The Effect of Majority Language Exposure on Minority Language Skills: The Case of Inuktitut

Autor/inn/en	Allen, Shanley E. M.; Crago, Martha; Pesco, Diane
Titel	The Effect of Majority Language Exposure on Minority Language Skills: The Case of Inuktitut
Quelle	In: International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9 (2006) 5, S.578-596 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1367-0050
DOI	10.2167/beb381.0
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Native Speakers; Monolingualism; Adults; Language Skills; Picture Books; Narration; Eskimo Aleut Languages; Elementary School Students; Language Minorities; Eskimos; Language Skill Attrition; English (Second Language); Uncommonly Taught Languages; Canada + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Muttersprachler; Language skill; Sprachkompetenz; Picture book; Bilderbuch; Sprachminderheit; Sprachverfall; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Minderheitensprache; Kanada
Abstract	Children who are native speakers of minority languages often experience stagnation or decline in that language when exposed to a majority language in a school or community situation. This paper examines such a situation among the Inuit of arctic Quebec. All 18 participants in the study were native speakers of Inuktitut, living in home environments that were functionally monolingual in Inuktitut. Half lived in communities with relatively high exposure to the majority language (English), while the other half lived in communities with low exposure. One third of each group were in Grade 3 (first year of school exposure to majority language), one third in Grade 8/9 (sixth year of school exposure) and one third were adults. Each participant narrated a 24-page wordless picture book (Frog Story) in Inuktitut. Narrations were analysed for story length, lexical diversity, grammatical complexity and narrative structure--all measures that are expected to increase or show improvement with increased language ability. Results are inconclusive; some suggest that higher exposure to English leads to stagnation in Inuktitut, while others do not. Methodological issues are discussed, and suggestions for further research are provided. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10