts to describe how family language policy is managed through translanguaging and literacy activities in multilingual Russian-speaking families in three different cultural and linguistic environments. Our results show both differences and similarities among Russian-speakers in the three countries, not only in their family language practices, but also in their attitudes towards the fluidity of language, language repertoires, translanguaging and Russian-language literacy. Russian-speakers incorporate a wide range of language repertoires in their everyday lives. Sometimes, such language contacts generate power struggles and the language ideological dimension becomes a key terrain to explore how speakers feel about the need to effectively attain a degree of multilingualism. Multilingualism and the maintenance of the Russian language and culture are usually encouraged, and parents often choose the one-parent-one-language approach at home. However, not all families make conscious choices regarding specific language management and may have “laissez-faire” attitudes to the use of languages in the family. We show how family language use and child-directed translanguaging can support, expand and enhance dynamic bilingualism/multilingualism, and reinforce and integrate minority language in a wider context: societal and educational.

How children break into language has been a contested issue among both linguists and behavioural psychologists for a very long time. Among the various competing theories on child language acquisition are the universal grammar (nativism/innateness) and the interactionists perspectives. This paper explores how these two theories account for the acquisition of phonological and sign language by reviewing current research in the fields of child first language and simultaneous bilingual first language learners. And based on empirical research findings, I argue that at issue is the discourse on the role of input in language acquisition given that both theories agree on innate biological endowment to language learning. Hence, my conclusion is that, the innateness and interactionists arguments can be framed in terms of language competence and performance among first language learners.

This file serves to provide a self-archived, comprehensive (200 pages single-space!) bibliography of references related to working memory and language learning (including first and second language acquisition). I am putting this up here in the hope that it can help (save some time for) those researchers and students interested in similar research topics as I am (as enthusiastic as I am with working memory and SLA research). I will try my best to update this regularly/frequently (so keep an eye on it!).
Best wishes to your academic endeavors, Enjoy!
Edward

This paper delves into the “profound effect of globalization on education”  specifically in the area of language learning and teaching vis-à-vis the use of Filipino and English in schools and eventually as part of lifelong skills.  Some decades back, the Philippines prided itself to have mastered the art of bilingualism with its people efficiently speaking both Filipino and English in classrooms and outside.  Prominent economist Solita Collas-Monsod (2003),  in fact, puts the Philippines as the third-largest English-speaking country in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom. However, recent findings caused the Philippine government to rethink of a better policy to contain the fast- deterioration of English-speaking, most importantly, among its people and to ensure the use of English as medium of instruction in schools to make its people “globally competitive” while, at the same time, complying with the constitutional mandate on the use of Filipino. 

To fully grasp the country’s current state of bilingualism, this paper looks into the effect of the advent of a “globalized education system”, where learning is characterized by modern modes and strategies like e-learning, distance education, international joint-degree programs and partnerships, integrated study abroad modules, etc., which critiques consider as “impediment” to productive learning.  Perhaps the most appropriate question that should be asked is “How does globalized education system impact on the bilingual communication skills and competencies of Filipinos?”

Apparently, the Philippine government is confronted with the dilemma that the dwindling bilingual communication skills and competencies of Filipinos, as a comparative advantage over other Asian countries, will worsen even further and that Filipinos will eventually be left out in the globalized economy.  Center on this debate are issues whether to pursue English as the sole medium of instruction, or strengthen bilingual approach to education or review the policies involved in the proliferation of the “globalized education system”.  A major policy issue, thus, remains crucial: can a “globalized education system” indeed contribute to the development agenda of the Philippines and ensure the country in positioning its labor force in a globally competitive market?  The government believes that the Philippines’ own historical experience itself evidenced a symbiotic relationship between enhancing the Filipinos’ bilingual skills and becoming a globally competitive business environment.  Proponents for further strengthening Filipinos’ English skills and competencies often argue on the bases of the Asian Street Journal (October 15, 2002 issue) where it noted of India’s English skills and proficiency that has propelled the country’s hi-tech industry and that which catapulted Singapore to be “one of the world’s most impressive economic success stories”. 

This paper, however, strongly disagrees with so-called “educational Taylorism” as suggested by William Tabb. The art of promoting bilingualism under the regime of a “globalized education system”, unlike education per se, cannot be conducted in similar way that Henry Ford manufactured automobiles where “skilled labor are broken down into a series of lower-skilled tasks, assigning some tasks to machines and imposing strict managerial control over the rest.”  While at some point language learning and/or can be commodified and are sold through various modes and strategies, just like education as a whole, concrete policy standards have to be crafted if indeed such skills-enhancement is geared towards lifelong competencies for the Filipinos.

