Multilingual Early Language Transmission (MELT) - Mercator ...

in chapter 4, have demonstrated that when parents and pre-school practitioners consistently
speak the minority language to children, this will ultimately lead to better results in the
majority language as well; the level of development of children’s mother tongue is a strong
predictor of their second or third language development. The promotion and stimulation of
smaller state and regional & minority languages from an early age is crucial to the overall
development of the child, i.e. its becoming a permanently multilingual individual, particularly
in an era of ever-increasing globalisation. The MELT project explicitly stresses that the
acquisition of the minority language at an early age is favourable to the development of the
multilingual individual.
Nevertheless, to become a multilingual individual, some conditions will have to be met: the
child must feel the need to communicate and to interact with others and to speak more
languages; different factors such as language input and a positive language attitude in the
social environment must be present; the child should have a natural development; the
parents should choose a ‘fitting’ language strategy of immersion. When these conditions are
met, the child is in a position to grow up multilingually. To continue as a multilingual
individual, it is not only important that there be a balance between all conditions, but also
that they are fulfilled during the different developmental stages (infant, toddler, school
child, adolescent and young adult etc.). When continued attention is paid to all conditions,
we may speak of a “continuous multilingual development” in which the child may hopefully
develop into a multilingual individual. The model of continuous multilingual development is
presented in chapter 4.4.
Chapter 5 contains recommendations for materials and resources in pre-school. During the
implementation process of the Guide in the four regions, the tutors experienced that
immersion and language acquisition was most successful when pre-school practitioners
offered the children a rich and varied input in the minority language. In general, however,
pre-school practitioners need confidence and guidance in developing the correct skills and
expertise necessary for the creation of an environment and the implementation of activities
that will promote the child’s language development.
In chapter 6 recommendations and future challenges are formulated, directed at local and
regional authorities as well as national governments and European organisations. The overall
goal of these recommendations and challenges is the strengthening of the relationship
between theory and practice with respect to the multilingual upbringing of children.
The publication is augmented by three contributions on special themes regarding language
learning and training of practitioners, written by international experts.
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