Developing additive bilingualism of very young learners of English

Zuzana Šimková

Constantine the Philosopher University, Slovakia

zuzana.simkova@ukf.sk

Abstract

Bilingual education is becoming a part of every school worldwide. Education in two languages is necessary and required by many schools and parents. Being bilingual opens not only more opportunities for students, but also social, emotional and cognitive benefits and therefore this article deals with definitions of the objectives, content and forms of developing additive bilingualism of very young learners of English in Slovak educational context. It analyses the term additive bilingualism and methods used to investigate the presence of interference between mother tongue and a foreign language in the second language acquisition of very young learners. The term additive bilingualism is not very well-known and therefore we analyse this term from the point of view of several linguists. Moreover, we discuss the situation of bilingual education and bilingual schools providing the education in two languages in Slovakia. The article mentions the intention of our research and its positive impact and benefits for bilingual education at nursery schools and the way how to improve this type of education in Slovakia.

Key words: bilingualism, additive bilingualism, very young learners, acquisition, nursery schools

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