eric.ed.gov har udgivet:
This is a research report on children’s use of multiple languages and the school curriculum. The study explored factors that trigger use of, and fluency in, multiple languages; and how fluency in multiple languages relates to thought processes and school performance. Advantages and disadvantages of using only one of the languages spoken were explored. Data were collected in five schools in three regions in Tanzania. This context provided multilingual children for the study. Data included faculty and parent questionnaires, parent interview notes, teacher observation notes on children&’s interactions, and performance scores as secondary data. The data were processed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 15.0) as well as content analysis. Results revealed school related and family related factors that trigger and support childhood multilingualism, as well as consistently high ranking of performance in math, science, and language assignments for the multilingual and bilingual children compared to their monolingual classmates. Implications for further, more controlled research are drawn on the basis of this study. (Contains 6 figures and 4 tables.) [Preliminary results of this study were presented at the 18th Annual Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC) Conference, Elgin Community College, February 28, 2009.]