Exploring the Development of English and Korean Oral Language Proficiency of Young Korean Children in Southern California

• In Event: Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Bilingual Education Research: Theory, Policy, and Practice Roundtable

Abstract

This study focuses on the oral language (OL) development of nine elementary-level Korean children who attend an English only (EO) or a Korean-English dual immersion (DI) school. Interviews and observations were used to support patterns in the findings. Findings indicate that all informants developed or maintained their English OL skills during the school year. Over the school year, the informants attending an EO school strengthened their Korean OL abilities; the majority of those who attended the DI school saw minimal decreases, but still had stronger Korean OL skills than informants who attended the EO school. The kinds of summer activities pursued appeared to influence the development of OL skills. Patterns of grammatical errors in Korean and English were also examined.

Authors

• Jane Y. Choi, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Jin-Sook Lee, University of California - Santa Barbara