Keywords
primary school
young learners
grammar
minority language
How to Cite
Number of views: 1191
Number of downloads: 553
Abstract
Both for the first language (L1) and for all additional languages (L2 or L3), grammatical knowledge plays a vital role in understanding texts (e.g., Grabe, 2005). However, little is known about the development and interaction of grammar and reading comprehension in beginning foreign language learning, especially with respect to children with a minority language background. This longitudinal study, therefore, examined minority and majority language children’s English grammar and reading comprehension skills. The children attended a German-English partial immersion primary school and were tested at the end of Grades 3 and 4. As expected, we found grammar to affect reading comprehension but also reverse effects. Most importantly, the results did not reveal any differences between the two language groups, irrespective of the test. Therefore, immersion primary school programs seem to be suitable for minority language children, and these children do not automatically represent an at-risk group for foreign language learning.
References
Akbari, Z. (2014). The role of grammar in second language reading comprehension: Iranian ESP context. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 122-126.
Alderson, C. (1993). The relationship between grammar and reading in English for academic purposes test battery. In D. Douglas & C. Chapelle (Eds.), A new decade of language testing research: Selected papers from the 1990 Language Testing Research Colloquium (pp. 213-219). Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Angelovska, T., & Hahn, A. (2014). Raising language awareness for learning and teaching L3 grammar. In A. Benati, C. Laval, & M. Arche (Eds.), The grammar dimension in instructed second language learning (pp. 185-207). London: Bloomsbury. Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung (2016). Bildung in Deutschland. 2015. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.
Bernhardt, E. B. (2000). Second-language reading as a case study of reading scholarship in the 20th century. In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research ( Vol. III, pp. 791-811). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Bleakley, H., & Chin, A. (2004). Language skills and earnings: Evidence from childhood immigrants. Review of Economics and Statistics, 86, 481-496.
Bos, W., & Pietsch, M. (2006). Kess 4: Kompetenzen und Einstellungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern am Ende der Jahrgangsstufe 4 in Hamburger Grundschulen. Münster: Waxmann.
Bulheller, S., & Häcker, H. (2010). Coloured Progressive Matrices mit der Parallelform des Tests und der Puzzle-Form. Manual zu Raven's Progressive Matrices und Vocabulary Scales von J.C. Raven, J. Raven und J. H. Court. Frankfurt: Pearson.
Burwitz, M. (2010). Lesen und Schreiben im Englischunterricht der Primarschule und des Übergangs (Klasse 3 bis 6). In J. Appel, S. Doff, J. Rymarczyk, & E. Thaler (Eds.), Foreign language teaching: History, theory, methods (pp. 101-122). Berlin: Langenscheidt.
Buyl, A., & Housen, A. (2015). Developmental stages in receptive grammar acquisition: A Processability Theory account. Second Language Research, 31, 523-550.
Celce-Murcia, M., & Olshtain, E. (2000). Discourse and context in language teaching. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Chudaske, J. (2012). Sprache, Migration und schulfachliche Leistung: Einfluss sprachlicher Kompetenz auf Lese-, Rechtschreib- und Mathematikleistungen. Wiesbaden: VS. Dickinson, D. K., Griffith, J. A., Golinkoff, M. A., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2012). How reading books fosters language development around the world. Child Development Research. doi: 10.1155/2012/602807
Dollmann, J. (2010). Türkischstämmige Kinder am ersten Bildungsübergang. Wiesbaden: VS. Draugalis, J. R., Coons S. J., & Plaza C. M. (2008). Best practices for survey research reports: A synopsis for authors and reviewers. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 72(1), 11.
Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elsner, D. (2007). Hörverstehen im Englischunterricht der Grundschule. Ein Leistungsvergleich zwischen Kindern mit Deutsch als Muttersprache und Deutsch als Zweitsprache. Frankfurt a.M.: Lang.
Eurydice. (2006). Content and Language Integrated Learning at school in Europe. Eurydice European Unit. Retrieved from http://www.indire.it/lucabas/lkmw_file/eurydice/CLIL_EN.pdf
Fan, X., & Chen, M. (2001). Parental involvement and students’ academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 13(1), 1-22.
FMKS, Verein für frühe Mehrsprachigkeit in Kindertagesstätten und Schulen. (2014). Ranking: bilinguale Kitas und Grundschulen im Bundesvergleich. Retrieved from http://www.fmks-online.de/download.html
French, L. M., & O’Brien, I. (2008). Phonological memory and children’s second language grammar learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29, 463-487.
Frisch, S. (2013). Lesen im Englischunterricht der Grundschule. Eine Vergleichsstudie zur Wirksamkeit zweier Lehrverfahren. Tübingen: Narr.
Gascoigne, C. (2005). Toward an understanding of the relationship between L2 reading comprehension and grammar competence. The Reading Matrix, 5, 1-14.
Genesee, F. H. (1987). Learning through two languages: Studies of immersion and bilingual education. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.
Genesee, F. H. (2004). What do we know about bilingual education for majority language students? In T. K. Bhatia & W. C. Ritchie (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism and multiculturalism (pp. 547-61). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Genesee, F. H., & Fortune, T. W. (2014). Bilingual education and at-risk students. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 2, 196-209.
