Economics Departmental Seminar with Professor Colin Green

Title: Foreign Language Acquisition and Exposure to Mother Tongue Speakers

Co-authored with Kristine Bekkeheien Haaland, and Jon Marius Vaag Iversen

Abstract:

Does the exposure of children to mother-tongue speakers increase foreign language acquisition? All students are taught and assessed in English from school start in Norway. We use this, combined with recent increases in immigration, to investigate the effect of exposure to English-speaking peers on Norwegian Children’s English language skills. Exposure increases these skills, does not affect other cognitive skills, and does not appear to reflect general peer quality effects or other confounding factors. The effects are evident only within gender pairs and for children with above-average proficiency. This suggests conditioning roles for social interaction and baseline language competencies.

Bio:

https://sites.google.com/site/prgreenc/home