Breadcrumb

Bilingual development in childhood: A bird's-eye overview 

Kultur & språk

Annick de Houwer vid University of Erfurt och HaBilNet kommer att hålla ett högre seminarium på Institutionen för svenska, flerspråkighet och språkteknologi.

Seminarium
Date
3 Oct 2022
Time
13:15 - 15:00
Location
Sal J303 på Humanisten, Renströmsgatan 6.

Participants
Annick de Houwer, University of Erfurt och HaBilNet.
Organizer
Institutionen för svenska, flerspråkighet och språkteknologi

In the first decade of life, children become bilingual in different language learning environments. Many children start learning two languages from birth (Bilingual First Language Acquisition). In early childhood hitherto monolingual children start hearing a second language through daycare or preschool (Early Second Language Acquisition). Yet other hitherto monolingual children in middle childhood may acquire a second language only after entering school (Second Language Acquisition). This talk explains how these different language learning settings dynamically affect bilingual children's language learning trajectories. All children eventually learn to speak the societal language, but they often do not learn to fluently speak their non-societal language and may even stop speaking it. Children's and families' harmonious bilingualism is threatened if bilingual children do not develop high proficiency in both languages. Educational institutions and parental conversational practices play a pivotal role in supporting harmonious bilingual development.