Children whose mother tongue and community language are different have different linguistic proficiency in both languages. It is very important for these children, who are defined as bilingual, to learn and use their mother tongue at a sufficient level, to learn the language of the community, and to develop positive personalities. This study, it is aimed to reveal the parents’ views on learning and using the mother tongue Turkish of bilingual Turkish children living in France, since the attitudes of the families are quite decisive in learning the mother tongue and community language. The qualitative research method was adopted in the study. Descriptive analysis technique was used in the analysis of the research data collected electronically with a structured interview form from the participants. As a result of the research, it was found that Turkish families living in France first communicate with their children in their mother tongue; however, it was determined that the language that children speak/understand best is French. Bilingual Turkish children living in France; It has been determined that the children prefer to speak French and use Turkish less frequently in daily life for reasons such as the social environment being French, the French being easier, not knowing Turkish enough, and the family’s distance from the Turkish
language and culture. Participants stated that their participation in Turkish lessons in France has changed negatively during the COVID-19 pandemic; they reported that Turkish and Turkish Culture course hours were insufficient. It has been determined that bilingual Turkish children living in France have problems due to insufficient vocabulary, constructing Turkish sentences according to the French syntax, mixing French and Turkish letters, and forming mixed French-Turkish sentences. Regarding the solution of language problems experienced by children, they suggested increasing the hours of Turkish lessons, teaching Turkish books, and choosing teachers from Turks in France.

C’est en janvier 2012 que le kreol morisien a été introduit dans le cursus primaire mauricien au titre de matière optionnelle, concluant ainsi trois décennies de débats sur le rôle et la place que devaient tenir cette langue et les langues orientales dans l’attribution des places dans les meilleurs collèges de l’île. Avec la création de l’Akademi Kreol Morisien en 2010, le ministère de l’éducation avait déjà préparé le terrain grâce à la production de documents essentiels (concernant la standardisation de la graphie du kreol morisien ainsi qu’une première grammaire de cette langue), la préparation du curriculum de cette langue et la formation des enseignants. Néanmoins, nous constatons toujours une forte résistance à l’introduction de cette langue de la part d’une grande partie des parents, des enseignants et de la population dans son ensemble.
Dans cet article, nous nous proposons d’analyser deux aspects de cette situation : nous analyserons dans un premier temps les discours tenus pour et contre l’introduction du kreol dans le cursus scolaire. Nous présenterons ensuite quelques études récentes et qui montreront que l’introduction du créole n’a pas (eu) un impact négatif sur l’apprentissage du français, une des deux langues obligatoires dans le système éducatif mauricien, une des raisons principales expliquant la résistance à l’introduction de cette langue.

How to cite:
Florigny, G. (2015), “Représentations et impact réel de l’introduction du créole mauricien dans le cursus primaire sur l’apprentissage des autres langues”, in Island Studies n°2, Université des Seychelles & Lenstiti Kreol, Mahé, Seychelles.

This research makes an attempt through a case study and the use of previous studies to the test hypotheses of prominent researchers (e.g.: Francois Grosjean, Ellen Bialystok, Jürgen Meisel) and show that bilingual development depends on environmental influence as much as on the children’s individual aptitude and general intelligence. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part presents the controversial theories on bilingual children’s language development, based on previous research, and makes a comparison between bilingual and monolingual children’s language development. The second part is going to carry out the case study, focusing on eight bilingual children’s (between the age of 4 and 11) language development process, and more closely on three of the most common assumptions:
1. Bilingual children start speaking later than monolingual children.
2. Bilingual children are equally proficient in their languages.
3. Code-switching is caused by bilingual children’s inability to distinguish their languages.