Genesee, F. H., & Jared, D. (2008). Literacy development in early French immersion programs. Canadian Psychology, 49, 140-147.
Grabe, W. (2005). The role of grammar in reading comprehension. In J. Frodesen & C. Holton (Eds.), The power of context in language teaching and learning (pp. 268-282). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hahn, A., & T. Angelovska (2017). Input-practice-output: A model for teaching L3 English after L2 German with a focus on syntactic transfer. In T. Angelovska & A. Hahn (Eds.), L3 syntactic transfer: Models, new developments and implications (pp. 299-319). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Hendriks, P., & Koster, C. (2010). Production/comprehension asymmetries in language acquisition. Lingua, 120, 1887-1897.
Hendriks, P., de Hoop, H., & Lamers, M. (2005). Asymmetries in language use reveal asymmetries in the grammar. In P. Dekker & M. Franke (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifteenth Amsterdam Colloquium (pp. 113-118). Amsterdam: ILLC.
Hesse, H.-G., Göbel, K., & Hartig, J. (2008). Sprachliche Kompetenzen von mehrsprachigen Jugendlichen und Jugendlichen nichtdeutscher Erstsprache. In DESI-Konsortium (Eds.), Unterricht und Kompetenzerwerb in Deutsch und Englisch (pp. 208-30). Weinheim: Belz.
Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M., Köser, S., & Thoma, D. (2017). Mehrsprachigkeit und metalinguistische Bewusstheit im Englischerwerb in der Grundschule. In I. Fuchs, S. Jeuk, & W. Knapp (Eds.),Mehrsprachigkeit: Spracherwerb, Unterrichtsprozesse, Schulentwicklung (pp. 55-74). Stuttgart: Fillibach bei Klett.
Jeon, E. H., & Yamashita, J. (2014). L2 reading comprehension and its correlates: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 64, 160-212.
Kersten, K., Rohde, A., Schelletter, C., & Steinlen, A. (2010a). Bilingual preschools. Vol. I: Learning and development. Vol. II: Best practises. Trier: WVT.
Kersten, K., Piske, T., Rohde, A., Steinlen, A., Weitz, M., & Kurth, S. (2010b). ELIAS grammar test. University of Magdeburg: ELIAS. Retrieved from http://www.elias.bilikita.org
Kersten, K., Piske, T., Rohde, A., Steinlen, A., Weitz, M., & Kurth, S. (2012). ELIAS grammar test II. University of Magdeburg: Manuscript.
Keßler, J.-U., & Paulick, C. (2010). Mehrsprachigkeit und schulisches Englischlernen bei Lernern mit Migrationshintergrund. In B. Ahrenholtz (Ed.), Fachunterricht und Deutsch als Zweitsprache (pp. 257-278). Tübingen: Narr.
Koda, K. (2007). Reading and language learning: Constraints on second language reading development. Language, 57, 1-44.
Köller, O., Knigge, M., & Tesch, B. (2010). Sprachliche Kompetenzen im Ländervergleich. Münster: Waxmann.
Khodadady, E., & Alaee, F. F. (2012). Parent education and high school achievement in English as a foreign language. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2, 1811-1817.
Kultusministerkonferenz. (2013). Konzepte für den bilingualen Unterricht – Erfahrungsbericht und Vorschläge zur Weiterentwicklung. Retrieved from http://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/veroeffentlichungen_beschluesse/2013/201_10_17-Konzepte-_bilingualer-_Unterricht.pdf
Kwon, E. (2005). The “natural order” of morpheme acquisition: A historical survey. Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 5, 1-21.
Larsen-Freeman D. (2002). Making sense of frequency. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 275-85.
Lee, J., Schaller, D. L., & Kim, E. (2015). Effects of extensive reading and translation activities on grammar knowledge and attitudes for EFL adolescents. System, 52, 38-50.
López, A. L. (2008). To what extent does grammar knowledge account for competence in FL reading comprehension in university students? Revista Española de Linguística Aplicada, 21, 181-200.
May, P. (2006). Englisch-Hörverstehen am Ende der Grundschulzeit. In W. Bos & M. Pietsch (Eds.), KESS 4. Kompetenzen und Einstellungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern der 4. Klasse an Hamburger Grundschulen (pp. 203-224). Münster: Waxmann.
Morvay, G. (2012). The relationship between syntactic knowledge and reading comprehension in EFL learners. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2, 415-438.
Mossenson, L., Stephanou, A., Forster, M., Masters, G., McGregor, M., Anderson, P., & Hill, P. (2003). Tests of reading comprehension (2nd ed.). Melbourne: ACER Press.
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD, 2009). PISA 2009: Assessment framework: Key competences in reading, mathematics and science. PISA: OECD Publishing.
Pérez-Can͂ado, M. L. (2012). CLIL research in Europe: Past, present and future. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 15, 315-341.
Peyer, E., Kaiser, I., & Berthele, R. (2006). Psycholinguistische Grundlagen einer rezeptiven Grammatik des Deutschen. In A. Abel, M. Stuflesser, & M. Putz, (Eds.), Multilingualism across Europe: Findings, needs, best practices (pp.309-321). Bolzano/Bozen: Eurac.
