As an international language, English has gained its popularity all over the world. In the past English was only taught in secondary schools. In current years, however, the teaching of English is expanding into primary or elementary school settings.
Today, I will present ways of responding to this challenge. Successively, I will discuss some basic principles of learning and language learning in relation with children; and some classroom techniques suitable for teaching children.
Principles
The prominent learning principles worth discussing in relation to teaching children are coqnitive interactionist, cognitive principles, and social interactionist principles.
1. Cognitive Interactionist Principles
The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and his colleagues (1955) have demonstrated that children in primary or elementary school are usually in what is called the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. This means that they learn through hands or experience and through manipulation of objects in the environment. Children in primary or elementary school settings generally learn by doing (Piaget, 1955). Therefore, when children are learning science or mathematics content they need to be actively involved in experimenting with mathematics or science materials that they can manipulate. If this principle is extended to English as a foreign language learning (EFL) setting, it means that children language classes need to be active rather than passive; they need to be engaged in activities of which language is a part. They need to be working on meaningful tasks and use language to accomplish those tasks (see Hudelson, 1996)
2. Cognitive Principle
A basic principle of both first and second language acquisitions is that acquisition occurs through learners figuring out how the language works, through learners making and testing out hypotheses about the language. Language acquisition involves the cognitive work of creative construction of the rules of the language. In terms of the classroom context, an implication is that learners need opportunities to use and to experiment with the new language. Another implication is that mistakes are a natural and inevitable part of learning. This principle would suggest that the habit formation interference view is not sufficient and that activities which require children to try out their English in order to accomplish these activities are called for (Chomsky,1979).
3. Social Interaction Approach
The third basic principle of first and second language development is that language acquisition occurs through social-interaction, through having to use the language with others in authentic communication settings. Language develops as speakers try out the language they are figuring out in situations with others, and as others respond to their efforts. What is critical is that meaning is constructed jointly as interlocutors work together both to be understood and to understand each other. Putting this principle into practice would mean that learners need to have language input from others (See Gleason,1985). When these generalizations are drawn to foreign language learning and teaching, they have implication for curriculum development, for teaching strategies, and for classroom procedures.
Today, I will present ways of responding to this challenge. Successively, I will discuss some basic principles of learning and language learning in relation with children; and some classroom techniques suitable for teaching children.
Principles
The prominent learning principles worth discussing in relation to teaching children are coqnitive interactionist, cognitive principles, and social interactionist principles.
1. Cognitive Interactionist Principles
The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and his colleagues (1955) have demonstrated that children in primary or elementary school are usually in what is called the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. This means that they learn through hands or experience and through manipulation of objects in the environment. Children in primary or elementary school settings generally learn by doing (Piaget, 1955). Therefore, when children are learning science or mathematics content they need to be actively involved in experimenting with mathematics or science materials that they can manipulate. If this principle is extended to English as a foreign language learning (EFL) setting, it means that children language classes need to be active rather than passive; they need to be engaged in activities of which language is a part. They need to be working on meaningful tasks and use language to accomplish those tasks (see Hudelson, 1996)
2. Cognitive Principle
A basic principle of both first and second language acquisitions is that acquisition occurs through learners figuring out how the language works, through learners making and testing out hypotheses about the language. Language acquisition involves the cognitive work of creative construction of the rules of the language. In terms of the classroom context, an implication is that learners need opportunities to use and to experiment with the new language. Another implication is that mistakes are a natural and inevitable part of learning. This principle would suggest that the habit formation interference view is not sufficient and that activities which require children to try out their English in order to accomplish these activities are called for (Chomsky,1979).
3. Social Interaction Approach
The third basic principle of first and second language development is that language acquisition occurs through social-interaction, through having to use the language with others in authentic communication settings. Language develops as speakers try out the language they are figuring out in situations with others, and as others respond to their efforts. What is critical is that meaning is constructed jointly as interlocutors work together both to be understood and to understand each other. Putting this principle into practice would mean that learners need to have language input from others (See Gleason,1985). When these generalizations are drawn to foreign language learning and teaching, they have implication for curriculum development, for teaching strategies, and for classroom procedures.
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