Ini-Seg II – From Initial Learning to Secondary Schooling: Longitudinal Studies on the Development of the Bilingual Mental Lexicon and Foreign Language Skills

• Applicants: Dr. Katie Von Holzen; Professor Dr. Holger Hopp
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages ; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465302402

The Ini-Seg II project investigates how primary school students gradually build up a mental lexicon when learning English as a foreign language and how their early English skills affect their further learning progress. It continue the work of the previous project, Ini-Seg I, in which primary school children were tested before and after starting English lessons at school. Initial results show that young learners can identify individual English words from the flow of speech even before they start foreign language lessons and that this ability improves significantly with instruction. There are also indications that German and English increasingly influence each other as learning experience grows. Ini-Seg II has three objectives: 1. Understanding how languages are interconnected: The project demonstrates how the two language systems (German and English) are linked in the mental lexicon of young learners. 2. Understanding how early skills influence later performance: The extent to which early English language skills in elementary school can predict further learning success in secondary school—or whether learning progress is lost during the transition between school levels, will be investigated. 3. Production of longitudinal data: The project creates a comprehensive data set on early foreign language development, which also includes information on learning prerequisites, learning paths, and attitudes of students. To this end, primary school students who have already participated in Ini-Seg I will be tested again in grades 4 and 6. They will complete tasks on listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and working memory. They will also tell a picture story in English and talk about their own experiences with learning English in interviews. This makes it possible to track how English skills develop from the first contact with the foreign language to secondary school, how learners differ in their learning styles, and how classroom instruction and extracurricular contact with English interact. The results will not only provide new insights into early language learning, but also help to develop recommendations for successful English teaching in schools.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants