Multi-Etnische Schoolklassen en Aspecten van Verbale Interactie Daarbinnen

After an introductory discussion of some data concerning the transition of ethnic minority children from primary to secondary education in the Netherlands and after a short exposition about the role of language in teaching-learning situations, some recent Dutch projects are discussed, in which data have been gathered relating to verbal interaction in multi-ethnic school classes. Such data have also been gathered in the project "Dutch as a second language and school success at the end of primary educa-tion" which is being carried out at the Subfaculty of Letters of Tilburg University. Some characteristics of the classes in which the research is being done are discussed as well as the way in which the data concerning the verbal interaction in the classes are collected. Some of the results of the observations in the participating classes are presented, and compared with the results of other research projects (especially Van der Geest et al. 1984 and Koot et al. 1985). The first results seem to suggest that although Mediterranean children are given more turns than other ethnic groups, they tend to speak less because they regularly fail to make use of such opportunities. Besides, they initiate a verbal exchange less often than Dutch and ex-colonial children, which is something that teachers are hardly aware of. Finally the differences between the observed classes are dis-cussed.