Pienemann M. (2005) Cross-linguistic aspects of Processability Theory. Amsterdam – Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
Rauch, D. P., Jurecka, A., & Hesse, H.-G. (2010). Für den Drittspracherwerb zählt auch die Lesekompetenz in der Herkunftssprache. Untersuchung der Türkisch-, Deutsch- und Englisch-Lesekompetenz bei Deutsch-Türkisch bilingualen Schülern. In C. Allemann-Ghionda, P. Stanat, K. Göbel, & C. Röhner (Eds.), Migration, Identität, Sprache und Bildungserfolg (pp. 78-100). Weinheim: Beltz.
Raven, J. C., Bulheller, S., & Häcker, H. (2002). CPM. Colored Progressive Matrices (3rd ed.). Göttingen: Hogrefe.
Rodrigo, V., Krashen, S., & Gribbons, B. (2004). The effectiveness of two comprehensible input approaches to foreign language instruction at the intermediate level. System, 32, 53-60.
Schwippert, K., Wendt, H., & Tarelli, I. (2012). Lesekompetenzen von Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund. In W. Bos, I. Tarelli, A. Bremerich-Vos, & K.
Schwippert (Eds.), IGLU 2011: Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich (pp. 191-207). Münster: Waxmann.
Shiotsu, T., & Weir, C. J. (2007). The relative significance of syntactic knowledge and vocabulary breadth in the prediction of reading comprehension test performance. Language Testing, 24, 99-128.
Singleton, D. (2009). Exploring the second language mental lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Steinlen, A., Håkansson, G., Housen, A., & Schelletter, C. (2010). Receptive L2 grammar knowledge development in bilingual preschools. In K. Kersten, A. Rohde, C. Schelletter, & A. Steinlen (Eds.), Bilingual preschools, Vol. I: Learning and development (pp. 69-100). Trier: WVT.
Steinlen, A. K. (2013). “Flera språk – fler möjligheter”- Immigrant children’s acquisition of English in bilingual preschools. In A. Flyman Mattsson (Ed.), Language acquisition and use in multilingual contexts (pp. 170-184). Travaux de l’Institut de Linguistique de Lund, 52. Lund: Media-Tryck.
Steinlen, A. K. (2016). Primary school minority and majority language children in a partial immersion program: The development of German and English reading skills. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 4, 198-224.
Steinlen, A. K., & Piske, T. (2013). Academic achievement of children with and without migration backgrounds in an immersion primary school: A pilot study. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 61, 215-244.
Steinlen, A. K., & Piske, T. (2016). Wortschatz und Leseverständnis des Englischen von Kindern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund in einer bilingualen Grundschule. In A. Steinlen & T. Piske (Eds.), Wortschatzentwicklung in bilingualen Schulen und Kindertagesstätten (pp. 123-166). Frankfurt: Lang.
Steinlen, A. K., & Piske, T. (2017). Receptive English grammar acquisition by minority and majority language children in a bilingual school: Does the L1 matter? Manuscript in preparation.
Szagun, G. (2006). Sprachentwicklung beim Kind. Weinheim: Beltz.
Tamm, C. (2010). Eine Schule macht sich auf den Weg: Einführung eines bilingualen Zuges an der Grundschule an der Hügelstraße. In U. Massler & P. Burmeister (Eds.), CLIL und Immersion. Fremdsprachlicher Sachfachunterricht in der Grundschule (pp. 30-37). Braunschweig: Westermann.
Tasseva-Kurktchieva, M. (2008). What about grammar? Comprehension and production at the initial stage of L2 acquisition. In R. Slabakova (Ed.), Proceedings of the 9th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (pp. 242-250). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.
Unsworth, S. (2007). L1 and L2 acquisition between sentence and discourse: Comparing production and comprehension. Lingua, 117, 1930-1958.
Van Gelderen, A., Schoonen, R., de Glopper, K., Hulstijn, J., Snellings, P., & Simis, A. (2004). Roles of linguistic knowledge, metacognitive knowledge and processing speed in L3, L2 and L1 reading comprehension: A structural equation modeling approach. International Journal of Bilingualism, 7, 7-25.
Wesche, M. B. (2002). Early French immersion: How has the original Canadian model stood the test of time? In P. Burmeister, T. Piske, & A. Rohde (Eds.), An integrated view of language development (pp. 357-379). Trier: WVT.
Wilden, E., & Porsch, R. (2016). Learning EFL from Year 1 or Year 3? A comparative study on children’s EFL listening and leading comprehension at the end of primary education. In M. Nikolov (Ed.), Assessing young learners of English: Global and local perspectives (pp. 191-212). Cham: Springer.
Wode, H. (1995). Lernen in der Fremdsprache: Grundzüge von Immersion und bilingualem Unterricht. Ismaning: Hueber.
Zaunbauer, A. C. M., Gebauer, S. K., & Möller, J. (2012). Englischleistungen immersiv unterrichteter Schülerinnen und Schüler. Unterrichtswissenschaft: Zeitschrift für Lernforschung, 40(4), 315-333.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.