The second-language vocabulary trajectories of Turkish immigrant children in Norway from ages five to ten: the role of preschool talk exposure, maternal education, and co-ethnic concentration in the neighborhood

Veslemøy Rydland,Vibeke Grøver,Joshua Lawrence

doi:10.1017/s0305000912000712

Veslemøy Rydland, Vibeke Grøver + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000912000712

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Abstract

Little research has explored how preschools can support children's second-language (L2) vocabulary development. This study keenly followed the progress of twemty-six Turkish immigrant children growing up in Norway from preschool (age five) to fifth grade (age ten). Four different measures of preschool talk exposure (amount and diversity of teacher-led group talk and amount and diversity of peer talk), as well as the demographic variables of maternal education and co-ethnic concentration in the neighborhood, were employed to predict the children's L2 vocabulary trajectories. The results of growth analyses revealed that maternal education was the only variable predicting children's vocabulary growth during the elementary years. However, teacher-led talk, peer talk, and neighborhood predicted children's L2 vocabulary skills at age five, and these differences were maintained up to age ten. This study underscores the importance of both preschool talk exposure (teacher-led talk and peer talk) and demographic factors on L2 learners' vocabulary development.

Highlights

Vocabulary knowledge has been identified as an important proxy for children’s oral language skills, and it is a critical source of RYDLANDETAL.variation in the reading comprehension performance of second-language (L2) learners (Lervag & Aukrust, 2010 ; Rydland, Aukrust, & Fulland, 2012)
This study investigated talk exposure within several Norwegian preschool classrooms serving mainly immigrant children who grew up in multi-ethnic neighborhoods
We found that the children’s vocabulary skills at the age of five could be uniquely predicted based on the talk they were exposed to in teacher-led group conversations and peer driven play in preschool, as well as the neighborhood type they grew up in

Summary

Introduction

Vocabulary knowledge has been identified as an important proxy for children’s oral language skills, and it is a critical source of RYDLANDETAL.variation in the reading comprehension performance of second-language (L2) learners (Lervag & Aukrust, 2010 ; Rydland, Aukrust, & Fulland, 2012). L2 learners in Norway have in elementary school years been observed to fall behind their language-majority peers with respect to vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension (Lervag & Aukrust, 2010), and it is of urgent importance to identify how the talk children are exposed to prior to elementary school entrance, as well as the demography they are embedded in, may support their L2 vocabulary development. We designed the study to examine the impact of preschool talk exposure (in teacher-led talk and peer talk) and demographic variables (maternal education and co-ethnic concentration in the neighborhood) on children’s L2 vocabulary acquisition. To investigate these issues longitudinally, we used growth curve analysis. We predict differences in children’s L2 vocabulary scores at age five, which is the onset of this study (intercept), as well as their rate of L2 vocabulary development up to age ten (growth slope)

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