Page 67 - Second language development of newly arrived migrant kindergarteners - Frederike Groothoff

Present study: extended research questions and methodology 67 Table 3.3: Descriptive Characteristics of the Participants (N = pupils) at the First Data Collection in Session 0 (Age, Gender, and Exposure to Dutch at School). N Age Gender Exposure to Dutch at School (in months) Mean sd. 1.81 1.49 2.90 1.79 2.07 1.61 Mean sd. DL2-school 32 5;1 0;9 Boys Girls %% 53.1 46.9 40.0 60.0 50.0 50.0 Mainstream school Total 10 5;2 0;7 42 5;1 0;8 Table 3.4 shows the distribution of the participants over the schools in the two school types in this study. As can be seen, there was skewedness in the distribution of the participants over school types and over schools, as a consequence of our ecological setting. Whenever there was a DL2-school willing to participate in this study they could provide multiple pupils from mostly multiple classes. The participating Mainstream schools could only offer small number of pupils. Including more schools, and thus more classes and pupils would have been too time-consuming for the single researcher in this study. In the end, only a fourth of the participants were schooled in a mainstream context. It has to be said that this is not a reflection of the actual situation for newly arrived migrant kindergarteners. As mentioned in Chapter 1, most newly arrived migrant kindergarteners are mainstreamed after arrival, however for practical reasons it was difficult to include more kindergarteners from Mainstream schools. Table 3.4: Distribution of Participants over the two School Types. Number of Classes DL2-schools School 1 2 School 2 School 3 School 4 School 5 Total DL2-schools (5) 14 Mainstream schools School 6 3 Number of Pupils 3 7 3 6 13 32 7 1 1 1 10 4 1 3 3 School 7 School 8 School 9 & 10 b Total Mainstream schools (5) b This participant changed schools. 1 1 1