Woordselectie in het Onderwijs aan Jonge kinderen

In the Netherlands, there is a growing concern about the acquisition of Dutch by immigrant children, and politicians are inclined to support more language programmes for preschoolers. This paper argues that a special vocabulary for young children who have no knowledge of Dutch might be a useful instrument in teaching this group. A list of 1000 words was drawn up which is considered to contain a basic vocabulary for children entering primary education at the age of four. The normal order of acquisition of vocabulary in Dutch children was seen as the best guide toward selection. The main body of the list of words was taken from spontaneous language samples of children under four years old, the remainder was selected from published lists for four to six-year-old children.