Publication Date

1982

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

First Advisor

Alvino Fantini

Abstract

opportunity for my family to spend a year in the Netherlands provided me with the occasion to observe my son’s acquisition of Dutch and to discover with him what it is like to become bilingual. This study of his progress begins in the U.S. with his introduction to Dutch as a foreign language at the age of 3 years, 1 month, and continues through his eighth month in the Netherland (age 4,5). Special attention is given to sociolinguistic factors as well as behavior and cultural adjustment. A journal of his verbal and behavioral progress was kept during this time and used as a basis from which to make generalizations and conclusions. Excerpts from this journal appear in the Appendix. Finally, an attempt has been made to move from observations of child language learning to discussion of teaching language to children, based on observations of one child’s experience of learning and being taught to speak Dutch.

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Education | First and Second Language Acquisition

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