A Western Sydney University led research team has been awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project grant to establish and continue research-driven heritage language learning programs for early childhood education centres in Sydney and Melbourne.
Receiving more than $359,000 over the next three years, the Little Multilingual Minds (LMM) Research Program has been created in response to the needs of Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse families to boost children’s heritage language skills and education opportunities during early childhood.
A successful pilot Spanish program was launched in 2021 at Amigoss Spanish Bilingual Childcare Glebe in Sydney’s Inner West, while a similar Vietnamese program will be trialled this month at Goodstart Early Learning Braybrook in conjunction with advocacy group VietSpeak .
Project lead, Paola Escudero, Professor in Linguistics at the University’s MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development says the interactive play-based program supports families who speak Spanish or Vietnamese at home, and families who want their monolingual children to learn a second language other than English.
“More than 300 languages are spoken in Australia, however more community support is needed for children to speak their home language or to learn a language other than English from early childhood education,” said Professor Escudero.
“Little Multilingual Minds is helping to bridge the language gap in Australia by partnering with community organisations, early childhood centres and families to transfer culture, history, and language to new generations.”
The LMM program was created for all children, regardless of language background or geographical location, as an opportunity to learn a second language and boost wellbeing, cognitive and social development during the early education years.
“Our research has revealed the positive effects of early language learning, which is why our evidence-based program has been designed to boost cognitive development for all Australian children, leading to cultural and economic opportunities for all,” said Professor Escudero.
“Children learn and develop language skills best via play and enriching social activities, and our program offers two- to six-year-olds a flexible language exposure program that adapts to every language in the world.”
Professor Paola Escudero will lead the Linkage Project, collaborating with Dr Chloé Diskin-Holdaway and Professor John Hajek from the University of Melbourne.
