What is Sequential Bilingualism?

• Any individual who acquires a second language after gaining initial exposure and understanding of a first language
• Typically after age three
• Degrees of fluency can differ between the languages
• Degrees of exposure can differ between the languages
• Related terms: second language learner, second language acquisition

What Are Factors That Impact a Child Who is a Sequential Bilingual?

• Age that they are exposed to new language
  • Early exposure– typically occurs when the child is exposed to one language at home and a second when they begin school
  • Later exposure– typically occurs when an individual immigrated to a country with a different language
• Amount of time they are surrounded by each language
• Which language is learned first and second
  • Phonological differences 
• Degrees of exposure
  • Verbal language– language of family members, music, conversation
  • Written language– exposure to books, writing materials

Communication Skills

• Varies greatly depending on factors listed above
• Child often enters silent stage at start, as they take in the new language (normal behavior)
• Communication skills in their primary language impacts potential to learn their second language
• Children could often acquire native-like speech production and accents with their early exposure due to neural plasticity

Intervention for Communication Skills

• Need for support or intervention varies greatly among children
• Areas where support typically comes from
  • Teachers in typical classroom
    • Speak slower, make eye contact, use visuals
  • Peers in typical classroom
    • Offer help and engage 
  • Outside classroom support (ex: ESL class)

What is English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom?

• Programs to support students learning english during school
• Support students with
  • Writing
  • Speaking
  • Reading

• Example of intervention used in ESL:
  • Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
    • focus on real life language intervention
      

Reading and Writing Skills

• Development of literacy skills depends on the amount of exposure to written language (e.g. story books, alphabet games, etc.)
• Depending on which languages are being spoken and learned, the two languages may be more similar or extremely different phonetically, script-wise, etc.
  • Some letters exist in multiple languages, but they can be different phonetically.
• Students can write differently based on the different cultural norms
  • Perspectives can differ between languages but are often combined for sequentially bilingual students.

 

Interventions for Literacy Skills

• Common difficulties with vocabulary, morphology, and syntax, due to differing grammatical structures between languages.
• Many bilingual students are misidentified as special education students
• CLAVES (comprehension, linguistic awareness, and vocabulary)  Intervention: 
  • Focuses on language instruction through vocabulary, morphology, and syntax and uses guided reading, discussion, and writing activities 
  • Based on four basic recommendations from Baker et al. (2014) on the best instructional methods for bilingual learners:
    • Vocabulary instruction throughout several days
    • Integrate oral and written language
    • Provide several opportunities to write
    • Small group instruction

Helpful Resources

http://www.hanen.org/helpful-info/articles/bilingualism-in-young-children–separating-fact-fr.aspx

https://www.learninglinks.org.au/supporting-bilingual-children-in-early-childhood/

Images from:

https://www.freepik.com

https://gratisography.com

Citations:

Participate Learning. (2020, August 13). The benefits of a bilingual brain [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yOI6-rqT8k