Page 22 - Second language development of newly arrived migrant kindergarteners - Frederike Groothoff

22 Chapter 1 1.1 The inspiration for this research I was born and raised in the Netherlands and earned my teaching degree in 2004. In January 2011 I started working at a school in Utrecht that was devoted solely to pupils who were newly arrived in the country and received intensive training in the Dutch language before entering a mainstream school. This school was one of a handful of such “newcomer” schools in the Netherlands that included the youngest group of school-goers in the Netherlands, namely children aged 4 and 5. Finding ways to best support this special group of pupils has been one of the most rewarding challenges of my work as a teacher. What led me to the present research is the fact that many municipalities in the Netherlands, as of 2019, do not offer a separate school or a separate class within a school just for newcomers aged 4 and 5. Rather, they enroll these children into a mainstream class for “full immersion” into the Dutch education system without any intensive language support with specific second language pedagogies. Because I had spent so many years working with this group of younger newcomers – developing materials and methods – I had the impression that they benefit from this additional support. But did they really? Does it really make a difference for these kindergarteners if they receive Dutch language support or if they are mainstreamed? Which other factors besides type of educational facility (separate or mainstreamed) might affect how these children close the gap in their Dutch second language skills? I decided to look into this scientifically in order to shed light on the language development of newly arrived migrant kindergarteners. The expectation is that the results of this study will be of interest to teachers, researchers, and policy-makers alike. 1.2 Introduction Migration and globalization have impacted the composition of the populations in schools. Even though migration is nothing new, over the past few years the rate of arrivals of migrants in Europe is unprecedented and there is much more variety in countries of origin compared to twenty years ago (Herzog-Punzenberger, Le Pichon-Vorstman, & Siarova, 2017). Regardless of the migration and educational background of the pupils, all newly arrived pupils need to learn the language used in school. This is particularly important when the second language is the exclusive language used for instruction (Wong Fillmore, 1983), which is the case in the Netherlands. If the second language is not sufficiently mastered, the migrant pupils may be hampered in their academic development (e.g., August, Carlo, Dressler, & Snow, 2005; Verhallen & Schoonen, 1993; Wong Fillmore, 1983). Therefore, pupils must catch up with their peers to meet their potential. According to numerous scholars however (e.g., Paradis, 2011; Unsworth, Hulk, & Marinis, 2011; Muñoz, 2008; Verhoeven, 1991; Wong Fillmore, 1983) second language development