Fostering Bilingual Students' Second Language Vocabulary: Results of an Intervention Study in Elementary School

• In Event: 60.085 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: 60.085-2 - English Language Learners and Literacy

Abstract

Many students in the US and Europe are bilingual. International assessment studies have shown that these students are less successful in the educational system. Promoting bilingual students’ second language (L2) skills at an early stage is a promising approach for improving students’ academic performance.
In an experimental study, students’ (L2) vocabulary is fostered by independent reading. Furthermore, the potential of students’ native language (L1) is examined. Students –randomly assigned to intervention/control-group – read texts including new vocabulary in L2 twice or first in L1 and then in L2.
Results from ANOVAs show that bilingual students benefit from this method. An additional impact of their L1 cannot be found.
The study provides practical and theoretical implications for fostering bilingual students’ L2-skills.

Authors

• Annika Ohle, TU Dortmund

• Meliha Cinar, Goethe University

• Ilonca Hardy, Goethe-University Frankfurt/M.

• Nele McElvany, TU Dortmund University