First and Second Language Acquisition in German Children Attending a Kindergarten Immersion Program: A Combined Longitudinal and Cross‐Sectional Study

Abstract

This study investigated first (L1) and second (L2) language acquisition in two agematched groups of 2-to 6-year-old kindergarten children over the course of 2.5 years. The immersion group participated in a partial English immersion program whereas the conventional instruction group received a conventional L2 course (30 minutes per week); the groups were comparable with respect to control variables (e.g., socioeconomic status). L1 and L2 competencies were assessed at four time points (pretest and three posttests). No detrimental effects of immersion on L1 development were found. Concerning L2 receptive skills, the immersion group outperformed the conventional instruction group in each posttest. Contact quality and quantity were found to relate to L2 acquisition through immersion. Immersion appears to be a successful method for early L2 learning; it fosters L2 receptive skills without any cost for the L1.

Age of Onset, Type of Exposure, and Ultimate Attainment of L2 Morpho-Syntactic Sensitivity

“…The current findings also resemble those of previous studies that specifically examined the effect of early immersion in a foreign language learning context and reported positive outcomes (Bergström et al, 2016; Foster et al, 2014; Knell et al, 2007). While those studies tested participants during or shortly after the completion of the program and on measures of explicit L2 knowledge, like receptive vocabulary (e.g., Bergström et al, 2016), to the author’s knowledge, this was the first to discover long-term effects, and in the domain of morpho-syntax.…”

“…The current findings also resemble those of previous studies that specifically examined the effect of early immersion in a foreign language learning context and reported positive outcomes (Bergström et al, 2016; Foster et al, 2014; Knell et al, 2007). While those studies tested participants during or shortly after the completion of the program and on measures of explicit L2 knowledge, like receptive vocabulary (e.g., Bergström et al, 2016), to the author’s knowledge, this was the first to discover long-term effects, and in the domain of morpho-syntax. Participants in the present study were tested more than 10 years after their first exposure, a point at which (assuming continued access to L2 input and opportunities for use) their performance can be considered to reflect ultimate attainment, at least in naturalistic settings (Long, 2013).…”

“…One critical gap in the current literature on early immersion is that its long-term benefits are unknown. Most, if not all, relevant studies measured L2 performances when the learners were still in the early stages of L2 development (e.g., Bergström et al, 2016; Kersten, 2010; Knell et al, 2007). Tests were administered during or immediately following the few years of immersion, and it is unclear whether positive gains can last longer than the initial apparent success or whether they can affect ultimate attainment (Buysse et al, 2014).…”

Vocabulary Gains of Mono- and Multilingual Learners in a Linguistically Diverse Setting: Results From a German-English Intervention With Inclusion of Home Languages

“…Therefore, the study was not designed to investigate if immersion works. Our goal was not to determine whether children learn more or less in immersion compared to conventional learning settings, which would have necessitated the comparison of an immersion and a conventional learning group (for a very good example of such a study, see Bergström et al, 2016). Our interest, however, was to find out if a teaching approach can manage to address all issues relevant in current, linguistically diverse settings by including all children attending a certain kindergarten and comparing them group-wise, based on their home language use.…”

A Continuation Method in the Teaching of Academic English Writing for Chinese College Students

“…Maybe that is why two children became "wolf children", as they were raised by wolves. B. Ambridge et al [5] pointed out that the frequency of language input and output profoundly affects children"s first language acquisition; K. Bergström et al [6] pointed out that in the process of second language acquisition, the quantity and quality of second language input play an important role; I. Kaiser and G. Kasberger [7] pointed out that children"s acquisition of a language is closely related to their parents" degree of education. They remarked that if the parents have a good education background, they can often communicate with their children with more and better language materials.…”