Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this article is to review the language acquisition process in the hearing infant and to discuss its potential as a model for an initial language program for the deaf child.

The article attempts to tease apart Regulative, Constitutive, Prescriptive and Descriptive Rules, and pinpoints their respective role in First and Second Language Acquisition as well as in Culture Learning.It is proposed that the proportion of Regulative Rules is generally under-estimated, while the incidence of Constitutive Rules tends to be over-estimated.The paper puts forward the Rule Category Substitution Fallacy, a hypothesis suggested to be of use in exploring what fuels other-culture intolerance.The Fallacy is demonstrated to be a practical manifestation of the Terror Management Theory (e.g. Greenberg et al 1997) and a compensation-strategy doomed to failure.Finally, alternative terror-management strategies are proposed.

This article investigates destination language proficiency upon arrival and subsequent proficiency growth among recently arrived immigrants in Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland. We introduce selectivity considerations to a model of language acquisition, arguing that positively selected individuals should display higher levels of language skills upon arrival and faster growth in destination language proficiency thereafter. The results show that upon arrival, positively selected immigrants are less proficient, holding absolute levels of educational attainment constant. In terms of language proficiency growth, however, our longitudinal findings suggest that positively selected immigrants, net of differences in pre-migration investments, post-migration exposure, and incentives, acquire the destination language faster. The findings add to a growing body of literature demonstrating the benefits of using novel measurement approaches to migrant selectivity.

The preponderance of minimal second language acquisition by immigrants worldwide is striking. This paper proposes a theoretical model, which analyzes the underlying forces that contribute to this outcome of minimal secondary language acquisition by immigrants in such diverse immigrant-receiving countries as Canada, Germany, Israel and the United States. It is argued that the weak incentive structures for second language acquisition for an immigrant appear in four analytically separate spheres including the labour market, political, social, and education spheres. Furthermore, two integration regimes are imposed in these spheres – no government interference, or government-mandated minimum language acquisition after arrival. In all cases and in all spheres, it is argued that, for the majority of immigrants, the weakest level of second language acquisition – minimum oral and minimum written – is the optimal outcome given their incentive structure. In addition, the labour market is the primary determinant of this outcome. Finally, several policy measures to increase the incentives for further second language acquisition are explored.

"Sprachstandserhebungsverfahren im Elementarbereich sind in der Praxis inzwischen weit verbreitet, obwohl ihr Einsatz und ihre Konsequenzen nach wie vor kontrovers diskutiert werden. Während die vorliegenden Verfahren bereits in zahlreichen Publikationen beschrieben wurden, wird bisher kaum diskutiert, inwiefern sie den Kriterien der empirischen Sozialforschung entsprechen und welche Bedeutung ein zunehmender Einsatz solcher Verfahren für die pädagogische Praxis hat. Gegenstand dieses Beitrages ist die Frage, welche Vor- und Nachteile der Einsatz bestimmter Typen von Erhebungsverfahren mit sich bringt. Dafür wird zunächst ein Überblick über die landesweiten Sprachstandserhebungen in den Bundesländern gegeben und aufgezeigt, welche Kriterien bei der Sprachstandserhebung von Kindern im Vorschulalter bedeutungsvoll sind. Anschließend werden zentrale Qualitätskriterien für den Einsatz von alltagsintegrierten Beobachtungsverfahren einerseits und standardisierte Erhebungsverfahren andererseits dargestellt. In einem weiteren Abschnitt werden kritische Perspektiven auf Bemühungen zur 'Vermessung' durch landesweit einheitliche und standardisierte Verfahren sowohl aus Sicht der Kindheitsforschung als auch von Expert/innen für Sprachförderung vorgestellt. Der Beitrag schließt mit einer Reihe von Hinweisen auf weiteren Entwicklungs- und Forschungsbedarf." (Autorenreferat)

The international school market continues to grow at a rapid pace, and a considerable amount of growth is taking place in East Asia. With the majority of international school enrollment being local students, care should be taken when developing or restructuring the second language acquisition (SLA) instructional model employed in the school. The purpose of this study was to explore the current use and preference of SLA instructional models in international schools in East Asia. The researchers further sought to explore the difference in preference of SLA instructional models between administrators and teachers. This quantitative exploratory survey-based study had 543 participants, all of whom were active administrators and teachers in international schools in East Asia. The main findings of the study revealed that there are differences between implemented and preferred SLA instructional models in international schools in East Asia. Additional findings include the frequency of SLA instructional model implementation and that there was no statistically significant difference in SLA instructional model preference between administrators and teachers. Findings from this study can allow stakeholders and policymakers to understand current practices and potential future shifts in SLA instructional models in international schools in East Asia.

Every human being more or less wants to express something to somebody for which one needs a language. Some expressions of poets, singers, artists, writers, social workers, leaders, politicians and philosophers are placed in printed materials - newspaper, periodicals, journal, magazines and above all books by means of language for future generations to come. Moreover, the same thing in same language can be expressed by different people in different ways in various places. Thus the scope of language gets enlarged day by day coming contact with other languages as the river gets widened running continually over years accompanied by other small drains, rivulets etc. Needless to say, unfathomable is the depth of language that cannot be measured in a single day or effort. The vast arena of language may be cultivated by the habit of constant reading which involves both speaking & listening skills. By reading one move in the world of language. One cannot acquire the use of language unless and until one is exposed to it. It is the style of language that helps the speaker to attract and win everybody's heart. This paper examines how language skills are cultured by reading activity. It also explores possible ways of how reading skill, firstly; enriches the readers with profound vocabulary, secondly; enables them to use language with clarity, accuracy and fluency, and last but not the least; makes the speakers well communicative, interactive, and economic in effective use of language. Lack of language creates a communication gap and this small gap invites a massive misunderstanding which very often spoils unity, integrity, brotherhood among the users, and after all makes human beings dumb and dull.

The researchers studied a method of mediation with a deaf second grader. Language needs were identified through transcription of the child's retellings of weekly basal stories. These were either targeted for adult-mediated conversations during reading activities or left "untargeted but tracked." During two intervention phases, the student's performance on semantic and syntactic features of interest incorporated into retellings improved when an adult facilitated; when an adult was intentionally unavailable to mediate retellings, documentation of positive linguistic changes indicated internalization or acquisition of these features. Analysis of language behaviors that did not improve during unmediated retellings indicated a need for continued mediation. Untargeted but tracked behaviors that went unchanged during data collection further documented that language behavior changes resulted from adult mediation, not maturation. The child achieved 1 year's reading growth during the data collection period (1 academic year) on the Gates-MacGinite Test of Reading (hearing norms; W. MacGinite & R. MacGinite, 1989). Text retelling methodology proved useful, although group design study is warranted.

The organization of pupils in a boys' comprehensive high school into homogeneous teaching units in order to eliminate the psychological, social and academic effects of streaming by ability may be dysfunctional if the objectives of the institution include the attainment of higher verbal standards. A practising teacher identifies the establishment by pupils of a 'verbal norm', and describes the system of social sanctions imposed by the verbally less proficient against the above‐average pupil.