ALACODE · Access to language and cognitive development

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Project objective

Access to language is of key importance to the welfare of citizens of the EU. Throughout the EU, about 10 per cent of the school age population have a language different than that of the majority of the country in which they live, and projections are that in the EU as a whole about one-third of the urban population under 35 will consist of ethnic minorities with a language background different than that of the majority.However, despite the significance of this issue, much remains to be known about the extent to which the development of children is enhanced by access to more than one language, as is the case for bilingual children or impaired by a restricted access to language, as is the case for many deaf children. Therefore the aim of this project is to determine the effects of access to language on child development.It will involve a comprehensive investigation of the effects of the age of acquisition of one or more languages - either spoken or sign - and the nature of language input on key measures of children's cognitive development, conversational understanding and school achievement, taking full advantage of the strategic location of Trieste as a multilingual centre in close proximity to Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as of the infrastructure network available in Trieste for carrying out work on atypically developing children, particularly those with deafness.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRIESTE - DIPARTIMENTO DI PSICOLOGIA · TRIESTECoordinatorCity levelItaly

Links

• View on CORDIS