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

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piano, you need to practice a lot. It's the same with language. In order to learn to speak a language children need a lot of opportunities to actually speak it. Without this practice it is near impossible for children to learn to speak a language well. In conclusion For the intergenerational transmission of language to take place, children must learn to speak their parents' language(s). This sounds obvious enough, but in many regions in the world this intergenerational language transmission is just not taking place. In bilingual settings where a minority and a majority language are present the minority language is quite vulnerable: Instead of becoming fluent bilingual speakers of both a minority and a majority language about a quarter of bilingually raised children end up being monolingual speakers of just a majority language (3). There are several reasons for this. Quite fundamental are negative attitudes towards specific languages and child bilingualism. Where those exist, it will be extremely difficult to raise bilingual children. Secondly, children may not hear each of their languages sufficiently frequently and regularly. Thirdly, they may not need both of their languages for communication and may thus restrict themselves to only one. What can parents do to support their children's bilingual development? Their own positive attitudes towards both the minority and the majority language and towards early bilingualism are the cornerstone for children's successful bilingual development. Influencing attitudes from people outside the immediate family is difficult. In many cases, though, parents have a choice in who they engage to help take care of their children. Parents should carefully choose their day-care workers, pediatricians and schools. They should find professionals who are respectful of the family's language(s) and wish to raise a bilingual child. This sounds much easier than it is, but is crucial. Parents should not have to find themselves in confrontational situations where they need to defend their minority language or the fact that they wish their child to grow up speaking two languages. Many speech therapists, doctors and teachers today unfortunately still hold very negative opinions about bilingual development and will make claims that are not substantiated by the research data. Parents should rest assured that hearing two languages does NOT slow down the child's cognitive or linguistic development. Parents should ask professionals who might have to deal with their children on a longer term basis what their attitudes towards early bilingualism are, and should stay away from those who voice negative views. Parents should in addition make sure that they give their children as many opportunities to hear and speak the minority language. The majority language will most likely "fall into place" once children start to attend school, and is usually not at risk. It is the minority language that parents should focus on. If at all possible, both parents should speak the minority language at home, even if one of them does not speak it all that well. Additional contacts with the minority language through media and cultural activities, visits with older relatives and, where possible, bilingual schools, should be actively sought out. Within the family it should additionally be made into a matter of course that children respond in the minority language. This should start when children begin to speak. This 98
equires a heightened attention on the part of both mothers and fathers towards the specific language they think their child is attempting to speak in. Parents can help the bilingual development process by teaching children words in two languages. This can most easily be embedded in book reading sessions, where a book is read in the minority language, and occasionally parents say things like: "and at school they call this a Zug, but here at home we say trein" (Zug = German for train; trein = Dutch for train). Book reading is actually an excellent way of supporting minority language development, and should be started when children are about 6 months old. It is not easy to support early bilingual development. It requires a lot more work and attention from young parents, who may be overwhelmed by child rearing as it is. All the more reason to garner support from grandparents and other relatives and friends who can speak the minority language and ask them to play and interact with the young bilinguals-tobe. Such trans generational and community support is paramount for minority language survival. Notes (1) Although much of what I write here most probably relates to trilingual settings as well, I focus on the development of just two languages. There has been insufficient research on early trilingual development. Yet, the statements in the first paragraph apply to trilingual settings as well. (2) I have chosen to situate the examples in Brittany, Finland, Friesland and Wales (in this alphabetical order). The fact that some examples are more positive for a region and others more negative is entirely coincidental. (3) They can, of course, go on to learning other languages, including the minority language, later on in life. The latter appears to be quite uncommon, though. 99
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Multilingual Early Language Transmi
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The MELT project is carried out in
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in chapter 4, have demonstrated tha
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4.2 Early immersion approach in pre
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The MELT project aims: - to identif
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The tasks, deliverables and respons
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1.2.1 Guide for pre-school practiti
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1.2.4 Expert seminars and conferenc
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2. Information on best practices in
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However, the European Commission an
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2.2 Fryslân in the Netherlands 2.2
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those of single parents, attend the
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The Foundation SFBO was founded in
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speaking children; the idea is that
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Child-staff ratios and maximum grou
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2.4 Wales in UK 2.4.1 Background in
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of the nursery and playgroups. In W
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It combines what currently was call
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2.5 Brittany in France 2.5.1 Backgr
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Collaboration between pre-school pr
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Parents in Brittany are mostly also
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2.5.3 Training of practitioners The
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2.6 Summary of best practices in th
Page 47 and 48: 3. Multilingual Early Language Tran
Page 49 and 50: ecognised as a language or not; in
Page 51 and 52: ‘starting age’, ‘social and g
Page 53 and 54: 3.3 Definition of Multilingual Earl
Page 55 and 56: This general division in years is f
Page 57 and 58: should adopt strategies to reinforc
Page 59 and 60: children was not good for their int
Page 61 and 62: 4. Multilingual Early Language Tran
Page 63 and 64: status even if the grounds are some
Page 65 and 66: The “language-time” strategy is
Page 67 and 68: multilingual person it is important
Page 69 and 70: 5.1.1. Quality of language input Th
Page 71 and 72: answers with a physical response su
Page 73 and 74: acquisition. Some pre-school staff
Page 75 and 76: Most participating settings are now
Page 77 and 78: has to be able to understand the ne
Page 79 and 80: 6. Recommendations and challenges L
Page 81 and 82: 6.3 Multilingual Early Language Tra
Page 83 and 84: 6.5 Challenges for the future At mi
Page 85 and 86: References Alvarez, L., Mac Swan, J
Page 87 and 88: Duquette, G. (1992). The home cultu
Page 89 and 90: McGrath, E., Repetti, R. L. (2000).
Page 91 and 92: 7. “Early Bilingual Development:
Page 93 and 94: Needless to say, if parents themsel
Page 95 and 96: Let's compare Pelle's case with the
Page 97: languages they are learning. Also,
Page 101 and 102: 8. “Immersion Preschooling in Ire
Page 103 and 104: Curriculum and Training for Irish M
Page 105 and 106: using the language every day...with
Page 107 and 108: This is supported by research showi
Page 109 and 110: References Baker, C. (1997). Langua
Page 111 and 112: Ó Laoire, M. (2006). Language educ
Page 113 and 114: Those of us working for this progra
Page 115 and 116: of 180 study points whereof 20 are
Page 117 and 118: exclude the increasing social class
Page 119 and 120: References Advisory Board for Early
Page 121 and 122: Appendix A: Partnership of the MELT
Page 123 and 124: Appendix B: MELT Project flyer Engl
Page 125 and 126: Dutch version: Frisian version: 125
Page 127 and 128: Appendix C: MELT Awareness-raising
Page 129: This project has been funded with s
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