Polish and Icelandic vocabulary of Polish preschool children in Iceland: Characteristics of the preschool and home language environment of bilingual children

Abstract

Bilingual language acquisition is a broad field and subject to many influencing factors. The rate and success of acquisition of two languages varies greatly with regard to the amount and type of input children receive in each language. Research studies on vocabulary knowledge of bilingual children in Iceland have shown that the Icelandic vocabulary of children of immigrant background is considerably smaller than that of their monolingual peers. However, less is known about their vocabulary knowledge in their mother tongue. The main aim of this study was to test the Polish and Icelandic vocabulary of bilingual children to assess their development in the two languages. In addition, the effect of the home and preschool language environment on children’s vocabulary development was investigated. The study was conducted in the autumn of 2014. The participants were 14 children, 4–6 years old (born 2009–2010), who were born in Iceland and whose parents’ native language was Polish. The children were chosen from six preschools located in southwest Iceland, outside Reykjavík. Six of the participants attended one preschool, the remaining eight were distributed between five preschools. Two vocabulary measurements were used in the study: an Icelandic version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-4) which has been translated/adapted and norm-referenced for four to eight-year-old Icelandic children and a standardized Polish vocabulary test, the Picture Vocabulary Test – Comprehension (OTSR) designed for use with children aged 2 to 6 years. A detailed questionnaire in Polish was given to the children’s parents to investigate the home language environment of the bilingual children. In addition, interviews were conducted with the heads of the eight preschool departments (in six preschools) attended by the participating children.

The main results of the vocabulary tests showed that the receptive vocabulary in Polish of the majority of the children was similar in size to that of Polish monolingual children of the same age and gender. On the other hand, the size of their receptive vocabulary in Icelandic was found to be below the average for Icelandic monolingual children. The results suggest that although the participating children have lived in Iceland since infancy, their Icelandic vocabulary is weak. The main findings from the parent questionnaire showed that Polish was the primary language heard daily by all the children during the first two years of life and continued to be the main language used by the children for communication with parents, siblings and other adults. According to the department heads, the main emphasis of the preschool was to assist the bilingual children in learning Icelandic; learning the mother tongue was seen to be the responsibility of the parents. Similar language development practices were used in all the preschools. Language development was intertwined with daily activities and with pull-out lessons for literacy development. The main areas of emphasis mentioned by the department heads were reading to children and discussing the stories with them. The Text Talk method (Orðaspjall) was also used for vocabulary development. In four of the preschools the participating children received special lessons with emphasis on Icelandic vocabulary development. Parents of the bilingual children were generally happy with their cooperation with the preschools. The parents wanted to have positive relations and good communication with preschool staff, but sometimes they felt that communication was hampered by language difficulties. Likewise, the teachers experienced difficulties maintaining open and full communication with parents. They occasionally used interpreters for parent-teacher meetings, but this was not always possible. Finally, teachers used informal methods to assess the bilingual children’s language abilities and many felt the need for a vocabulary assessment tool which would assist teachers in addressing the vocabulary development needs of bilingual children at preschool. The department heads called for more support and training for staff in effective methods of language teaching in order to better meet the needs of the growing number of bilingual children in Icelandic preschools.