Absztrakt:
A jelen tanulmány azt vizsgálja, hogy milyen különbségek vannak az egynyelvű és kétnyelvű személyek között az aktív és passzív szókincs, a tanulmányi teljesítmény és szótanulási képesség tekintetében, a szocio-kulturális háttér és a nyelvismeret függvényében. A felmérésben összesen 113 VIII. osztályos tanuló vett részt. Az iskolatípus (egytannyelvű és kéttannyelvű) illetve lakóhely (a település százalékos felosztását illetően többségi és kisebbségi magyar lakosság) mentén kialakított, eltérő nyelvi tapasztalatokkal rendelkező csoportok nyelvi készségeinek szintjén megmutatkozó különbségek arra engednek következtetni, hogy a kétnyelvűség pozitív hatással van egy harmadik nyelvtanulási helyzetben. Ezentúl a kétnyelvű környezetben élő személyek egyértelmű előnnyel rendelkeznek az idegen nyelvű szavak előhívását illetően, az egynyelvű környezetben, de kéttannyelvű iskolában tanulókkal való összehasonlításban. 

Kulcsszavak:
kétnyelvűség, kognitív kompetencia, szókincs, tanulmányi eredmények, figyelem

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Bilingual Environment: Blessing or Curse?
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Comparison of Cognitive Competences Among Monolingual and Bilingual Students


The current study examines the differences between monolingual and bilingual people considering their active and passive vocabulary, their learning performances and word learning abilities, relating to their socio-cultural background and command of language. In this survey the participants where 113 students from the 8-th grade. The differences derived from the type of school (monolingual or bilingual) respectively the inhabitance (considering the percental division of the settlement, Hungarian inhabitants in minority or majority) and the differing linguistic abilities of the test groups led us to the conclusion that biligualism has a positive effect on the  learning of a third language. Hence the students living in a bilingual environment have the advantage regarding the evocation of foreign terms, compared to the students from a monolingual environment studying in bilingual schools.

Keywords: bilingualism, cognitive competence, vocabulary, learning performance, attention


***

Mediu bilingv: binecuvântare sau blestem
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Comparația competențelor cognitive între elevi monolingvi și bilingvi


Abstract: Studiul prezent examinează diferențele între persoanele monolingvi și bilingvi considerând cunoștințele lexicale active și pasive, performanța de studiu și abilitatea de îvățare a unei limbi, în contextul situației socio-culturale și cunoștinței de limbi. În această evaluare au participat 113 de elevi de clasa a 8-a. Diferențele bazate pe tipul de școală (monolingv sau bilingv), respectiv domiciliu (considerând diviziunea procentuală, populația maghiară în minoritate și în majoritate) și diferențele pe baza de abilitate lingvistică a experiențelor lingvistice a diferitelor grupuri, având cunoștințe de limbi diferite, arată concluzia că bilingvismul are un efect pozitiv în condiția de a învăța o a treia limbă. De aici înainte persoanele care trăiesc într-un mediu bilingv au un avantaj de a evoca termeni de limbă străină în comparație cu cei trăind într-un mediu monolingv dar dintr-o școală bilingvă.

Cuvinte-cheie: bilingvism, competență cognitivă, cunoștință lexicală, rezultate de studiu, atenție

This is a discussion of the phenomenon of bilingualism and its implications on cognition. Monolingual and bilingual speakers follow the same general course of language acquisition and development – both groups learn phonemes and discover grammar, however,
experimental data indicate that the ways in which bilingual and monolingual acquisition and further linguistic development happen differ. The research challenge is to identify and interpret these differences.

First language acquisition” commonly means the acquisition of a single language in childhood, regardless of the number of languages in a child’s natural environment. Language acquisition is variously viewed as predetermined, wondrous, a source of concern, and as developing through formal processes. “First language teaching” concerns schooling in the language that is intended to become the child’s first (or “main”) one. Mainstream teaching practices similarly take languages as formal objects, focusing on literacy skills, so-called phonological awareness, and other teaching about the language. This article gives a first overview of folk beliefs associated with language acquisition and teaching, highlighting whether and how they can guide applied linguists’ concerns about child language development and early pedagogical practices.

В магистерской работе анализируется процесс чтения детьми-билингвами русских художественных текстов, содержащих языковые игры. Оригинальные материалы были собраны экспериментальным путем в группе англо-русских детей-билингв, проживающих в районе Вашингтона, округ Колумбия, США. Исследование предлагает инновационную методику для сравнения техник чтения разновозрастных учеников и результаты анализа восприятия  детьми-билингвами (7-15 лет) русских художественных текстов разных авторов. Используя методические наработки, автор убедительно показывает необходимость использования текстов с языковыми игровыми алгоритмами в программу обучения русскому языку и литературе детей, проживающих за рубежом.

