The Municipality of Aarhus Department for Children and Young People
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
AND LANGUAGE SCREENING
OF 3-YEAR-OLDS
LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
AND LANGUAGE SCREENING
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LINKS
Denne pjece er oversat til somali, arabisk, tyrkisk, vietnamesisk, kurdisk, dari og pashto. Oversættelserne findes på følgende hjemmeside: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
Qoraalkan waxaa lagu turjumay af soomaali. Turjumidda waxaad ka heli kartaa boggaan: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
Bu broşür Türkçe ye de çevrilmiştir. Çeviriyi aşağdaki internet adresinde bulabilirsiniz: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
Tập giấy mỏng này được chuyển dịch sang tiếng Việt. Bạn có thểđọc bản phiên dịch tại trang điện tử sau: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﻪﺋ ﻪﮑﻠﻴﻣﺎﻧ م ﻪﻳ ﻩو ﻩواﺮێﮔر ﻩو ،ﯼدرﻮﮐ ﯚﺑ ﻪﻧاﺮێﮔر ﻪﮐ ﻪﻟ ﻪﭘﻻ ﻩڕ ﻪﻟ ﯽڵﺎﻣ ﯼ ﻩراﻮﺧ ﻪﺋ ﻩو ﻪﺘﻳزۆﺪﻳ ﻩو ... www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﺪﯧﻨﮐاﺪﯧﭘ ﻞﯦذ سردا ﻪﺑﺪﯧﻧاﻮﺘﯧﻣﺎﻤﺷ ﻪﮐ ﻩﺪﯦدﺮګ ﻪﻤﺟﺮﺗﻮﺘﺸﭘو ېرد نﺎﺑز ﻪﺑ ﺎﻤﻨهر ﻪﭽﺑﺎﺘﮐ ﻦﯦا . www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﭽﺑﺎﺘﮐ ﯥﺗﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻣ ﻪﻏد ﻩد ېﻮﺷ ﻪﻤﺟﺮﺗﻮﺑژﻮﺘښﭘوا ېرد ﻪﭘ ﻪ . ېړﮐ اﺪﯧﭘ ﯥﮐ ﻪﺤﻔﺻ ېﺮﺗﻮﯧﭙﻤﮐ ېﺪﻧﻻ ﻪﭘ ﻪﻤﺟﺮﺗ ﻪﻏد ﯥﺷ ېﻻﻮﮐ ﯥﺳﺎﺗ ﻪﭼ : www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﺔﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟا ﺔﻐﻠﻟا ﻰﻟإ ﻢِﺟﺮُﺗ ﺐّﻴﺘُﻜﻟا اﺬه . ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟا ﺔﺤﻔﺼﻟا ناﻮﻨﻋ ﻰﻠﻋ ﺎهﺪﺠﺗ ﺔﻤﺟﺮﺘﻟا : www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
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Denne pjece er oversat til somali, arabisk, tyrkisk, vietnamesisk, kurdisk, dari og pashto. Oversættelserne findes på følgende hjemmeside: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
Qoraalkan waxaa lagu turjumay af soomaali. Turjumidda waxaad ka heli kartaa boggaan: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
Bu broşür Türkçe ye de çevrilmiştir. Çeviriyi aşağdaki internet adresinde bulabilirsiniz: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
Tập giấy mỏng này được chuyển dịch sang tiếng Việt. Bạn có thểđọc bản phiên dịch tại trang điện tử sau: www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﻪﺋ ﻪﮑﻠﻴﻣﺎﻧ م ﻪﻳ ﻩو ﻩواﺮێﮔر ﻩو ،ﯼدرﻮﮐ ﯚﺑ ﻪﻧاﺮێﮔر ﻪﮐ ﻪﻟ ﻪﭘﻻ ﻩڕ ﻪﻟ ﯽڵﺎﻣ ﯼ ﻩراﻮﺧ ﻪﺋ ﻩو ﻪﺘﻳزۆﺪﻳ ﻩو ... www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﺪﯧﻨﮐاﺪﯧﭘ ﻞﯦذ سردا ﻪﺑﺪﯧﻧاﻮﺘﯧﻣﺎﻤﺷ ﻪﮐ ﻩﺪﯦدﺮګ ﻪﻤﺟﺮﺗﻮﺘﺸﭘو ېرد نﺎﺑز ﻪﺑ ﺎﻤﻨهر ﻪﭽﺑﺎﺘﮐ ﻦﯦا . www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﭽﺑﺎﺘﮐ ﯥﺗﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻣ ﻪﻏد ﻩد ېﻮﺷ ﻪﻤﺟﺮﺗﻮﺑژﻮﺘښﭘوا ېرد ﻪﭘ ﻪ . ېړﮐ اﺪﯧﭘ ﯥﮐ ﻪﺤﻔﺻ ېﺮﺗﻮﯧﭙﻤﮐ ېﺪﻧﻻ ﻪﭘ ﻪﻤﺟﺮﺗ ﻪﻏد ﯥﺷ ېﻻﻮﮐ ﯥﺳﺎﺗ ﻪﭼ : www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi ﺔﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟا ﺔﻐﻠﻟا ﻰﻟإ ﻢِﺟﺮُﺗ ﺐّﻴﺘُﻜﻟا اﺬه . ﺔﻴﻟﺎﺘﻟا ﺔﺤﻔﺼﻟا ناﻮﻨﻋ ﻰﻠﻋ ﺎهﺪﺠﺗ ﺔﻤﺟﺮﺘﻟا : www.aarhuskommune.dk/vi
Good language and reading skills are crucial for children’s and young people’s well-being, learning and development. In many ways language is the most important factor in communication and the learning of new skills.
