Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-9prln Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-08T06:53:50.875Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Literacy attainment in a second language submersion context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1999

Rian Aarts  and
Ludo Verhoeven
Rian Aarts*
Affiliation:
Tilburg University
Ludo Verhoeven
Affiliation:
Tilburg University
*
Rian Aarts, Tilburg University, Linguistics Department, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. Email: A.M.L.Aarts@KUB.NL
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the first and second language literacy levels of a sample of 222 Turkish children living in the Netherlands and to identify the factors that are related to individual variation in their literacy performance. Measures of both school literacy and functional literacy were taken in the target languages, Turkish and Dutch. Data of monolingual control groups were used as benchmarks. To explore individual variation in biliteracy scores, background characteristics originating from the child, the family, and the school were examined. The results of the study indicated that the children in the Netherlands attained lower levels of literacy than their monolingual peers. The level of biliteracy of the children in the Netherlands turned out to be primarily related to the factors of home stimulation, parents' motivation for schooling, and children's self-esteem.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , September 1999 , pp. 377 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aarts, R., De Ruiter, J., & Verhoeven, L. (1993). Tweetaligheid en schoolsucces [Bilingualism and school success]. Tilburg: Tilburg University Press.Google Scholar
Baloğlu, Z. (1990). Türkiye’de Eğitim. Ankara: Türk Sanayicileri Derneği.Google Scholar
Boeschoten, H. E., Dorleijn, M., & Leezenberg, M. (1993). Turkish, Kurdish and other languages from Turkey. In Extra, G. & Verhoeven, L. (Eds.), Community languages in the Netherlands (pp. 109-142). Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Clyne, M. (1991). Community languages: The Australian experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crul, M. (1996). Marokkaanse en Turkse jongeren van de tweede generatie: Schoolsucces, hulpbronnen en netwerken. In Heeren, H., Vogel, P., & Werdmolder, H. (Eds.), Etnische minderheden en wetenschappelijk onderzoek [Ethnic minorities and scientific research] (pp. 119-140). Amsterdam: Boom.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (1991). Interdependence of first- and second-language proficiency in bilingual children. In Bialystok, E. (Ed.), Language processing in bilingual children (pp. 70-89). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J., & Swain, M. (1986). Bilingualism in education: Aspects of theory, research and practice. In Candlin, C. N. (Ed.), Applied linguistics and language study. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Driessen, G. (1990). De onderwijspositie van allochtone leerlingen. De rol van sociaal-economische en etnisch-culturele factoren, met speciale aandacht voor het Onderwijs in Eigen Taal en Cultuur [The position of ethnic minority students in schools]. Nijmegen: ITS.Google Scholar
Dronkers, J. (1990). De ontwikkelingen in het schoolloopbaanonderzoek; Een terugblik op een decennium. Tijdschrift voor Onderwijsresearch, 15, 8-22.Google Scholar
Extra, G., & Verhoeven, L. (1993a). Immigrant languages in Europe. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. (1993b). Community languages in the Netherlands. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. A. (1980). Ethnocultural dimensions in the acquisition and retention of biliteracy. Journal of Basic Writing, 3, 48-61.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. A. (1989). Language and ethnicity in minority sociolinguistic perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1986). Life with two languages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of languages: The debate on bilingualism. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Huls, F., & van der Laan, P. (1996). Allochtonen in Nederland 1996. Voorburg: Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek.Google Scholar
Keyder, C., & Aksu-Koc¸, A. (1988). External labour migration from Turkey and its impact (IDRC Report 185). Ottawa, Canada.Google Scholar
Lambert, W. (1967). A social psychology of bilingualism. Journal of Social Issues, 23, 91-109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, W. (1978). Psychological approaches to bilingualism, translation and interpretation. In Gerver, D. & Sinaiko, H. (Eds.), Language interpretation and communication (pp. 131-144). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leseman, P. P. M. (1994). Socio-cultural predictors of literacy development. In Verhoeven, L. (Ed.), Functional literacy: Theoretical issues and educational implications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, B. (1985). Second language acquisition in childhood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McNamara, T. F. (1996). Measuring second language performance. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
OECD. (1989). Reviews of national politics for education: Turkey. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Oney, B., & Goldman, S. R. (1984). Decoding and comprehension skills in Turkish and English: Effects of regularity of grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 57-68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piers, E. V. (1984). Piers-Harris Children Self-Concept Scale: Revised manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Serives.Google Scholar
Roelandt, T., & Veenman, J. (1990). Ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. In Muus, P. (Ed.), Migration, minorities and policy in the Netherlands: Recent trends and developments (pp. 29-45). Amsterdam: Institute for Social Geography.Google Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (1995). Multilingualism for all. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., Barnes, W., Chandler, J., Goodman, I., & Hemphill, L. (1991). Unfulfilled expectations: Home and school influences on literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Spratt, J. E., Seckinger, B., & Wagner, D. A. (1991). Functional literacy in Moroccan school children. Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 178-195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, 32-71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, D. L., & Baker, D. P. (1987). Family-school relation and the child's school performance. Child Development, 58, 1348-1357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tesser, P., & Mulder, L. (1990). Concentratie en prestatie van allochtone leerlingen in het basisonderwijs. Migrantenstudies, 2, 31-44.Google Scholar
Turkish StateInstitute of Statistics. (1998). Ratio of population by literacy and sex. http://gopher.die.gov.trGoogle Scholar
Uiterwijk, H. (1994). De bruikbaarheid van de Eindtoets Basisonderwijs voor allochtone leerlingen [Usefulness of the final assessment at primary school test]. Arnhem: Cito.Google Scholar
UNESCO. (1990). Basic education and literacy: World statistical indicators. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (1987). Ethnic minority children acquiring literacy. Dordrecht: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (1990). Acquisition of reading in a second language. Reading Research Quarterly, 25, 90-114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (1991). Predicting minority children's bilingual proficiency: Child, family and institutional factors. Language Learning, 41, 205-233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (1994a). Modeling and assessing functional literacy. In Verhoeven, L. (Ed.), Functional literacy: Theoretical issues and educational implications (pp. 3-34). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (1994b). Linguistic diversity and literacy development. In Verhoeven, L. (Ed.), Functional literacy: Theoretical issues and educational implications (pp. 199-220). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (1994c). Transfer in bilingual development: The linguistic interdependence hypothesis revisited. Language Learning, 44, 381-415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (1996). Sociolinguistics in education. In Coulmas, F. (Ed.), Handbook of sociolinguistics. London: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, L., & Boeschoten, H. E. (1986). First language acquisition in a second language submersion environment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 7, 241-256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhoeven, L., & Vermeer, A. (1985). Ethnic group differences in children's oral proficiency of Dutch. In Extra, G. & Vallen, T. (Eds.), Ethnic minorities and Dutch as a second language (pp. 105-132). Dordrecht: Foris Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, G. (1985). Language development in the preschool years. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wells, G. (1990). Talk about text: Where literacy is learned and taught. Curriculum Inquiry, 20, 369-405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar