De tweetalige ontwikkeling van dove kinderen in de Nederlandse Gebarentaal en het Nederlands. Een meervoudige casusstudie

Abstract

Many deaf children in the Netherlands grow up learning Sign Language of the Netherlands (SLN), spoken Dutch and/or a combination of both languages. A relevant question is what the language proficiency of the children is in these languages. Besides, it is important to know in what way the children use both languages in interaction with deaf and hearing communication partners. In the Dutch language area few data are available on this subject.This thesis describes a longitudinal multiple case study on language proficiency, communicative behaviour and communication strategies in SLN and Dutch of eleven deaf children in the age of three to seven years. The goal of this thesis was to gain insight in the bilingual language acquisition of deaf children and the influence of combined acquisition on the communication development. Semi-spontaneous conversations between the deaf children and deaf and hearing adults form the essence of the data collection. The children’s role in these conversations is analysed on three aspects: lexical and syntactic complexity of the utterances, communicative turns and the use of communicative strategies. Additionally, language proficiency was investigated by means of receptive and productive language tasks, and background information was collected by interviewing parents and teachers. The results of this study reveal new insights in the bilingual development of children with an auditory impairment and factors that are of influence on that development. This book is important for researchers, parents, teachers and policymakers.