| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this thesis was to find out the views of various stakeholders on the English language education policy regarding minority languages in Dutch secondary schools. To research this, five Dutch secondary school English teachers, five Turkish-Dutch bilingual secondary school students, five Turkish-Dutch bilingual adults, and one foreign language education policy advocate were interviewed on the current English language education policy, proposals from earlier research suggesting certain changes to the current policy, and minority language support in foreign language education.
The results showed that the Turkish-Dutch bilingual students were in favour of teacher training, but were less favourable towards proposals that included extra language classes. Moreover, the students showed more reluctance to proposals that would differentiate between monolingual and bilingual students. The Turkish-Dutch adults valued equality the most, were less favourable towards proposals that would create extra opportunities for Turkish-Dutch bilingual students, and believed that the Turkish-Dutch community should be more involved with Turkish language acquisition and maintenance. The teachers questioned the implementability of changes to the current policy, and questioned their responsibility for minority language support in students. A desire for equality amongst the treatment of students, a fear of an increased workload, and feelings of a perceived lack of support from their schools further coloured their answers. Finally, the foreign language education policy advocate hopes for increased minority language acquisition and maintenance, and that more minority languages will be added to the standard curriculum. | |
