Families provide the main support for children’s early vocabulary development. Language acquisition in a multilingual environment depends on the linguistic input children receive in their different languages and on their opportunities to use these languages. There are also significant emotional benefits associated with maintaining home languages – children can use their home language to communicate with friends and family, for example, talking to grandparents who are speakers of that language. Knowing more than one language can also help children in their learning of other languages and increase their flexibility in social interaction. Research has shown the cognitive benefits of bilingualism. Growing up with different languages can have many advantages. Families and supportive communities play a central role in maintaining home languages. If the home language of the family is a minority language in society, it may require particular support. They may develop different competencies in their languages over time and use them in different situations. Multilingual home environmentsĬhildren may encounter two or more languages in the home or they may enter an education system in which the language of instruction is different from their home language.
It will focus on vocabulary development across languages and look at ways in which educators can support multilingual children and their families. This article will consider how families can support their children’s language acquisition in multilingual environments. They use words to express thoughts and learn new concepts.
Children learn to communicate with words and acquire new words through social interaction. Language acquisition is a vital part of children’s socialisation and early learning experience. If you want to cite this paper, please use the following reference:Ĭatibusic-Finnegan, Bronagh (2017): Supporting multilingual children’s literacy development.
0 kommentar(er)