Children’s language development during the early years is ex-tremely important for the further development of language and reading skills. It is, therefore, important that pedagogues and parents become aware if it is necessary for a particular child to be given extra language development support. In order to strengthen children’s language development, an offer of language assessment of all 3-year-olds was introdu-ced on May 1st 2008.
For children with Danish as their second language, there will be a slight change in the procedure for the assessment of children’s statutory language stimulation at preschool age. This change in procedure means that all children with Da-nish as their second language will in future be language screened when they are 3 years old. In this way, all children
with Danish as their second language will receive the lan-guage support to which they are entitled.
Language assessment and language screening have several aims. These tools are partly an aid to the organisation of the pedagogical efforts and in the collaboration between personnel and parents regarding the children’s language development. They will also contribute to identifying the children that are in need of extra support in order to achieve a level of Danish that corresponds to their age.
With this brochure we offer information on how the lan-guage assessment and lanlan-guage screening will be carried out.
Yours sincerely Louise Gade
Alderman for the Department of Children and Young People The Municipality of Aarhus
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As stated in the Day-Care Legislation, the municipality is to offer all 3-year-olds a language assessment. In the Munici-pality of Aarhus parents of all 3-year-olds will be offered a language assessment of their child. This offer commenced on May 1st 2008.
WHAT DOES LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT ENTAIL?
The Municipality of Aarhus uses the language assessment material already developed for the Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs. This language assessment material is de-veloped by a language consortium consisting of the Centre for Higher Education, Copenhagen, the University of South-ern Denmark, the Mikro Workshop and the National Know-ledge Centre for Reading.
The language assessment material consists of a question-naire that parents fill out and another questionquestion-naire that the pedagogues fill out. This questionnaire is adapted for boys and girls respectively because there are differences in their language development at the age of three. There is also instructive material that can aid parents with complet-ing the questionnaire as well as helpcomplet-ing the pedagogue in making the assessment and implementing its results in the child’s daily life.
WHEN DOES THE LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT TAKE pLACE?
The language assessment takes place during the period
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DAY-CARE LEGISLATION (DAGTILBUDS-LOVEN) § 11
“The City Council shall offer language assess-ment to all 3-year-olds in the municipality and provide language support activities and other support where necessary ...”
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when the child is between 3 years and 3 years and 4 months old. The language assessment takes place in col-laboration between the parents and a pedagogue that the child is comfortable with. The language assessment is con-ducted as a game with the child, where the pedagogue registers the child’s language development.
WHAT HAppENS AFTERWARDS?
The language assessment provides a starting point for a dialogue between the parents and the pedagogue. In this forum, ways in which the day-care institution and the pa-rents can support the child’s continued language develop-ment are discussed. Language assessdevelop-ments show that most children speak Danish at a level that corresponds to their age. These children need what is called a general pedago-gical effort. The general pedagopedago-gical effort is part of the daily pedagogical work, with its point of departure in the day-care pedagogical learning plan and the Department for Children and Young People’s Plan of Action for lan-guage and reading. A smallish group of about 10% of the children will need a so-called focused effort, which means that the day-care
institution will organise special language stimulating acti-vities. A small group of approximately 5% of the children will have need of an intensified effort, for example by a speech therapist.
