Bilingual kindergartens and bilingual toddler groups: The development of language and interaction skills

Bilingual kindergartens and bilingual toddler groups: The development of language and interaction skills (since 2005)

Currently, 2% of all kindergartens in Germany offer a bilingual programme for toddlers (age 0-3 years) and older children from 3-6 years (FMKS 2014). Many studies so far have focused on these older children, in particular with respect to their linguistic development in the L1 (e.g. German) and in their L2 (e.g. English, cf. Steinlen & Piske 2016). However, little is known about toddlers who attend such a bilingual programme. The aim of this project, therefore, is to examine these toddlers’ development in the two languages, using interaction approaches as well as standardised language tests.