TY - JOUR A1 - Kempert, Sebastian Benjamin A1 - Götz, Regina A1 - Blatter, Kristine A1 - Tibken, Catharina A1 - Artelt, Cordula A1 - Schneider, Wolfgang A1 - Stanat, Petra T1 - Training Early Literacy Related Skills BT - To Which Degree Does a Musical Training Contribute to Phonological Awareness Development? JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Well-developed phonological awareness skills are a core prerequisite for early literacy development. Although effective phonological awareness training programs exist, children at risk often do not reach similar levels of phonological awareness after the intervention as children with normally developed skills. Based on theoretical considerations and first promising results the present study explores effects of an early musical training in combination with a conventional phonological training in children with weak phonological awareness skills. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design and measurements across a period of 2 years, we tested the effects of two interventions: a consecutive combination of a musical and a phonological training and a phonological training alone. The design made it possible to disentangle effects of the musical training alone as well the effects of its combination with the phonological training. The outcome measures of these groups were compared with the control group with multivariate analyses, controlling for a number of background variables. The sample included N = 424 German-speaking children aged 4–5 years at the beginning of the study. We found a positive relationship between musical abilities and phonological awareness. Yet, whereas the well-established phonological training produced the expected effects, adding a musical training did not contribute significantly to phonological awareness development. Training effects were partly dependent on the initial level of phonological awareness. Possible reasons for the lack of training effects in the musical part of the combination condition as well as practical implications for early literacy education are discussed. KW - phonological awareness KW - musical training KW - phonological training KW - preschool children KW - early literacy Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01803 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Edele, Aileen A1 - Kempert, Sebastian Benjamin A1 - Schotte, Kristin T1 - Does competent bilingualism entail advantages for the third language learning of immigrant students? JF - Learning and instruction : the journal of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction N2 - This study examined the role of immigrant bilingualism in third language learning (L3 = English). It focused on the respective effects of students' competence in the minority language (L1 = Turkish or Russian) and language of instruction (L2 = German). We analyzed a sample of 8752 German 10th-grade students (N = 7964 monolinguals, N = 436 Turkish-German students, N = 352 Russian-German students) and drew on standardized tests in L1, L2, and L3. OLS-regression models showed L3 advantages for balanced bilinguals at a high level in both language groups compared to their average monolingual peers when third variables were controlled, while advantages in the L2 dominant bilinguals could only be observed in the Russian-German sample. Balanced bilinguals at a low level and L1 dominants attained lower L3 levels than monolinguals. However, comparisons with comparably high proficient monolinguals, as well as further analyses with the bilingual samples separately, revealed that only L2 competence – and not L1 competence – explained immigrant students' L3 proficiency. Our findings indicate that the advantages of immigrant bilinguals in L3 learning mainly depend on their competence in the language of instruction. KW - Bilingualism KW - Immigrant students KW - L3 KW - Third language learning KW - Metalinguistic awareness Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.07.002 SN - 0959-4752 VL - 58 SP - 232 EP - 244 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maluch, Jessica Tsimprea A1 - Kempert, Sebastian Benjamin T1 - Bilingual profiles and third language learning: the effects of the manner of learning, sequence of bilingual acquisition, and language use practices JF - International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism N2 - This study investigates the effect of bilingualism on learning English as a foreign language (L3), examining the impact of manner and sequence of bilingual acquisition and learning as well as language use practices in language minority children. With a sample of 1295 German eighth and ninth graders (bilingual: n = 456, monolingual: n = 839), we examined if certain aspects of bilingualism present an advantageous condition for learning English as a foreign language in bilingual language minority students. Controlling for socio-economic status, indicators of cultural capital, and gender, the regression analyses revealed higher L3 listening and reading outcomes for bilinguals who received formal instruction in their minority language, had acquired both languages in their first three years, and switched more often between their two languages, when compared to their other bilingual and monolingual peers. The discussion focuses on the importance for bilingual children in immigrant communities to have high proficiencies in both majority and minority languages in order to develop advantages in foreign language learning. KW - Bilingualism KW - language minority learners KW - foreign language learning KW - multilingualism KW - third language acquisition Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2017.1322036 SN - 1367-0050 SN - 1747-7522 VL - 22 IS - 7 SP - 870 EP - 882 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER -