Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies (ELIAS). Final Report. Public Part
Author: Kersten, Kristin, Ed.
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Global Approach,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Ethnography,Participant Observation,Cultural Awareness,Cultural Pluralism,Multilingualism,Program Descriptions,Preschool Education,Bilingual Education,Linguistic Input,Measures (Individuals),Vocabulary Development,Grammar,Educational Benefits,Foreign Countries,Observation

More than ever before, educational institutions are called upon to prepare young children for the demands of an increasingly globalised world and the challenges of preserving our biosphere upon which all human life depends. In order to provide them with the personal and professional foundations they need to participate in a multilingual and multicultural society, education systems increasingly aim at imparting sound knowledge of foreign languages, intercultural skills, and individual as well as collective environmental awareness, at the earliest stage possible, i.e. ideally at the start of a lifelong learning process. The EU-funded multilateral Comenius Project ELIAS (Early Language and Intercultural Acquisitions Studies) investigated ten bilingual preschools across Europe over a period of two years. Ethnographic participant observation of preschool activities, as well as a number of standardised and non-standardised tests for language development revealed that: (1) At preschool level, children already learn and successfully apply different strategies of intercultural competence; (2) The children attain a high level of competence in the foreign language (English), whereby language comprehension is in advance of language production. The level of language competence depends on the amount of contact with the language, as well as the language specific teaching methodological principles of the preschool teachers, that is, the way language is used when interacting with the children. Children with migration background learn the language faster than children with a monolingual German background; (3) The native language is not affected by the intensive input in the foreign language; on the contrary, the children's level of German increases developmentally according to their age. Children with migration background are not as disadvantaged as was initially feared: in line with other studies, it was shown that both languages of the children benefit from an increased language awareness; and (4) The children in a bilingual zoo preschool following an &quot;green immersion&quot; program show significant progress in terms of bilingual environmental competence. This development was found to depend on the age of the child as well as other individual factors. [Contributors include: Suzanne Akerman, Petra Burmeister, Aafke Buyl, Maria Büllesfeld, Jutta Daszenies, Martina Drewing, Michael Ewig, Anna Flyman Mattsson, Eva Frey, Lydia Gerlich, Lena Gotthardt, Jessica Granados, Alexandra Hähnert, Gisela Håkansson, Alex Housen, Jaklin Isensee, Sonja Janssens, Elke Kalbe, Holger Kersten, Kristin Kersten, Julia Kögler, Barbara Leloux, Annette Lommel, Sylvia Luft, Ute Massler, Katharina Neils, Svenja Pahl, Kai Perret, Thorsten Piske, Andreas Rohde, Marion Salentin, Christina Schelletter, Anke Schneider, Annelie Schober, Anja Steinlen, Sarah Taylor, Ramona Thierer, Shannon Thomas, Inge Strunz, Christine Tiefenthal, Christian Trumpp, Martina Weitz, Insa Wippermann, and Henning Wode.]