The development of English as a second language in Aboriginal and migrant children : A pilot study

Authors

A. L. McGregor

Document Type

Report

Publisher

Mount Lawley College of Advanced Education

Place of Publication

Mount Lawley, Western Australia

Comments

McGregor, A. (1978). The development of English as a second language in Aboriginal and migrant children : a pilot study. Mount Lawley, Australia: Mount Lawley College of Advanced Education

Abstract

Research programs developed in Queensland under the Van Leer Foundation Project and the Mount Gravatt Teachers College Language Research Project have yielded practicable approaches for the gathering and analysis of speech data from children of various age groups. On the basis of this research it has been possible to study patterns of language development in first language and to develop appropriate literacy materials for children at various levels of primary education. To date comparatively little is known about patterns of second language development. The question as to whether structures develop in the same sequence and at the same rates as with first language development has so far received only tentative answers. Some studies have been made with individual children (e.g. Ravem, 1966) but, as far as is known,-- no large scale analysis of the development of English as a second language has yet been carried out. In view of the world wide commitment to the teaching and learning of English as a second or foreign language it seems scarcely necessary to emphasise the potential value for methods • and materials of such data should they become available. It quickly became obvious to interested members of staff at the Mount Lawley College of Advanced Education that 1:he Mt. Gravatt procedures and computer program would provid~ a most useful approach to the gathering and analysis of data from those learning English as a second language or as a standard dialect. A proposal was therefore submitted to the Educational Research and Development Committee to collect samples of speech of Aboriginal and migrant children from homes in which normal conmunication is in a language other than English or a dialect other than standard English, and to analyse differential patterns of language acquisition by such children.