Abstract
In this study, we examine the mother tongue proficiency of pre-school children from high-income and highly educated families in Antalya, Turkey. The study used the Turkish version of the Hamburger Instrument for the Analysis of the Language Level of 5-year olds (HAVAS 5) linguistic-level diagnostic tool that is originally employed to form the basis of individually customized language support programs. The study group of this research was made up of 41 pre-school children (n= 41; 29 boys, 12 girls). Furthermore, a semi-structured interview (SSI) form was developed by the authors and finally conducted with 3 mothers and their husbands (n=6). Our study results show that the majority of the children (33/41) from high-income and highly educated families showed an advanced level of language proficiency especially in the realm of vocabulary acquisition. In particular, the children were observed to be self-confident when using their mother tongue and that they did not hesitate to take initiatives during the HAVAS 5 storytellings. Our qualitative results suggest also that a small group of children who are either introverts or having lower level language proficiency may have a specific trait, condition or characteristic. Based on the data from interviews, emotional atmosphere of the family, parenting styles, speech sound disorder (SSD) or excessive screen-based media use might reasonably be suspected of having some influence on mother tongue proficiency.
Highlights
The gaps in the language development and speech impairments are common among children but remain underdiagnosed (Helot & Young, 2002)
The first stage used the profile analysis approach applied to oral discourse for tracking native language proficiency (L1) of Turkish children (n= 41; 29 boys, 12 girls) from high-income and highly educated families, and the second used a semi-structured interview (SSI) form conducted with parents of 3 children in our study group with different profiles in terms of language proficiency to elucidate the possible reasons and various factors that could contribute to the children’s low proficiency level in First Language (L1)
Of the children included in the study, 59% (n=24) scored above the average calculated for Hamburg in all categories
Summary
The gaps in the language development and speech impairments are common among children but remain underdiagnosed (Helot & Young, 2002). Various comparative analyses that we conducted within the framework of the research have shown that the children living in Turkey have a higher language level especially in the realm of vocabulary acquisition in contrast to their peers in Germany. These results are supported by previous studies on effect of socioeconomic status on language development (Eisenwort et al, 2018; Loboda et al, 2016; Perry & McConney, 2010; Tomul & Savasci, 2012; UNESCO, 2012; OECD, 2016). This study is expected to benefit other researchers working with immigrant children who are interested in issues such as language acquisition, language support (Becker, 2006; Jung, 2012) and integration (Kaltenbacher & Erika Klages, 2006; BGBl, 2009)
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