Effective Strategies for Early Language Learning
Key Concepts in Second Language Acquisition
Essential Definitions for Language Educators
- SLA: Second Language Acquisition
- L1: Mother tongue
- L2: Second language
- FL: Foreign language
- FLT: Foreign Language Teaching
- EFL: English as a Foreign Language
- CPH: Critical Period Hypothesis
- SL: Second Language
- Total Physical Response (TPR): Children listen and physically respond to a series of instructions from the teacher. A popular method for young learners.
- Reformulating: An indirect way of correcting language, such as when parents correct their children. A teacher can correct what a child says by repeating the sentence correctly without drawing attention to it.
- Prompting: Teachers help learners think of ideas, remember words or phrases, and correct language by saying part of a word or phrase or giving another clue.
- Echo Correcting: The teacher repeats a mistake with rising intonation to show something is wrong and encourage self-correction.
- Giving an Example: Using an explanation of the meaning of a word, similar to a dictionary definition.
- Defining: Giving an explanation of the meaning of a word, similar to a dictionary definition.
- Demonstrating: Showing the meaning of words or phrases through models, actions, or picture sequences.
- Ignoring Error: Teachers may focus on meaning and not form, choosing to ignore errors to encourage fluency.
- Asking Open Questions: Questions starting with “How,” “When,” “Where,” “Why,” “What,” “Which,” etc., requiring a long answer. Closed questions (e.g., “Do,” “Does,” “Did”) are followed by Yes/No answers.
- Movement Game: Games where children are physically active, helping to train coordination of movements.
- Card Game: Children collect, give away, exchange, and count cards. Cards can have meaning, value, or serve as symbols.
- Board Game: Games mainly involving moving markers or counters along a path. Dice can have numbers, colors, letters, etc.
- Drawing Games: Special games that work on different brain functions. Require creativity, sensitivity, understanding instructions, and describing art.
- Guessing Games: The aim is to guess or remember the answer to a question.
- Role-Play Games: Simple, guided drama activities that stimulate children’s imagination and test true communication.
- Singing Game: Often involve movement; music plays an important role in early childhood learning.
- Acquisition: Takes place in “natural” learning situations.
- Task: A goal-oriented activity where learners use language to achieve a real output (e.g., solve a problem, make a list, do a puzzle, play a game, share information).
- Cognition: What allows the act of knowing; all human activities related to knowledge, including attention, creativity, memory, perception, problem-solving, thinking, and language use.
- Output: The language that the learner produces.
- Approach: A theoretical framework for language teaching, wider than a method but systematized.
- Learning: Takes place in classrooms following a structured course with a teacher.
- Input: In language learning, language a learner hears or receives and from which they can learn.
True/False Statements on Language Acquisition
- The critical period for SLA goes from 18 months to puberty. (True)
- What is the main reason for early introduction of a foreign language? To acquire pronunciation and develop a positive attitude.
- Apart from age, other factors such as motivation affect SLA. (True)
- Older learners acquire pronunciation better than younger ones. (False)
- Acquisition of L2 at early ages harms L1 and acquisition of other content. (False)
- Age is an essential factor in SLA when it happens in naturalistic settings. (True)
- Where do bilinguals store their languages in the brain? Both languages on the same side.
- Adults use declarative memory, which is less effective for language learning. (True)
Effective Strategies for Foreign Language Teaching
Key Questions and Insights for Educators
What factors produce better foreign language speakers?
Age is not the sole determinant; many factors contribute to proficiency levels. These include the type of program and curriculum, the number of hours devoted to the English class, and the specific techniques and activities used.
Tips for creating and reusing visuals
- Involve students in the creation of visuals.
- Collaborate with other teachers to create a bank of resources.
- Ask the community to donate objects and toys.
- Make colorful pictures and puppets or collect toys and objects to capture attention.
- Ask art teachers to teach with language related to arts and crafts activities.
What is Total Physical Response (TPR)?
TPR is a methodology where children listen and physically respond to a series of instructions from the teacher. It is a total physical response approach.
Pros and cons of teaching quickly with VYL?
- Pros: Doing different activities with the same language allows for recycling and reinforcing, aiding learning by presenting the same concept in various ways.
- Cons: Learners can get lost if activities are not related to each other or connected to the main topic or vocabulary family.
Examples of classroom activities:
- Quiet exercises: Drawing, coloring, individual puzzles.
- Noisy exercises: Singing and dancing (karaoke), games.
- Whole-class activities: Storytelling, some games (e.g., Simon Says).
- Individual activities: Drawing and coloring, presentations, individual puzzles.
Understanding varied pace and activity types in class
When teachers vary the pace of the class and the types of activities used, students are more likely to stay focused on the lesson, thereby increasing the amount of language learning in class. Activities need to be adapted based on the child’s peak concentration. It is necessary to change both the length and type of activity. This helps students remain concentrated, especially given their short attention spans, provided the activities are related to each other.