Synonyms
Minority language; Second language
Definition
Immigrant languages are spoken by immigrant communities. They are distinct from heritage languages or historical minority languages that have links to indigenous peoples or have been spoken in the country of migration for several generations.
Current Knowledge
It typically takes between 2–5 years to develop oral or conversational language proficiency in a second language; however, acquisition of academic language proficiency can take considerably longer, usually between 5 and 10 years. The rate of academic language acquisition is mediated by a number of factors including the age and educational experience in the primary language at the time of arrival in the host country. Children aged 8 or above on arrival typically take 5–7 years to reach academic language proficiency, whereas younger L2 learners can take up to 10 years (Hakuta et al. 2000). After the age of 12, L2 learners make good progress but do not have time to catch up...
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References and Readings
Blommaert, J. (2009). Language, Asylum and the national order. Current Anthropology, 50(4), 451–444.
Cummins, J. (1981). Age on arrival and immigrant second language learning in Canada: A reassessment. Applied Linguistics, 2(2), 132–149.
Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency? Santa Barbara: University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute.
Kaplan, I., Stolk, Y., Valibhoy, M., Tucker, A., & Baker, J. (2016). Cognitive assessment of refugee children: Effects of trauma and new language acquisition. Transcultural Psychiatry, 53(1), 81–109.
Kelleher, A. (2010) Who is a heritage language learner? Santa Barbara: University of California Center for Applied Linguistics, Heritage Briefs. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/heritage/pdfs/briefs/Who-is-a-Heritage-Language-Learner.pdf Downloaded 5/10/2017.
Kohnert, K., Windsor, J., & Ebert, K. D. (2010). Bilingual children with primary language impairment: Issues, evidence and implications for clinical actions. Journal of Communication Disorders, 43(6), 456–473.
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McGirl, P. (2018). Immigrant Languages. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9159
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9159
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