Reading Language of Bilingual Children and Its Characteristics

Abstract

Our contribution focuses on the issue of reading among children in a bilingual setting, for whom the command of two languages is natural. In spoken language, children express themselves almost flawlessly, but problems arise when they begin to read. One language is better, easier to understand, and more natural. Our contribution is of a research nature. Through interviews with a selected sample of children, we try to uncover the phenomena and patterns that occur when bilingual children read. The article also deals with the reading habits of pupils from a bilingual environment, as well as pupils' relationship to reading and books. We examine which language learners prefer when reading books, how their parents have influenced their language preferences, and what reading interests children have in their early childhood. The children in the research were deliberately chosen to meet the requirements of the research goal. We chose four children attending the first grade of elementary school. Each of these children has a second language (English, Norwegian, Belgian, and French) besides the Slovak language. Research data were collected through individual interviews with these children. Through this research, we have also sought to identify the importance of reading in the lives of contemporary children.