İki Dillilik ve Hollanda’daki İki Dilli Türk Çocuklarının Anadilleri ve Hâkim Dilleri Arasındaki İlişki Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Abstract

In the speech of a bilingual or multilingual individual, the effects of each language can be seen on the otherlanguage(s) that she/he produces. First language (L1) effects can be seen in the second language (L2), and L2effects can be seen in L1 in different skill areas. In second language acquisition studies, it is important to take intoconsideration the relationship between the languages and how they are learned. Today, an increasing number ofschools are challenged by learners from different linguistic backgrounds who have different prior literaryexperiences. Although bilingualism of minority children is considered to be a disadvantage, related researchreveals that bilingual students who are competent in both languages attain a high level of achievement at school.This study considers the conditions under which bilinguals and multi-linguals acquire languages and examineshow L1 affects the acquisition of other languages, how the children’s first-language literacy affects their second-language reading skills, and the attitude towards bilingualism and multilingualism. This paper illustrates howthe first language plays an important role in the acquisition of mainstream languages for immigrant children byinvestigating the language skills of bilingual children of Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands.