Some Language Learning Difficulties of Kurdish-Persian-Speaking Bilinguals in the Iranian City of Ilam; Some Compensatory Measures

زبانشناسی و گویش های خراسان

Article 5, Volume 4, Issue 7, September 2013   

Document Type: علمی - پژ‍وهشی

DOI: 10.22067/lj.v4i7.24962

Authors

Amir Karimipour^* ; Mahmoud Elyasi

Abstract

Bilinguals make up a high proportion of the world population. However, these speakers are facing miscellaneous language learning difficulties throughout the world. The situation would be exacerbated when the communicative role of language is considered. In other words, bilinguals usually feel discouraged once they are involved in a conversation in their second language with others. In this study, some communicative aspects of Kurdish-Persian-speaking students will be analyzed through assessing their narrative production by means of narrating a wordless picture book known as The Frog Story. Results show that these students face various difficulties in narrating the events in the story in Persian. It would also be worth mentioning that many of these problems remain unsolved for some years. These shortcomings might be attributed to the bilingual education system employed in the Iranian educational system, known as the "Submersion Method".

Keywords

Bilingualism; Kurdish Language; Communicative Competence; Submersion Method