A relation between acculturation and second‐language acquisition in the classroom: A study of Turkish immigrant children born in the Netherlands

Abstract

Abstract Schumann (1978) suggested that the degree of acculturation is a major causal factor in spontaneous second language acquisition. This article will explore to what extent acculturation might be related to classroom second language acquisition. Eighteen eight to nine year old Turkish immigrant children who were born and brought up in the Netherlands were rank‐ordered with respect to both their Dutch language proficiency and degree of acculturation. The relationship between the two turns out to be positive and significant, but it is not really high (rs = 0.61, p < 0.01). It is concluded that as far as this specific group of L2 learners is concerned, acculturation is an important, but not necessarily a major, causal factor in classroom second language acquisition. Most of the children in this study seem to be integratively orientated towards the Dutch community, without having lost their Turkish identity. The children who show a segregative orientation towards the Dutch community, tend to have a relat...