Componenten Van Tweede-Taalbeheersing

Abstract

This study contains a reanalysis of some of the data collected by Cummins et al. (to appear), in their study of Japanese and Viet-namese immigrant students in Canada. The present study focusses on the English communicative test data elicited from 11 grade 2/3 and 11 grade 5/6 Japanese students who had been in Canada from 15 months to 5| years. The objectives of the present study were (1) to code these data for characteristics of various L2 proficiency aspects suggested in the literature, (2) to look for clustering patterns among the coded variables by means of factor analyses (tables 3 and 4), and (3) to assess how the variables and common factors in the students' L2 performance were related to their Age and Length of Residence in Canada (by means of analyses of variance: table 5). The findings demonstrate that there is more to L2 proficiency than 'just1 knowledge of words and grammar rules. It is the type of task in which this knowledge has to be applied that plays a crucial moderating role. A paper-and-pencil reading test, a face-to-face interview, and a story telling task all measure linguistic skills, but each does so in a very different way, and along with different nonlinguistic skills. Furthermore, this study yielded 'Communicative Style' as a nonlinguistic L2 proficiency factor, not related to Age or Length of Residence. Future research will have to show whether Communicative Style must be considered a genuine language proficiency component or rather an artifact (method effect) created by the use of two type of tests, interactional and noninteractional tests.