Second Language Development in Children

The One Person One Language Method involves one parent speaking the second language consistently with the child.

The two most popular methods for raising bilingual children are One Person One Language and Minority Language at Home according to Christina Bosemark, founder of the Multilingual Children's Association. The first refers to one parent speaking the native language while the other parent strictly speaks the second language. The second "simply means that everyone speaks the minority language at home, even if this language is not the native language of both parents."

Stages

Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terell found that second language students move through five predictable stages regardless of the method. In Preproduction, children have low comprehension and only answer by nodding or shaking their heads. Early Production sees children with limited comprehension and beginning to speak one or two word phrases. Speech Production involves a jump in comprehension and speaking sentences with many grammatical errors. Intermediate fluency finds the students with a high level of understanding and speaking with few errors. Reaching Advanced Fluency, students "have a near-native level of speech."

Process

Krashen's Language Acquisition Theory indicates that children need meaningful interaction in the second language. He believes that a second language is acquired in a similar way to a child's first language. Therefore, teaching grammar is helpful but not vital. Children should focus on communicating messages and not over concern themselves with the correct formation of sentences. He goes on to report that motivation, self-esteem and anxiety are issues that can either positively or negatively affect second language learning.

Common Language Errors

There are common errors that frequent a child's second language learning process. The Oregon Department of Education lists these characteristics including the erroneous application of rules from the first language onto the second language and the use of two languages in the same sentence. These mistakes are correctable with correct practice.

Misconceptions

There are many myths that exist about second language development in children. In their article Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns and Current Research, Kendall King and Lyn Fogle use research to unravel the following misconceptions: "bilingualism results in language delay," "using two languages will result in confusion for their children "and "bilingualism results in "bigger, better brains."

Second Language Activity Ideas

Christina Bosemark offers 10 tips to parents looking to help their bilingual children progress towards fluency. Included in the list are suggestions like: creating a second language playgroup, reading the child stories in the second language and singing children's songs in the second language. She stress that "the quantity of spoken language is the most important factor in learning a language," but adds that positive feedback is a close second.

References

• Omniglot: Raising Bilingual Children: The Different Methods to Success
• English Made in Brazil: Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition
• ASCD.org: Classroom Instruction That Works with English Language Learners Facilitator's Guide
• Second Language Acquisition Stages and Related Linguistic Patterns
• CAL: Digests: Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns and Current Research