Tweetalig Leesonderwijs Aan Turkse Kinderen

In this paper a report is given of a study concerning the processes involved in the learning of reading by Turkish children when the reading instruction is simultaneously given in LI en L2. After a short survey of the literature concerning bilingualism and learning to read the design of the study is worked out with reference to three research questions: (1) What is the linguistic and socio-cultural background of Turkish children at the moment when they start to read? (2) To what extent does interference play a role in the simultaneous acquisition of two written codes? (3) How can the individual variation in L1/L2 reading results after one year of reading instruction be explained? The results of the study show that the Turkish children are mainly dominant in LI-skilIs. Further it turns out that the simultaneous acquisition of the written codes of two languages does not have to lead to negative learning results. It seems that LI reading skills results in a positive transfer to L2 reading skills