Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte Academiejaar 2014-2015 Children’s lexical knowledge of English in Flanders and the Netherlands: A contrastive study on the role of classroom instruction Jenka Van de Voorde Supervisor: Prof. Dr. E. Simon Masterproef voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van Master in de taal- en letterkunde: Engels-Spaans 1 2 Preface First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. E. Simon for her highly appreciated advice, her useful feedback and guidance throughout the writing process of this master dissertation. Above all I would like to express my gratitude towards the head masters, teachers and participants for allowing me to conduct my research and for their friendly cooperation. A special thank you goes to primary schools De Wegel and De Meidoorn in Eeklo, Sint-Antonius in Balgerhoeke, De Zeester in Philippine and De Kameleon, De Hille and De Geule in Terneuzen. I truly felt welcome every time I paid a visit to each of the schools. Despite the long hours I spent behind my computer for the past few months, it is the great enthusiasm of the participating children that I will remember most about conducting this study. Moreover, I would like to thank my parents for lending me the car as often as they did in order for me to drive cross borders to collect my data. Additionally, I would like to thank Veerle Vancoillie, without whose help this research paper would not comprise one successful SPSS analysis. And last but not least, I am grateful to my boyfriend Pieter who always supported me throughout these last few months and made sure I could enjoy delicious evening breaks by cooking dinner for me whenever he could. 3 4 Table of contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 8 2 Theoretical framework ......................................................................................... 11 2.1 The global and local importance of English ................................................ 11 2.1.1 The position of English in the world........................................................ 11 2.1.2 English in Flanders .................................................................................. 14 2.1.3 English in the Netherlands ....................................................................... 15 2.2 Second language acquisition (SLA) ............................................................. 18 2.2.1 Terms and concepts.................................................................................. 18 2.2.1.1 Second language acquisition ............................................................ 18 2.2.1.2 Foreign versus second language learning ........................................ 19 2.2.1.3 Acquisition versus learning.............................................................. 19 2.2.1.4 Instructed versus non-instructed SLA .............................................. 21 2.2.1.5 Input versus intake ........................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Second language vocabulary acquisition ................................................. 23 2.2.2.1 Incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition ........................... 26 2.2.3 Factors influencing individual SLA ......................................................... 27 2.2.3.1 Gender and aptitude ......................................................................... 28 2.2.3.2 Age ................................................................................................... 29 2.2.3.3 Sociopsychological factors: Motivation and attitude ....................... 30 2.2.3.4 Exposure to the L2 ........................................................................... 32 3 Educational system in Flanders and in the Netherlands ...................................... 34 3.1 Educational system in Flanders ................................................................... 34 3.1.1 Policy of the educational system of the Flemish Community ................. 34 3.1.2 Organisational structure of Flemish education ........................................ 36 3.2 Educational system in the Netherlands ........................................................ 37 3.2.1 Policy of the educational system of the Netherlands ............................... 37 3.2.2 Organisational structure of Dutch education ........................................... 39 4 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 42 4.1 Informants .................................................................................................... 42 5 4.1.1 English teaching methods of the Dutch schools ...................................... 43 4.1.1.1 Take it Easy: De Hille ...................................................................... 43 4.1.1.2 EarlyBird: De Geule ........................................................................ 44 4.1.1.3 All-in-one: De Kameleon ................................................................. 45 4.1.1.4 EarlyBird: De Zeester ...................................................................... 45 4.2 Data gathering .............................................................................................. 46 4.2.1 Questionnaire ........................................................................................... 46 4.2.2 English receptive vocabulary test ............................................................ 47 5 Results and discussion ......................................................................................... 50 5.1 Results of the PPVT-4 ................................................................................. 50 5.1.1 Comparison between the Flemish and Dutch schools ............................. 50 5.1.2 Comparison between the Flemish schools ............................................... 54 5.1.3 Comparison between the Dutch schools .................................................. 56 5.1.4 Comparison between the Flemish and Dutch set scores .......................... 57 5.1.5 Comparison between scores on cognate versus non-cognate words ....... 59 5.1.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 61 5.2 Results of the questionnaire in relation to the PPVT scores ........................ 61 5.2.1 Gender ...................................................................................................... 61 5.2.2 Attitude .................................................................................................... 62 5.2.3 Motivation ................................................................................................ 65 5.2.4 Language contact through popular media ................................................ 67 5.2.4.1 Television ......................................................................................... 68 5.2.4.2 Music................................................................................................ 75 5.2.4.3 Books ............................................................................................... 77 5.2.4.4 Internet ............................................................................................. 79 5.2.4.5 Games .............................................................................................. 83 5.2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 85 5.3 Discussion .................................................................................................... 86 6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 93 7 Literature .............................................................................................................. 95 8 List of figures ....................................................................................................... 99 6 9 List of tables ....................................................................................................... 101 10 Appendix ............................................................................................................ 102 10.1 Permission letter for the parents ................................................................ 102 10.2 Questionnaire ............................................................................................. 105 10.3 Answers to question 25 of the questionnaire ............................................. 112 10.4 Answers to question 28 of the questionnaire ............................................. 113 10.5 Seven-day diary ......................................................................................... 115 10.6 Answers to the diaries ................................................................................ 117 10.7 Test items PPVT-4: set 1 to 10 .................................................................. 121 10.8 Answering form vocabulary test PPVT-4 .................................................. 122 Word count: 27 293 words 7 1 Introduction In the latest edition of the Flemish week magazine Knack (http://www.knack.be/nieuws/, consulted on 18/05/15), current Flemish Minister of Education Crevits posits that investigation has shown how the language skills of Flemish youngsters are on the decline. For this reason, Crevits wishes to stipulate a more ambitious formulation regarding the final attainment of foreign languages (English, French