This paper is based on a study of bilingual subtitles for teaching vocabulary to junior high school
students. This research is aimed to find out whether or not bilingual movie subtitles are effective to
teach vocabulary at the eighth graders of SMP N 1 Borobudur in the Academic Year of 2016/2017.
The research design used was experimental. Tests were used as the method to collect the data and
information. Before conducting the experiment, I tried out the test to 32 students of VIII A to make
sure that the test were valid and reliable. I used class VIII D as the experimental group and VIII C
as the control group, both classes are in the same level, background, and competence. The result of
the pre-test showed the mean of the experimental group was 70.25 and the mean of the control
group was 69.37. After the treatment, the mean of experimental group was 78.38 and the mean of
control group was 72.18. It could be seen that there was students’ improvement after the
treatments dealing with their vocabulary mastery. From the t-test computation of the post-test
score, the t-value was higher than t-table that is 2.104 > 1.998 at (Nx + Ny – 2 = 62 and α = 5%)
which shows that there is significant difference between the experimental group and the control
group. The results indicate that Bilingual subtitles is effective to teach vocabulary at the eighth
graders of SMP N 1 Borobudur the Academic Year of 2016/2017. Therefore, the null hypothesis
was rejected and the working hypothesis was accepted. It is suggested that the findings of this
study can be applied regularly and continuously or can be developed by the English teachers to
have a better vocabulary teaching.
Key words : Subtitle, Movie, Bilingual, Vocabulary, Experimental Research

Mémoire de DEA (Master 2) portant sur l'acquisition du français et du kreol morisien par des enfants mauriciens. Ce mémoire est le résultat d'une enquête de terrain menée à l'école primaire Père Laval RCA de Sainte-Croix auprès d'enfants de 2ème et de 4ème année de primaire.

Citation:
Florigny, G. (2004), “Variations dans l’appropriation du français par des enfants créolophones mauriciens : Référence aux entités”, Mémoire de DEA de Sciences du langage préparé sous la direction de Mme Colette Noyau, Université Paris X, Nanterre.

ISBN: 978-8409133215
ABSTRACT:
In order to know the starting point regarding the acquisition of a second language in the school environment, the transcendental reviews of studies carried out and the main results obtained in the most impactful meta-analyses developed around bilingual education programs are described in United States and Europe. The recent data in the matter of teaching of languages in Europe point out that the number of students who acquire at least one foreign language in the school environment increases. In addition, through this work we intend to know the state of Spanish research on Bilingual Education in the last 20 years, thus, a bibliometric review on Bilingual Education in Spain is carried out. Therefore, it is clear that serious and rigorous educational programs are required, loaded with good practices in the assessment process and allowing decision making. Well-justified and well-researched systematic research on a large scale is needed, combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies both in the collection and in the analysis of data, with longitudinal evaluations and as far as possible, with random samples.
Keywords: bilingual education programs, bilingualism, bilingual education, acquisition of the second language, bibliometrics.
RESUMEN:
Con el fin de conocer las posiciones básicas respecto a la adquisición de una segunda lengua en el entorno escolar, se describen las trascendentales revisiones de estudios realizados y los principales resultados obtenidos en los metaanálisis de mayor impacto desarrollados alrededor de los programas de educación bilingüe en Estados Unidos y Europa. Los datos más recientes sobre la enseñanza de idiomas en Europa indican que aumenta el número de alumnos que adquieren, al menos, una lengua extranjera en el entorno escolar. Además, a través de este trabajo se pretende conocer el estado de la investigación española sobre la Educación Bilingüe en los últimos 20 años, para ello, se realiza una revisión bibliométrica sobre Educación Bilingüe en España. Se concluye con el requerimiento de diagnósticos serios y rigurosos de los programas educativos, cargados de buenas prácticas en el proceso de valoración, y que posibiliten la toma de decisiones. Se precisan investigaciones sistemáticas a gran escala, bien justificadas y fundamentadas, que combinen metodologías cuantitativas y cualitativas tanto en la recogida, como en el análisis de datos, con evaluaciones longitudinales y en la medida de lo posible, con muestras aleatorias.
Palabras clave: programas de educación bilingüe, bilingüismo, educación bilingüe, adquisición de la segunda lengua, bibliometría.

The present dissertation finds its roots in a multicultural and multilingual context. It deals with the way bilingual speakers manipulate two languages as part of the same conversation. This research is based upon video recordings of family dinners and attempts to examine the use of French and English by three bilingual children, and to clarify the motivations behind the children’s language alternations. Using the method of conversation analysis, this study focuses on the family’s interactive construction of everyday interchanges. It thus presents language alternations as an intentional process and argues that language mixing in bilingual children actually reflects an additional communicative competence. After demonstrating that the three children are dominant in French, the qualitative analysis of the data has revealed that the speakers tend to switch languages when they want to either blend into conversation or mark a rupture to signal their disagreement or request attention. We also underline a possible association of one language with one interlocutor and suggest a potential link between the use of one language and the emotional state of the speaker. Mixing two languages is therefore considered a powerful and constructive device to assert oneself in family conversation.

This article examines the perceived effectiveness of multilingual upbringing strategies and ways of communication adopted by families where the parents are of two different nationalities. The theoretical introduction presents an overview of the most important issues related to the linguistic development in bi-/multilingual children, debunking common myths and misconceptions surrounding the notions of bi-/multilingualism. The empirical part analyses the results of a survey conducted among parents who raise their children multilingually, looking at the strategies of communication adopted, the perceived effectiveness thereof, and whether the respondents would have changed or improved anything if they had been given a ‘second chance’. The results show that the most frequently implemented method is the one parent-one language approach, whose usefulness the majority assessed positively. Other practical conclusions concerning multilingual upbringing are also drawn.

This chapter discusses the case of Turkish as a heritage language in Germany, considering the factors affecting heritage language maintenance and education, including parental and institutional perspectives. We contextualise this within a brief review of the history of Turkish migration to Germany, highlighting the relationship between the challenging integration process experienced by many Turkish immigrants to Germany, and the social, educational and linguistic journey of the Turkish language within the Turkish community. Data from a recent research study presents empirical data examining associations between parental perspectives, including maintaining literacy, on Turkish heritage language maintenance in Germany and the linguistic outcomes of heritage language competence within the younger generation, presented here within the formalisms of Processability Theory (Pienemann, 1998, 2005). We finish with a discussion on the lack of a uniform approach from German governments towards accommodating Turkish language within the mainstream education system and how this may affect the future of Turkish as a heritage language in Germany

Mauritian Creole (MC), first language of the majority of Mauritians, has been introduced as an optional subject in Mauritian primary schools in January 2012. Consequently, debates held along these last three decades (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal 2004, 2006, Virahsawmy 2001) on its role and of that of oriental languages on the access to elite secondary schools were brought to an end. The integration of MC in the educational system has been achieved through the setting up of the Akademi Kreol Morisien, in 2010, by the Ministry of Education. The main missions of this academy were to create: a standardized orthography and grammar for MC, a language curriculum and the teachers’ training program.

To date, we find Mauritians showing a strong opposition against the MC language status in schools. This include parents and teachers, holding the main argument that learning MC would have a negative impact on the children’s production in French, which, together with English are core subjects at primary level. However, studies performed on bilingual education (Somé 2004, Tréfault 2006, Chung Kim Chung 2013) have shown that using the mother tongue of learners produces better results in all subjects.

In the paper that we propose to present, we tackled the above situation, with focus on two factors. Firstly, we analyzed the discourses held for and against the introduction of MC in primary schools. This has been done through the study of the Mauritian population opinions on an online national newspaper (as also shown by Nadal 2015) and also based on fieldworks performed by students of the University of Mauritius from 2011 to 2014. We next had a fundamental approach to the matter by opposing the representations surrounding the introduction of MC in the educational system to the primary schools fieldwork studies that have recently been published (among which Chaumière 2014, Sujiwon 2014, Teerovengadum 2013).

We hence conclude that all referred studies showed the same trends, namely that the learning of written MC has no significant negative impact on the oral and written productions of primary school pupils. This study opens the way to consider other explanations concerning the performance of Mauritian children in French, among which the presence of a local variety of French and the personal abilities of the children.

Ausgehend von der amerikanischen Heritage-Language-Forschung werden in diesem Beitrag die in einer Pilotstudie zu italienisch-deutschsprachigen Jugendlichen im Ruhrgebiet verwendeten Instrumente zur Diskussion gestellt. Mithilfe von zwei exemplarisch vorgestellten Probanden werden zunächst die Ergebnisse von Grammatikalitätsurteilen im Italienischen zu den Bereichen der Subjekt-und Objektrealisierung sowie der Adjektiv-Substantiv-Wortstellung betrachtet. Die rezeptiven Kenntnisse in diesen Bereichen werden anschließend mit produktiven Sprachdaten abgeglichen. Der Beitrag will zum einen zu einer kritischen Reflexion der zur Spracherhebung verwendeten Instrumente beitragen, zum anderen plädiert er für eine stärkere Berücksichtigung der für Spracherhalt relevanten Kontextfaktoren.

