For newcomers, learning Dutch is essential. It offers them opportunities for education and work, access to healthcare, social contacts and more. In short, it determines their integration and well-being.
Those who emigrated as refugees have often experienced traumatising events. This can lead to stress, concentration problems and memory problems, which can make learning difficult. This also presents schools and teachers with new challenges.
This research project at Radboud University aims to bring insight into the link between learners' psychological well-being and learning Dutch. We investigate this in children and adults who have fled from Ukraine.
To this end, we involve three domains:
• Well-being: emotion, coping with trauma
• Cognition: memory and attention
• Participation: contacts with others, integration
We examine how traumatic experiences affect these domains and how that influences learning Dutch. But also the other way round: for example, does a greater command of Dutch lead to more social contacts and improved emotional well-being?
The answers to these questions are important for scientists and can eventually answer questions from teachers and contribute to the education of newcomers.
Information for schools
We are looking for schools willing to cooperate. Does your school offer Nt2 education to refugees from Ukraine aged 10-12, or 25-35? We would like to contact you to provide more information and for consultation. You can leave your contact details, or you can send an email to onderzoek-nederlands-oekrainers [at] ru.nl (onderzoek-nederlands-oekrainers[at]ru[dot]nl).
