Course Title

Understanding and supporting children’s multilingual development

Lecturer

Dr Cheng Chen-Chen

Lecturer’s Profile

Dr. Cheng, Chen-chen received her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in special education and, as a speech language pathologist, she holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is with the special education program at National Kaohsiung Normal University and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on multicultural special education and communication disorders.

Course Overview

This course is to increase attendees’ knowledge and skills in working with multilingual children

Course Objectives

Attendees will be able to

1. Describe the language development milestones of typically developing monolingual children.

2. Explain the language development characteristics of multilingual children.

3.  Explore instructional and interactional strategies for supporting multilingual children through group activities.

Course Assessment

1. Which of the following is a characteristic of the prelinguistic stage of infant language development?

A. Able to speak complete sentences
B. Able to read simple storybooks
C. Babbling and making sounds to interact with others
D. Able to correctly write their own name

2. At approximately what age do children typically begin to produce two-word combinations (e.g., “Mommy hug,” “Want cookie”)?

A. 6 months
B. 18 months to 2 years
C. 3.5 years
D. 5 years

3. Which of the following best describes a common language characteristic of multilingual children?

A. They can only communicate in one language and cannot understand other languages
B. They never mix different languages in conversation
C. They may switch between different languages within the same sentence or conversation (code-switching)
D. All of their languages develop at exactly the same pace with no differences

4. Which of the following best supports the language development of multilingual children?

A. Encouraging children to use only the school language at all times
B. Discouraging families from using their home language at home
C. Providing opportunities for children to continue using and developing their home language while learning the school language
D. Correcting every home-language word children use in class

5. Which teacher practice best promotes multilingual children's language development?

A. Asking only yes/no questions during classroom activities
B. Providing opportunities for dialogue, collaborative play, and open-ended discussion
C. Reducing interaction between children to avoid language errors
D. Answering for children when they respond slowly

Register for the Course to Discover the Correct Answers!