In all cases the language assessment is a solid basis for a dialogue about how the child’s further language develop-ment can be supported in the day-care institution and at home.
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All children with Danish as a second language are, accor-ding to law, to be offered language support if they need it. In order to find out if a child needs language support children need to be language screened when they reach
the age of 3.
Children who have Danish as their second language are children that do not speak Danish as their mother tongue. This means that they learn Danish after they have started learning their mother tongue. For example, they only begin to learn Danish when they start attending the kindergar-ten or day-dare centre. Whether the child has Danish as a second language or not is totally dependent on which language the child has experienced from birth, and has no connection to the child’s origin or parentage.
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THE pRIMARY EDUCATION ACT § 4A“Bilingual children that do not yet attend school are to be offered support in furthering their lan-guage development with a view to learning Da-nish, if this is deemed necessary after a professio-nal assessment.”
Section 4. “... The offer is given on the child’s 3rd birthday at the latest unless the day-care institu-tion is only for children under the age of 3.” Section 5. “... If, after an expert evaluation, the children need language stimulation, parents are under an obligation to allow their child to partici-pate in the offered language stimulation.”
LANGUAGE SCREENING OF 3-YEAR-OLDS WITH DANISH AS THEIR SECOND LANGUAGE
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THE pRIMARY EDUCATION ACT § 4A
Section 2. “Bilingual children are understood to be those with another mother tongue than Danish and who first begin learning Danish when they come into contact with the surrounding society, and possibly even not before they are taught it at school.”
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Children with Danish as a second language have been eli-gible for § 4A language support since August 1999. Before this, pedagogues in the child’s day-care institution assessed whether the child needed language support or not. After the autumn of 2008 this procedure has been altered. This means that all children with Danish as a second language and living in the Municipality of Aarhus are to be language screened when they reach the age of 3.
Children are language screened to ensure that they receive the correct necessary support for their Danish language de-velopment.
WHAT DOES LANGUAGE SCREENING ENTAIL?
Language screening is conducted as a game with the child, a game where the pedagogue keeps the focus on the child’s Danish language. During the game the pedagogue registers the child’s Danish language skills. In the Municipa-lity of Aarhus we use selected parts of the “Language as-sessment material” provided by the Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs. The language assessment material is
de-veloped by the Centre for Higher Education, Copenhagen, the University of Southern Denmark, the Mikro Workshop and the National Knowledge Centre for Reading.
Furthermore, the language screening also contains a sec-tion that assesses the child’s mother tongue. All children in the Municipality of Aarhus have the right to participate in the full “Language Assessment” (see page 5). Parents of a child with Danish as his/her second language can, the-refore, also request to participate in all sections of the lan-guage assessment material. If the parents wish to do this they should contact the child’s day-care institution.
The language assessment material consists of a question-naire that the pedagogue fills out during the language screening. Parents answer some questions regarding the child’s mother tongue either before or after the language screening takes place. The questionnaires are adapted for boys and girls respectively because there are differences in how far their language has developed at the age of 3.
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WHEN DOES THE LANGUAGE SCREENING TAKE pLACE?
The language screening takes place during the period bet-ween the child’s third birthday and the age of 3 years and 4 months. The language screening takes place in collabo-ration between a language advisor and a pedagogue that the child knows and is comfortable with.
WHAT HAppENS AFTERWARDS?
Many children with Danish as their second language need support in order to develop their Danish language skills. The language screening uncovers the fact that a child ne-eds language support. The day-care institution will receive extra resources to carry out language support in the ca-ses where this is deemed necessary. The pedagogues will, therefore, have more time to work with the child’s Danish language development in a goal-orientated manner. After the language screening, the day-care institution re-ceives advice as to how they can continue working with the individual child’s language development.
The language screening forms the basis for a dialogue bet-ween parents and pedagogue.
How the day-care institution and the parents can best sup-port the child’s further language development is discussed in this forum. Language consultants from the Knowledge Centre for Integration and the day-care institution’s lan-guage adviser will continually upgrade the qualifications of the pedagogues that maintain the daily language stimula-tion of children with Danish as their second language.
pUBLISHED BY:
The Municipality of Aarhus Department for Children and Young People Pedagogical Department
pUBLISHED:
April 2008 1st edition - 1st impression
©COpYRIGHT:
The Municipality of Aarhus Department for Children and Young People Pedagogical Department
LAYOUT:
The Municipality of Aarhus Department for Children and Young People
pHOTO:
Hartmann Schmidt Fotografi
pRINTED BY:
