Systematic Review: Interventions for Improving Language Skills in Three to Six-Year-Old Children

Project Description

Language competencies are among the prerequisites for individual success in education. In Germany, children with delays in language development or children with an immigrant background whose native tongue is not the language of instruction bear a significantly higher risk of experiencing poorer school and vocational progress than might be expected given their general cognitive skills. Consequently, unrestrained participation in society is endangered owing to delays in the cognitive, emotional, and social development of the children concerned.

Policy makers in Germany have recognised that society needs to foster educationally relevant language competencies even in very young children, a need that has recently gained in urgency by the arrival and likely stay of large groups of refugees from war zones in Asia and Africa. As yet, it remains an open question, however, how to best proceed: Which language intervention approaches will (or can) deliver which effects in the context of specific institutional and individual conditions?

The project aimed to remedy the situation and to systematically document and integrate the available information about successfully tried and tested language interventions.

Funding

Funded by the Mercator Foundation.

Project Management

Project Team

• PD Dr. Jan-Henning Ehm
• Dr. Renate Martini

Project Details