Investigating possible L2 attrition and L1 reversion in older migrants

This book reports on a study which aimed to examine two groups of healthy older Dutch-English bilingual migrants in a New Zealand setting to see if they were showing signs of L2 attrition with accompanying L1 reversion post-retirement. It also aimed to identify possible factors which might play a role in the incidence of any L2 attrition and concomitant L1 reversion. The research design involved an analysis of sociolinguistic life, using questionnaires. These included self-assessments of L1 and L2 proficiency at three key times: on arrival in New Zealand, at time of ultimate attainment and post-retirement. An analysis of assessments of respondents' L1 and L2 proficiency pre- and post-retirement, completed by interviewees' adult children moderated respondents' self-reports. The design also included a linguistis analysis of elicited free speech. Data focused on key indicators of age, gender, social class, prior education, occupation and predominant linguistic environment pre- and post-retirement. Free speech was examined for code-switching, response latency and L1 structure in respondents' spoken L2. Case studies are also presented.

Autorentext

Ineke Crezee was born and educated in the Netherlands where she completed degrees in Translation Studies (University of Amsterdam) and English (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She has been working as a translator since 1978 and as a Senior Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting Studies at AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand since 1999.