A growing body of empirical studies indicates the educational benefits of bilingualism. Despite this tendency, bilingual minority students are being pressured by school authorities to shed their mother tongues. We conducted qualitative interviews with Turkish-bilingual and native-monolingual students in Flemish (Belgium) secondary schools to…

Drawing on data from eleven preschools in four European countries (Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK), this edited volume explores the progress of preschool children learning English over a period of two years. In the first volume, children's lexical and grammatical comprehension, the quality of L2 input, the effect of immersion on L1…

Drawing on data from eleven preschools in four European countries (Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and the UK), this edited volume explores the progress of preschool children learning English over a period of two years. This edited volume (Volume II) gives details on best practices in bilingual preschools as well as background and training on topics…

In the present study, language development of Dutch children with a cochlear implant (CI) in a bilingual educational setting and Flemish children with a CI in a dominantly monolingual educational setting is compared. In addition, we compared the development of spoken language with the development of sign language in Dutch children. Eighteen…

The language planning activities undertaken by Belgium's government suggest that the goals of linguistic legislation have changed over time, reflecting the evolution and complex interplay of social, cultural, political, and economic characteristics. Initially, language legislation stemmed from the desire of Flemish militants to protect and promote…

Discusses the consequences of "language shift through erosion" on the basis of an analysis of the gradual disappearance of Dutch as a native language in French Flanders. Sketches the theoretical language-in-contact framework, breaking down the chronological evolution into diglossic, bilingual and (almost) monolingual phases. (37…

Charts the vocabulary evolution of three groups of students in Brussels' kindergartens: (1) originally monolingual Dutch-speaking children; (2) originally simultaneously bilingual children (Dutch/French); and (3) young successive second-language learners (French at home, Dutch in kindergarten). (23 references) (Author/CK)