Page 17 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

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Key Principles

Chapter Objectives
• Distinguishing between the process of learning and acquiring a language
• Understanding the importance of different language acquisition
and learning theories for FL teaching
• Examining the advantages and disadvantages of starting to learn
a foreign language at an early age
• Understanding the usefulness of the ‘scaffolding concept’ for teaching
young language learners

Learning and Acquisition
How do children learn their first language? How do they learn a foreign or
second language? What is the best time to learn a foreign language (FL)?
Are children more efficient language learners than adults? What teaching ap-
proaches are the most efficient with young learners? These are some of the
questions which are central to the area usually referred to as teaching English
to young learners (TEYL). In this context, an important distinction is made be-
tween language acquisition and language learning. Language acquisition is
a largely subconscious process which is very similar to the way children ac-
quire their first language, i.e. without consciously thinking of the rules of a
language. Error correction and explicit teaching of rules are not relevant to
language acquisition (Krashen, 1982).
A good example of second language acquisition are children who move
to another country with their parents and ‘pick up’ the language of the new
environment without being conscious of the rules of the new language. An-
other typical example are children who always watch cartoons or play com-
puter games in an FL, which is often the case today with English. They usu-
ally develop a good pronunciation and can communicate effectively but are
completely unaware of the phonological or grammatical rules of the target
language.
On the other hand, language learning refers to conscious processes for in-
ternalising a second or foreign language and is the result of direct instruction
intherulesoflanguage.Learnersknowthattheyarelearninganewlanguage
and can talk about that knowledge. For example, they can talk about the pro-
nunciation of a word, the rules for forming the plural of words or about the

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