EESTI KEELT TEISE KEELENA OMANDAVATE LASTE KEELEOSKUSEST JA SELLE ARENGUST MITMEKEELSES KLASSIS
ESTONIAN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT IN MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS AMONG CHILDREN ACQUIRING ESTONIAN AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Summary/Abstract: The article provides an overview of the Estonian language skills of 9–11-yearold children learning Estonian as a second language at the end of the project “Professional Estonian-speaking Teacher in a Multilingual Classroom”, based on various monitoring data (teacher’s assessment of the child’s language proficiency, test of comprehension and use of grammatical categories, picture description task, written texts). The aim of the project was to improve the quality of Estonian language instruction by supporting the hiring and training of Estonian-speaking teachers. At the same time, students’ language proficiency was monitored, which served as a basis for designing teacher training. Children from diverse backgrounds joined the project, all acquiring Estonian as a second language, and their initial language proficiency varied greatly. The goal was set for students to reach at least level A2 by the end of the project (initially planned for 2027). Monitoring data shows that although the project ended earlier than planned (in 2024), the majority of students reached at least A2 level. Passive language proficiency of the students was significantly better than active and spoken language slightly better than written. It also appears that students with lower initial language proficiency developed their skills more rapidly, leading to a convergence of language proficiency levels over time. The difference between students with stronger and weaker language skills is most evident at the phrase level and in vocabulary.

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