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Children's language networks and teachers' input in minority language immersion: What goes in may not come out
Author(s)
Date Issued
2007-01
Date Available
2014-02-06T10:07:40Z
Abstract
A central tenet of two-way immersion has been that the minority language children
benefit from mother-tongue support in addition to instruction and interaction in the
majority language (usually English) with their peers in high-prestige programmes, while
the English-speakers gain valuable opportunities for peer interaction in their L2 with
native-speakers. Such mixing of L1 and L2 learners of the target language also occurs in
minority language immersion programmes. This study presents a qualitative study of
L1 minority language children’s output in such mixed groups by examining their
language networks and use of the target language, Irish1, in Irish-medium preschools or
naÃonraà where they are interacting with L2 learners of Irish. Such networks are
particularly interesting in the informal setting of preschool, where children have more
freedom to move around and choose their interlocutor than in formal classrooms. This
exploration of the children’s output and their language choices raises pertinent questions
about the needs of minority language children for direct L1 enrichment. This leads to an
examination of aspects of the teachers’ input to these minority language children in light
of their linguistic needs and the evidence of contact phenomena in their output.
Type of Material
Journal Article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Journal
Language and Education
Volume
21
Issue
1
Start Page
46
End Page
65
Copyright (Published Version)
2007 Taylor & Francis
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
File(s)
Name
Hickey 2007 Children's Language networks LangEd Corrected PROOFs FOr REpositorypdf.pdf
Size
145.6 KB
Format
Owning collection
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