Abstract
In this chapter we will present the results of a study with the main objective to gain more insight in the bilingual development of language minority children with an immigrant background, addressing specifically the issue of transfer from L1 to L2 versus the competition for scarce resources between L1 and L2. We focused on young children from low income Moroccan-Berber-Dutch and Turkish-Dutch first and second generation immigrant families that predominantly used Tarifit-Berber respectively Turkish at home. The patterns of home language use and children’s language development were compared with the home language use and language development of same-aged Dutch children of socioeconomically varied backgrounds. The results of the present study suggested a small positive transfer effect of skills built up in L1 on the acquisition of skills in L2, as predicted by the so called linguistic interdependency hypothesis. Though, given the effects an exclusive effort to promote L1 development cannot be justified. Supporting L1, if accompanied by effective early education in Dutch, extending the total amount of time for language learning, may be a recommendable strategy.
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Leseman, P.P.M., Scheel, A.F., Mayo, A.Y., Messer, M.H. (2009). Bilingual development in early childhood and the languages used at home: competition for scarce resources?. In: Gogolin, I., Neumann, U. (eds) Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The Bilingualism Controversy. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91596-8_17
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