The application of language sample analysis has been encouraged for use in assessing children from multicultural and bilingual backgrounds as a way of reducing bias (eg, Stockman, 1996). Language sample analysis is considered a standard, quantitative method that evaluates productive language at all levels of performance, including vocabulary, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics (Leadholm & Miller, 1995).

Etude de l'action conjointe du professeur et de l'élève dans le rituel du « premier regroupement du matin » en classe bilingue maternelle français-breton. Quelles interactions pour tendre vers une amélioration des capacités linguistiques à l'oral en langue seconde ? Renan KERBIQUET Année 2018-2019 Mémoire Directeurs de mémoire : Carole LE HENAFF Erwan LE PIPEC

The question of what is the difference between borrowing and code-switching has attracted the attention of scholars far and wide and gave at the same time rise to a plethora of publications in order to draw a boundary between these two terms. In the most recent of these publications (Grosjean 1982, Poplack & Meechan 1995 & 1998; to name but a few), it has been often argued that borrowings are donor-language items that are integrated in the grammar of the recipient language at a community level, while code-switches take place at individual level and they retain the grammar of the language from which they derive. However, the current political and economic uncertainties in various regions of the world have been found to cause mass refugee movements to conflict-free places, where contact between newcomers and locals usually lead to some kind of linguistic interinfluencing. The current study discusses the contact-induced German-origin lone lexical items used by Iraqi-Arabic-speaking refugees in Germany. It is the aim of this study to show whether or not these lexical items can be considered as code-switches or established borrowings. The data I am analyzing come from spontaneous and elicited conversations of the first and second wave of Iraqi-Arabic-speaking refugees and asylum seekers to Germany as well as from online-and paper-pencil-questionnaires.

Sentence repetition tasks are increasingly recognised as a useful clinical tool for diagnosing language impairment in children. They are quick to administer, can be carefully targeted to elicit specific sentence  structures, and are particularly informative about children’s lexical and morphosyntactic knowledge. This chapter explores the theoretical potential of sentence repetition for assessment of sequential bilingual children, and presents three studies comparing performance of sequential bilingual children with monolingual children’s performance on standardised sentence repetition tests in Hebrew (children with L1 Russian, age 5-7 years, and L1 English, age 4½-6½ years), German (children with L1 Russian, age 4-7 years) and English (children with L1 Turkish, age 6-9 years). Results differed across studies: distribution
of children in the Hebrew studies was in line with monolingual norms, while the majority of children in the English-Turkish study scored in a range that would be deemed impaired for monolingual children, and performance in the German-Russian study fell between these extremes. Analyses of performance within studies revealed similar discrepancies in effects of children’s exposure to L2, with significant effects of Age of Onset in the Hebrew-Russian and Hebrew-English groups and some
indication of Length of Exposure effects, but no effects of either factor in the English-Turkish group. Multiple differences between these studies preclude direct inferences about the reasons for these different results: studies differed in content, methods and scoring of sentence repetition tests, and in ages, languages, language exposure, and socioeconomic status of participants. It is possible that socioeconomic differences
are associated with differences in language experience that are equally or more important than onset and length of exposure. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that sentence repetition provides a measure of children’s proficiency in their L2, but that the use of sentence repetition in clinical assessment requires caution unless norms are available for the child’s bilingual community. As a next step, it is proposed that sentence repetition tests using early-acquired vocabulary and targeting aspects of sentence structure known to be difficult for monolingual children with language impairments should be developed in different target languages. This will allow us to explore further the factors that influence attainment of basic morphosyntax in sequential bilingual children, and the point at which sentence repetition, as a measure of morphosyntax, can help to identify children requiring clinical intervention.

A conversation between bilingualism researchers about a Japanese teacher who was a returnee from living abroad in childhood and concerned whether she was bilingual or semilingual (without mastery of either language). The authors illustrate with their long experience of raising children to be bilingual how semilingualism is largely a myth based on idealizing bilingualism, a tyranny of the native speaker model. Individual bilingualism is not a matter of perfection or balance but rather a matter of degree. Like the common type of receptive bilingual who understands a second language but has not needed to speak it, so-called semilingualism is usually just a type of bilingualism. Nearly all problems attributed to plural languages are actually social problems, where the person simply differs from mainstream expectations. This conversation can thus ease some concerns of imperfect bilinguals and intercultural parents.

