Mila Schwartz
Much is known about dual language programs such as the two-way program and the language immersion programs in North America. Little is known about the one-way dual language education program, and specifically about a 'First Language First' model, which maintains sequential exposure to a second language after relative maturity in L1.
Early sequential bilingualism has been focused on as a result of theoretical and methodological debates on the linguistic and cognitive development of children whose age of first exposure to L2 lies between the ages of 1 and 4 years of age. Unlike simultaneous bilingual children, early sequential bilinguals have been less thoroughly investigated and it’s still not clear how these bilingual children acquire L1 and L2. It is notable also that sequential L2 acquisition is a situation that frequently occurs within immigrant families, where children are exposed to the second and dominant language of the host society only after entering a pre-school educational setting (Montrul, 2008).
In my presentation I will address results from a multi-componential research project investigating a network of Russian-Hebrew speaking preschools in Israel, which implement a 'First Language First' approach with sequential exposure to L2. My focus will be on: (1) the ways in which preschool policy makers, teachers and parents with their family language policy influence children's bilingual development in L1 (Russian) and L2 (Hebrew); (2) The effect of the 'First Language First' approach on L1 and L2 development of early sequential bilinguals with regard to lexical knowledge, inflectional morphology and narrative.
The results of the study point out that relatively late L2 immersion resulted in a situation whereby L2 development was anchored as a result of an advanced level of L1. The data in different linguistic domains bring empirical evidence for Paradis's (2008) maturation hypothesis, which assumes that L1 vocabulary may facilitate the conceptual-lexical mappings between L1 and L2. As a result, older learners who began learning L2 after onset of L1 acquisition can actually accumulate vocabulary and grammatical knowledge faster than younger L2 learners who have been exposed to L2 for the same amount of time.
References:
Montrul, S. (2008). Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism. Re-examining the Age Factor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Paradis, J. (2008, October). Are simultaneous and early sequential bilingual acquisition fundamentally different? Paper presented at Models of Interaction in Bilinguals: International Conference of Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice, Bangor University, Bangor, UK.
Published: Thursday, March 1, 2012
