Narrative development among language-minority children: the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education

Abstract

The development of script schema, as a source of narrative knowledge, is an essential stage in this knowledge construction. This study focused on the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education in the development of script schema knowledge in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among Russian/Hebrew-speaking children in Israel. The preschool bilingual education was based on the ‘first language first approach’ with L2 immersion around age three. The study design was longitudinal and comparative. The children's script schema knowledge was measured at three time points during one academic year. Thirty-two Russian/Hebrew-speaking bilinguals (around age three) were selected from bilingual (Russian/Hebrew) and monolingual (Hebrew) preschools. In addition, 19 Hebrew-speaking monolinguals acted as the control group. The results demonstrated that relatively late immersion in L2 and continuous development of L1 within a bilingual educational context does not impede the acquisition of script schema knowledge in L2. At the same time, in the case of the monolingual preschools, the lack of input in children's L1 within the educational curriculum seems to hinder their script schema development in this language. Finally, the research provides evidence of linguistic interdependence near to onset of script schema acquisition.