The concept of affordances originating in Gibson’s work (Gibson, 1977) is gaining
ground in multilingualism studies (cf. Aronin and Singleton, 2010; Singleton and
Aronin, 2007; Dewaele, 2010). Nevertheless, studies investigating affordances in
respect of teaching, learning or using languages are still somewhat rare and tend
to treat isolated aspects of multilingualism. This is despite the fact that the theory
of affordances can actually provide a valuable, supplementary, up-to-date framework
within which a clearer, sharper description and explication of the intriguing
range of attributes of multilingual communities, educational institutions and individuals,
as well as teaching practices, become feasible. It is important that not only
researchers and practitioners (teachers, educators, parents, community and political
actors) but also language users and learners themselves should be aware of
how to identify or, if necessary, design new affordances for language acquisition
and learning. The aim of this article is to adapt the concept of affordances to multilingualism
studies and additional language teaching, and in so doing advance theoretical
understanding in this context. To this end the article contains a brief summary
of the findings so far available. The article also goes further into defining the ways of how affordances work in relation to multilingualism and second language teaching and puts forward an integrated model of affordances.

Although research often acknowledges the importance of engaging students’ home language and culture to bridge to academic literacies in English, few have explicitly examined bilingual peers as a resource for language learning. This study explores how adolescent immigrant students engaged multiple linguistic codes for language and content learning in urban US high schools.  Discourse analysis of peer interactions describes the linguistic resources available to Spanish-speaking adolescent immigrant students through their peers, and shows that emergent bilingual youth used academic language in both Spanish and English most frequently – and in more elaborated interactions – while off-task or in less supervised spaces. Classroom discourse structures often limited student participation, particularly when students utilized non-standard linguistic codes. This study addresses the widespread lack of understanding of supportive peer language use among linguistic minority students and has strong implications for school policy and practice of the additive teaching of academic language.

This thesis examines the teaching practices and ideas about language and teaching that Foundation Phase educators hold as regard literacy and language issues, and the effect of these ideas and practices on children’s learning. An ethnographic-style case study approach was used to examine classroom-based literacy and language practices. Qualitative classroom-based data indicated a disjuncture between educators’ conceptualisations about early learning and their literacy teaching practices and that the teaching practices that were evident did not facilitate successful learning on the part of the learners despite the availability and use of isiXhosa as a medium of instruction. Instead, classroom literacy lessons were limited to rote learning and memorisation, which resulted in learners being passive recipients of literacy knowledge. The study concludes that home language instruction does not of itself guarantee academic success, as learners struggle to learn when are not given the freedom to participate in classroom activities and to become active learners, despite being taught in their home language. The restrictions on learner agency were particularly evident in the English-medium class where non-isiXhosa speaking educators had no linguistic resources that they shared with the Xhosa-speaking educators and faced challenges of teaching English to learners who had little English. A localised version of English as well as isiXhosa was prevalent in these classes and was used to facilitate instruction. The thesis argued that the continuing use of these linguistic resources could be inadequate for learner’s development in standard English for test purposes. The study therefore argues that early literacy and language learning are importance tools for academic and cognitive development and points to a need for language development especially in early literacy classrooms. It also points to the importance of enhanced teacher education in South Africa, especially in under resourced schools where educators experience difficulties in applying the education curriculum in their classes.

This paper examines strategies and ways of communication adopted by bilingual families who have been raising their offspring with more than one language. We analyse the results of a survey carried out in 32 families, looking at the strategies of communication adopted, parents’ assessment of their effectiveness, and whether the respondents would have changed or improved anything if they had been given a “second chance”. The results showed that the most frequently implemented method was the one parent-one language strategy, whose usefulness the majority assessed very positively. Other interesting conclusions concerning bi- and multilingual upbringing are also discussed.

