Project SpröM
Long-term school effects of early language promotion in children with and without migration background
Thematic background
The project SpröM deals with the promotion and the development of linguistic and metalinguistic skills and pertinent long-term effects on children with and without migration background.
Before entering school, children already possess certain skills which have turned out to be essential precursor characteristics for the acquisition of written language in school. In this context, phonological awareness, i.e. the ability to perceive the phonological structure of spoken language, is central. Many studies have shown that children who already possess good phonological awareness skills in kindergarten and who, for instance, can perceive single sounds in a word, have an advantage in the later acquisition of written language. Many studies have proved that pre-school training programs for the promotion of phonological awareness have a positive effect and that they especially promote the later learning to read and write (e.g. Schneider, Küspert, Roth, Visé & Marx, 1997). Whether children with migration background, speaking German as a second language, benefit from pre-school training programs for phonological awareness to the same extent as children with German as their first language, and how the long-term developments in reading and writing proceed in these children in comparison to children without a migration background, has not been investigated to date.
The project
The project was started in 2006 within the framework of a DFG funding programme. Since autumn 2009, it has been continued within the IDeA framework.
490 children with and without migration background were initially promoted with different training programs for German language skills in general and for phonological awareness in particular in several nursery schools in the region of Offenbach as well as in the Würzburg area. These children participated at regular intervals in tests assessing essential precursor skills in acquisition of written language (e.g. phonological awareness, knowledge of letters, naming rate etc.). Since autumn 2008 (start of school), additional children have been included in the study who did not receive a promotion program in kindergarten. Since the start of school, the development of reading and writing skills has been assessed at regular intervals for all children. Quality characteristics of school lessons are additionally assessed by lesson observations and teacher interviews to investigate which factors have the most beneficial impact on written language skills.
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