Early Language Transmission and Pre-school Provisions for ...

Janw

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• Natural language
• Dialect
• Ethnic group
• Regionalism
• Folklore

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• Publié par: Voxpopuli
• Nombre de lectures: 139
• Langue: English

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EarlyLanguageTransmissionandPre‐schoolProvisionsforRegional–andMinorityLanguages

EarlyLanguageTransmissionandPre‐schoolProvisionsforRegional–andMinority Languages Inthe21stcenturyallEuropeancitizensliveinamultilingualenvironment.Intheirdailylives theycomeacrossmanydifferentlanguages.Consequentlythereisagrowinginterestin multilingualismandanincreasingneedfor(regional/minority)languagecommunitiesto exchangeexperiencesandtocooperate.AsdefinedbytheEuropeanCharterforRegionalor MinorityLanguages(ECRML),“regionalorminoritylanguages”arelanguagestraditionally usedwithinagiventerritoryofastatebynationalsofthatstatewhoformagroup numericallysmallerthantherestofthestate’spopulation;theyaredifferentfromthe officiallanguage(s)ofthatstate,andtheyincludeneitherdialectsoftheofficiallanguage(s) ofthestatenorthelanguagesofmigrants.TakingthedefinitionoftheCharterintoaccount, thereareapproximately60minoritylanguagesinEurope.Therearehowevermanymore, forexamplecrossborderlanguagecommunities.Approximately55millionpeopleinEurope speakaminoritylanguage(roughestimate).Regionalorminoritylanguagesarespokenin mostEuropeancountries. Asindicatedabovemultilingualismcanhaveitsownperspectiveforregionalandminority languages,aswellasforcrossborderlanguages,constitutionalandsmallstatelanguages. Theselanguagecommunitieshave,underdifferentcircumstances,longstandingtraditions withlanguagetransmissionallcontexts–whetherformal,non‐formalorinformal–andatall levels:fromearlychildhoodandschoolsthroughtohighereducation,vocationaleducation andtrainingandadultlearning. ArecentinitiativeonaEuropeanscaleistheMELTproject(MultilingualEarlyLanguage Transmission,www.meltproject.eu)withfourparticipatinglanguagecommunities:Frisianin theNetherlands,SwedishinFinland,WelshintheUKandBretoninFrance. Belowaresomeofthecurrentchallengesinthefieldofmultilingualearlylanguage transmissioninthecontextofregional–andminoritylanguages: Competencesofcaretakersandpre‐schoolpractitioners OneofthefourstrategicobjectivesfromET2020is:improvingthequalityandefficiencyof educationandtraining.Itisimportantthatstudentsacquirelanguageawarenessandthe abilitytodealwithdifferentlanguagesattheirfutureworkplace.Onlyqualitativeand qualifiedcaretakersandteachersshouldbeworkingwith(young)children. Languagesareanessentialpartoftheschoolcurriculum.AcrossEurope,nurseries, playgroups,pre‐schools,andkindergartensaresettingthestageforchildrentolearntwoor morelanguages.Researchonthissubjectcouldlookatthemultilingualcompetencesofthe earlylanguagelearningteachersinthedaycarecentrewithchildrenfrom0;6‐4;0years. Alsothedifferencesbetweenthetrainingqualitiesfromearlylanguagelearningteachers acrossEuropecouldbefurtherinvestigatedandclarifiedmoreindepth. Researchquestionscouldbe:

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January2011

EarlyLanguageTransmissionandPre‐schoolProvisionsforRegional–andMinorityLanguages

‐Aretheresetcriteriainteachingaboutminoritylanguages? ‐Whataretheminimumentryrequirementsofthestudytobecomeacaretakeror pre‐schoolpractitionerandwhatarethedifferencesinEurope? ‐Whatcompetencesshouldrecentlygraduatedcaretakersandpre‐school practitionershaveconcerninglanguagetransmissioninamultilingualcontext? Continuousmultilinguallanguagetransmission Agoodconnectionandtransferoftheleveloflanguageacquisitionbetweenforexamplethe kindergartentoanotherinstitution(forexample,nurseryschool)isvital.Teachersfrom primaryschoolsneedcertainknowledge,somebackgroundinformation,tomeettheneeds ofthechild.Itgivesprimaryschoolteachersconfidenceiftheyknowthatinthepre‐school periodstructuredworkhasbeendoneonthedevelopmentoflanguageskills.Researchon thissubjectacrossEuropeisnecessary.Researchquestionscouldbe: ‐Whatisthecurrentpracticeofanintegratedapproachthroughmultiplelevelsof educationconcerninglanguagetransmissioninEurope? ‐AretheregoodpracticesinEuropeofindividuallanguageportfolioson multilingualisminthepre‐schoolsector? Methodsoflanguagetransfer Agoodcommandofthemothertongueatayoungageiscrucialforthefurthereducational career.Vocabularyisimprovedbyofferingyoungchildrenalanguagerichenvironment. Thereis,however,stilldiscussionaboutmethods.Shouldlanguagesbeacquiredsequential (onelanguageatthetime)orsimultaneous?Forthesimultaneouslanguageacquisition thereare,inturn,severaloptions.Oneperson,onelanguageforinstance,oronesituation, onelanguage. Thedifferencesinlevelandinstructuresforpre‐schooleducationvarywidelythroughout Europe.Somehaveahalfdaysetting;othershaveafulldaysetting.Somechildrengooncea weektoaplaygroup,otherchildrengofourtimesaweektoaplaygroup.Goodcontactwith thehomesituationisthereforeimportant,ifnotimperative.Raisingtheawarenessofthe parentsofthebenefitsofmultilingualism,especiallyconcerningregional–andminority languagesisthereforeanecessarystep. Forregional–andminoritylanguagesthebalancebetweenlanguagesisalsoanimportant aspect.Ifthedivisionbetweenthemajority(dominant)languageandminoritylanguageis 50/50,thedominantlanguage(outsidethehome)willprevail.Inordertocreatean‘equal change’youwouldneedadifferentdistribution.Abalancedlanguageinputisnecessaryfor achildtogrowupmultilingualandproperlyacquirehis/hermothertongue. Newcomersinmultilingualregions Throughincreasedmobilityandincreasingnumbersof‘mixed‐cultural’marriages,children willincreasinglybecomemultilingualcitizens.Forimmigrants(orpersonscomingfromthe samecountrybutadifferentlanguagebackground)movingintoacommunitywitharegional –orminoritylanguage,thiscouldincreasethechallengeofintegration.Languagesare consideredasavitalelementtointegration,butthenagain,languagesarenotexclusive, theycanbeacquiredbyanyone.

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