The Competency Based Language Teaching in the Algerian Middle School: From EFL Acquisition Planning to its Practical Teaching/Learning
Lamia BENADLA
Tlemcen University,
Algeria

Abstract
Algeria has adopted a new educational system called ‘the Educational Reform’ characterised by using the Competency Based Approach (CBA). Its goal is to modernise and develop education to face globalisation requirements. This reform, thus, introduces new dimensions related to globalisation like introducing ICT’s use and focusing on foreign languages teaching without falling into the trap of losing one’s identity and acculturation. This goal is not an easy task to accomplish, especially when it comes to language planning. The concern of the present paper is to give a panoramic view on EFL policy in the Algerian educational system, with focus on the middle school level, and its different objectives seen by policy makers. It attempts to have a bird’s eye view on the general situation of EFL teaching/learning in the Algerian educational system after the adoption of the CBLT method; (the Competency Based Language Teaching). Eventually, it unveils some practical problems faced in the Algerian classroom, and analyses them showing to which extent they might hinder the development of EFL teaching/ learning classroom.
Keywords: EFL, The Algerian Educational Reform, CBLT, Acquisition, Planning- Practical Teaching/ Learning

While bilingual children follow the same milestones of language
acquisition as monolingual children do in learning the syntactic
patterns of their second language (L2), their vocabulary size in L2
often lags behind compared to monolinguals. The present study
explores the comprehension and production of nouns and verbs in
Hebrew, by two groups of 5- to 6-year olds with typical language
development: monolingual Hebrew speakers (N = 26), and Russian-
Hebrew bilinguals (N = 27). Analyses not only show quantitative gaps
between comprehension and production and between nouns and
verbs, with a bilingual effect in both, but also a qualitative difference
between monolinguals and bilinguals in their production errors:
monolinguals’ errors reveal knowledge of the language rules despite
temporary access difficulties, while bilinguals’ errors reflect gaps in
their knowledge of Hebrew (L2). The nature of Hebrew as a Semitic
language allows one to explore this qualitative difference in the
semantic and morphological level.

Вопреки распространённому мнению о том, что белорусско-русская смешанная речь (БРСР), известная также под названием «трасянка», совершенно негомогенна (нерегулярна) или даже хаотична в отношении распределения белорусских или русских элементов, т.е. выражений и конструкций, на основе анализа корпуса, состоящего из разговоров, зафиксированных семейном кругу, описывается ряд тенденций к стабилизации предпочтений русских (в большинстве случаев) или же, напротив, белорусских вариантов (реже) на различных структурных уровнях. Также подчёркивается, что именно БРСР в последние десятилетия являлась для миллионов белорусов кодом первой языковой социализации, а усвоение русского и белорусского языков следует понимать как вторичный процесс в смысле изучения блокирования элементов из общего инвентаря, являющихся неприемлемыми в различных социальных контекстах, если требуется говорить по-русски или (реже) по-белорусски. При этом проводится параллель между белорусской ситуацией и языковой ситуацией в южной Германии, где в городах распространены смешанные идиомы, возникшие на основе местных диалектов и немецкого литературного языка.

This study examined the lexical-semantic organization skills of bilingually developing deaf children in American Sign Language (ASL) and English as compared to a monolingual hearing control group. A repeated meaning-association paradigm was used
to assess retrieval of semantic relations in deaf 6-10 year-olds with exposure to ASL from birth by their deaf parents (N = 12). Responses were coded as syntagmatic (ice creamdelicious)
or paradigmatic (e.g. night-day). Deaf children’ responses in L1 and L2 were compared and contrasted at the within-group level. In addition, deaf participants’ L1 (ASL) was compared to the L1 (English) responses of an age-matched control of monolingual hearing children (N=49). Finally, both groups’ semantic performance in English was compared. Results showed similar patterns of deaf children’s responses in ASL and English to hearing monolinguals but subtle language differences were also revealed. These findings suggest that sign bilinguals’ language development in ASL and English is driven by similar underlying learning mechanisms rooted in the development of semantic frameworks.

This paper examines the close parallels between the contact phenomena in Cantonese-English bilingual children and Southeast Asian creoles, especially in the domain of perfective aspect marking. 'Already' is a cross-linguistically common lexical source of perfective aspect markers given its conceptual link with the sense of perfectivity. In contact scenarios involving a European lexifier and Southeast Asian substrates, the development of 'already' into a perfective marker is further triggered by the incompatibility between the verbal morphology of the former and the isolating typology of the latter. Adopting an ecological approach to language transmission and creole genesis, we discuss how the transient grammaticalization phenomena in the bilingual children can be compared to decreolization, and how the study of bilingual acquisition can contribute to contact linguistics. Despite the prevalence of unpredictable factors in contact scenarios, we argue that bilingual children can still serve as powerful "laboratories" for studying contact outcomes at the communal level.