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Lexical knowledge in L1 and L2 of third and fifth graders

Lexical knowledge is an important predictor of school success. The present study focuses on aspects of the lexical knowledge of bilingual children in both their Ll and L2. It not only compares the amount of knowledge they have but also deals with qualitative aspects of their lexical knowledge. Data were obtained from 40 bilingual Turkish-Dutch children (9- and 11-year-olds) living in the Netherlands. These children were asked to explain the meaning of some common Dutch and Turkish nouns in an extended word definition task. The meaning aspects the children mentioned in their responses were analysed according to a classification scheme (cf. Verhallen and Schoonen 1993). It turns out that there are important differences between the available lexical knowledge in Ll and L2: children allot to Ll words less extensive and less varied meaning aspects than to L2 words, L2 being the language of education. These findings are added to earlier findings that the L2 knowledge of bilingual Turkish children lags behind that of monolingual Dutch children. The overall conclusion is that the L1 knowledge of the bilingual children cannot counterbalance their poor lexical knowledge in L2. Some educational implications are discussed.