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

Children need to have language input in a variety of situations from people that matters to
them, there has to be a “linguistic soundscape” (De Houwer, 2009: 97).
Grosjean (2010) calls it “amount of input.” Apart from amount of input he distinguishes
other “factors” leading to language acquisition and maintenance and “the need of
language.”
Figure 3.3 Factors leading to the acquisition and maintance of another language in children. (Grosjean, 2010:
172).
The first factor that plays a role in the level of bilingual development is “amount of input”:
children need to receive a varied and differentiated language input.
The second factor is “type of input”: young bilingual children use code-switching, but they
have to get “monolingual” input too, as naturally as possible. Sometimes a monolingual role
can be taken on by members of the extended family who do not know the other language.
Written language is also very important: it is an excellent source of vocabulary and cultural
information that children may not have in their normal environment (De Houwer, 2009).
When the need for language disappears or is not really there and factors are missing, then
the child will no longer use the language and the language will steadily be forgotten. “The
role of the family” and “the role of the school and the community” are the third and fourth
factor respectively. If the minority language is not support by family, school, and the
community, there is a good chance that this language will lose importance and disappear
from the child’s language repertoire.
So far, this analysis applies to any bilingual situation with young children. However, not all
bilingual situations are equal. Family settings (mother-tongue, father-tongue, the language
of other family members or caretakers) and language environment settings (outside the
home, for example day-care centre) are different. In settings with a minority language as
mother-tongue, the majority language is also present in every aspect of the child’s life
(through media/television etc.). Parents, caretakers, and teachers should be aware of
processes their children are going through as they are acquiring (or losing) a language. They
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