Browsing by Subject "Kaksikielisyys"

The purpose of my bachelor’s thesis was to describe the thoughts of children who speak both Finnish and Swedish as their first languages. I investigated how bilingual children make a language choice when interacting with peers. I also observed how code-switching from Finnish to Swedish appeared in children’s talk. My intent was to expand the understanding of language development of a bilingual child from an early education teacher’s view. The questions of my study were: 1. What thoughts do children who speak Finnish and Swedish as their first languages have about bilingualism? 2. How do bilingual children make a language choice when interacting with peers? 3. How does code-switching appear in children’s talk? My thesis was a qualitative study and as the study method I used a theme interview. I gathered the material by interviewing four simultaneously bilingual children aged six to eight who speak both Finnish and Swedish as their first languages. I analysed the material with content analysis. The study shows that children think their bilingualism is a natural part of their lives. They had thoughts about languages transferring from one generation to next. When interacting with peers children followed their joint language history and also negotiated what languages to use together. Appearance of code-switching was variable. Code-switching worked as a part of children’s language strategy to make discussion more fluent. The conclusion of the study is that bilingualism generally does not affect child’s language development. Children mainly do not feel that their bilingualism is a negative thing. Code-switching is a conscious language skill and strategy. In an interaction between bilingual children it is natural to speak both languages and negotiate together which languages to use.

Objectives. This study examined how kindergarten teachers support 3 to 5-year-old immigrant children's Finnish language learning. Year 2014 5,5% of Finnish citizens were foreign. One quarter of them lived in Helsinki, which means 12,8% of Helsinki's population. Cultural diversity reflects also in the field of early childhood education because most of the immigrants are children. This study pieces together the means kindergarten teachers use for supporting immigrant children's Finnish language learning in everyday situations as well as in practises which are planned for supporting Finnish language learning. Since learning new language is always based on child's first language, the study also briefly considers the issue of supporting child's mother tongue in kindergarten. In the end, the study examines kindergarten teachers' view of challenges and what they think needs to be improved as thinking immigrant child's advantageous Finnish language development. Methods. The study was put out as theme interview and five kindergarten teachers who worked with 3 to 5 -year-old immigrant children were interviewed. Methodology of content analysis were used to analyze the responses. Results and discussion. The results indicated that teaching Finnish as second language in kindergartens was focused on everyday situations and language development was seen equally important for every children. Even though particular periods for Finnish as second language was no more organized, working in small groups came up in every response. Children and adults were palying games, doing different kinds of linguistic practises and learning from eachother in these small groups. Using pictures for supporting language in everyday situations was favoured. Adult-child interactions were important. Role of an adult was enriching and labelling feelings, objects and situations for children. Developing immigrant child's mother tongue was seen as important task of the families. Eventhough many of the responses briefly mentioned potential means for supporting children's first languages, the means didn't logically occur in kindergarten teachers work. Kindergarten teachers regarded issues with resources as challengin part of their work: deficit of staff and lack of time hinder supporting second language. The issues with resources were seen as well as targets for development. Both personnel and time should be added. Also the professional development of kindergarten teachers was seen as a constant target of development.