Concept Development and Development of Word Meanings in Multilinguals

Author(s):

Tiner Özçelik(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 01 B, Linguistic Diversity

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-10

13:15-14:45

Room:

D-303

Chair:

Ghazala Bhatti

Contribution

Language development is crucial for the formation of psychic structure as well as for development of cognition, hence an important basis for Theory of Mind. The ability to express mental states constitutes an outstanding communicative skill. Moreover comprehensive use of abstract terms is needed for the class room since it determines language of education in a significant way. In recent years an increasing number of papers from educational research have brought into focus the significance of highly decontextualized, abstract language skills used in classrooms. Learning academic subject material is strongly linked to an understanding of the language of instruction, which is characterized by exact grammatical structure and mental concepts. In this regard the development of reference to mental events is crucial. The formation and processing of abstract concepts is heavily dependent on language experience.In this respect a large number of pupils from minority-language backgrounds and low level of education in Germany and in a great number of European countries of immigration depend on learning processes at school.

Typical mental terms in primary school age such as think, know, believe, realize need to be repeated in context for differentiation and stabilisation. Compared to concrete words abstract concepts are processed mainly by the verbal system, hence depend considerably on language abilities. Especially compared to that of early lexical acquisition, little research has been done so far about acquisition and development of concepts and word meanings as well as underlying processes of reflection in bilingual children. In addition, most of the studies referring to this go back to anglophone countries.

This research project aims to investigate bilingual children’s reference to mental events, i.e. their verbalising of cognitive processes in both their languages (Turkish and German) as well as their capacity of reflection in this regard. Improving the quality of teaching depends strongly on empirical research and experience. Most children from minority-language backgrounds have by now parents who were born and educated in Germany themselves, hence mixing their two codes on a regular basis. Considering that exposure to two languages simultaneously influences the pattern of development differently than in the case of German as a Second Language this could be a distinctive feature for concept development.

Method

The participating children are of pre-school and school age (5 and 10 years of age), all born and raised in Germany. They will have a homogeneous experience of kindergarten. The use of mental terms will be evaluated with respect to frequency and appropriateness in context. In a later meeting semi-structured interviews will be used to ask for reflexive comment. Finally guided biographical interviews will be conducted with children and parents for socio-cultural data. These longer samples of speech shall also reveal competence levels in both languages which is especially important in the case of the mother as the main source of input. As for language acquisition theory I subscribe to the view represented by the social-pragmatic theory (Bruner 1983; Tomasello 1992a, 2000c) according to which the learning of words is a social process in natural interaction. Language-based methodology is known to be in conflict with research on younger children’s reference to mental states due to its strong dependence on language abilities. This definitely is a methodological challenge. Studies have shown though that an appropriate analysis of natural language data can serve as a suitable tool to gain information about children’s understanding of internal states.

Expected Outcomes

Findings are assumed to suggest correlations with respect to family background and upbringing, language acquisition and practice as well as quality of education. Data on the children’s reference to mental states in their language of environment as well as in their language of education is expected to reveal references with respect to relational aspects between language practice and cognition. Furthermore the level of development of the older children and details on the character of progress are expected to lead to further assumptions for future research: Which category of abstract concepts can be observed in their speech, lexically as well as grammatically. What will the use of them in context and reflexive comment of the child show with respect to the quality of comprehension. This research project is particularly expected to show findings on methodological problems and possible approaches to improvement.

References

APELTAUER, E. (2010). Wortschatzentwicklung und Wortschatzarbeit. In: B. Ahrenholz / I. Oomen-Welke (Hrsg.): Deutsch als Zweitsprache. S. 239-252. ASTINGTON, J.W. (1993). The Child’s Discovery of the Mind. Cambridge, Mass. BRUNER, J. S. (1983). Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language. New York. CUMMINS, J. (2000). Language, Power, and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon, Eng., and Buffalo, NY. FEILKE, H. (2012). Bildungssprachliche Kompetenzen – fördern und entwickeln. Praxis Deutsch 233, S. 4-13. KAUSCHKE, C. / NUTSCH, C. / SCHRAUF, J. (2012). Verarbeitung von konkreten und abstrakten Wörtern bei Kindern im Schulalter. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 44 (1), S. 2–11. KÖLBL, C. (2006). Die Psychologie der kulturhistorischen Schule. Vygotskij, Lurija, Leont’ev. Göttingen. KOZULIN, A. / GINDIS, B. / AGEYEV, V. S. / MILLER, S. M. (Hrsg.) (2003): Vygotsky's Educational Theory in Cultural Context. Cambridge. PAVLENKO, A. (2005). Bilingualism and thought. In: A. De Groot / J. Kroll (Hrsg.): Handbook of Bilingualism: Psycholinguistic Approaches. Oxford. SACKS, O. (1993). Lurija und die romantische Wissenschaft. In: A.R. Lurija (1982, dt. 1993): Romantische Wissenschaft. Forschungen im Grenzbereich von Seele und Gehirn. Hamburg. S. 7-22. SIEBERT, B. (2006): Begriffliches Lernen und entwickelnder Unterricht. Berlin. SODIAN, B. (2008). Entwicklung des Denkens. In: R. Oerter / L. Montada (Hrsg.): Entwicklungspsychologie. 6. Aufl. Weinheim. S. 436-479. SPECK-HAMDAN, A. (2005). Nahtstelle Übergang vom Elementar- zum Primarbereich. In: Bartnitzky, H. / Speck-Hamdan, A. (Hrsg.): Deutsch als Zweitsprache lernen. Beiträge zur Reform der Grundschule. Grundschulverband. Frankfurt a.M., S. 100-109. TOMASELLO, M. (2001). Perceiving intentions and learning words in the second year of life. In: M. Bowerman / S.C. Levinson (Hrsg.): Language acquisition and conceptual development. Cambridge. S. 132-158. TOMASELLO, M. (2000). The social-pragmatic theory of word learning. Pragmatics, 10: 4, S. 401-413. TRAUTMANN, C. (2008). Pragmatische Basisqualifikationen I und II. In: K. Ehlich / U. Bredel / H.H. Reich (Hrsg.): Referenzrahmen zur altersspezifischen Sprachaneignung – Forschungsgrundlagen. S. 31-50.

Author Information

Tiner Özçelik (presenting / submitting)

Freie Universität Berlin

Department of Education and Psychology

Berlin

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