Unit One: What difference does age make to language learning?

Many conventional assumptions about differences between children and advl in language learning may
turn out, when subjected to careful examination or research to be not quite so obvious or inevitably
true as they seem. In Box 20 1 are some statements that represent these assumptions; comments
follow.

BOX 20.1: ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT AGE AND LANGUAGE LEARNING

1. Younger children learn languages better than older ones; children learn better than adults.

2. Foreign language learning in school should be started at as early an age as possible.

3. Children and adults learn languages basically the same way.

4. Adults have a longer concentration span than children.

5. It is easier to interest and motivate children than adults.

Task Critical assessment

Look at the statements in Box 20.1, and note for each whether you agree or disagree, adding any
comments or reservations you might have. Compare your reactions with those of colleagues if possible;
then read on.

Comments

1. Young children learn languages better

This is a commonly held view, based on many people's experience seeing (or being) children
transplanted to a foreign environment and picking up the local language with apparent ease. The
obvious conclusion from this experience would seem to be that children are intrinsically better learners;
but this has not been confirmed by research (Singleton, 1989). On the contrary: given the suder amount
of exposure to a foreign language, there is some evidence that the oldet the child the more effectively
he or she learns (Snow and Hoefnagel-Hoenle, 1978; Ellis, 1994: 484-94); probably teenagers are overall
the best learners (The only apparent exception to this is pronunciation which is learned more easily by
younger children.) The reason for children's apparently speedy learning when immersed in the foreign
environment may be the sheer amount of time they are usually exposed to the language, the number of
'teachers surrounding them, and the dependence on (foreign-language-speaking) people around to
supply their needs (' survival 'motive). The truth of the assumption that young children learn better is
even more dubious if applied to formal classroom learning: here there is only one teacher number of
children, exposure time is very limited, and the 'survival' motive lors not usually apply. Moreover, young
children have not as yet developed the enitive skills ar.d self-discipline that enable them to make the
mest of limited veacher-mediated information; they rely more on intuitive acquisition, which in turn
relies on a larger volume of comprehensible input than there is time for in lessons.
2. Foreign language learning in school should start early

Some people have argued for the existence of a 'critical period' in language learning: if you get too old
and pass this period you will have significantly more difficulty learning; thus early learning in schools
would seem essential. But this theory is not conclusively supported by research evidence: there may
not be a critical period at all; or there may be several (Singleton, 1989; Long, 1990). The research-
supported hypothesis discussed above - that children may actually become more effective language
learners as they get older, particularly in formal teacher-mediated learning situations - means that the
investment of lesson time at an early age may not be cost-effective. In other words, if you have a
limited number of hours to give to foreign language teaching in school, it will probably be more
rewarding in terms of sheer amount of learning to invest these in the older classes. I have heard one
authority on the subject, C. Snow (in a lecture "Using L1 skills for L2 proficiency: Why older L2 learners
are better ', at the Conference of the English Teachers' Association of Israel, Jerusalem, 1993) claim that
twelve is the optimum age for starting a foreign language in school; my own experience is that ten is
about right. Having said this, however, it is also true that an early start to language learning is likely to
lead to better long-term results if early learning is maintained and reinforced as the child gets older
(Long, 1990). In a situation, therefore, where there are as many teachers and teaching hours as you
want, by all means start as early as you can.

3. Children and adults learn languages the same way

In an immersion situation, where people are acquiring language intuitively for daily survival, this may to
some extent be true.In the context of formal courses, however, differences become apparent. Adults'
capacity for understanding and logical thought i s greater, and they are likely to have developed a
number of learning skills and strategies which children do not yet have. Moreover, adult classes tend on
the whole to be more disciplined and cooperative - as anyone who has moved from teaching children to
teaching adults, or vice versa, will have found. This may be partly because people learn as they get older
to be patient and put up with temporary frustrations in the hope of long-rerm rewards, to cooperate
with others for joint profit, and various other benefits of are learning voluntarily, have chosen the
course themselves, often have a clear self-restraint and disciplined cooperation. Another reason is that
most adults are learning voluntarily, have chosen the course themselves, often have a clear purpose in
learning (work, travel, etc.) and are therefore likely to feel more committed and motivated; whereas
most children have little choice in wher how or even whether they are taught.

4. Adults have a longer concentration span

Teachers commonly notice that they cannot get children to concentrate on certain learning activities as
long as they can get adults to do so. However, the problem is not the concentration span itself -
children will spend hours absorbed in activities that really interest them - but rather the ability of the
individual to persevere with something of no immediate intrinsic interest to

them. Here older learners do exhibit noticeable superiority, because they tend to be more self-
disciplined. One implication for teaching is the need to devote a lot of thought to the (intrinsic) interest
value of learning activities for younger learners (see the next unit and Module 19: Learner motivation
and interest),

5. It is easier to motivate children

In a sense, this is true: you can raise children's motivation and enthusiasm (by selecting interesting
activities, for example) more easily than that of older, more self-reliant and sometimes cynical learners.
On the other hand, you can also lose it more easily: monotonous, apparently pointless activities quickly
bore and demotivate young learners; older ones are more tolerant of them. Perhaps it would be more
accurate to say that younger learners' motivation is more likely to vary and is more susceptible to
immediate surrounding influences, including the teacher; that of older learners tends to be more stable.

Unit Two: Teaching children

Note: In this unit 'children' is taken to mean pre-adolescents.

In general, as noted at the end of the last unit, children have a greater immediate need to be motivated
by the teacher or the materials in order to learn effectively. Prizes and similar extrinsic rewards can
help, but more effective on the whole are elements that contribute towards intrinsic motivation:
interest in doing the learning activity itself (for further discussion of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation see
Module 19: Learner motivation and interest, Units Three and Four). Such elements are most likely to be
effective if they are based on an appeal to the senses or activate the children in speech or movement.

Three very important sources of interest for children in the classroom are pictures, stories and games:
the first being obviously mainly a visual stimulus; the second both visual and aural; and the third using
both visual and aural channels as well as activating language production and sometimes physical
movement.

Question Can you add other important sources of interest for children learning languages besides
the three mentioned above? Some suggestions of my own are given in the Notes, (1).

Pictures

Lack of aural stimulus is relatively easy to tolerate: even young learners will work for a while in silence
without searching for something to listen to. This, however, is not true of the visual, which is a very
dominant channel of input: so much so, that if young learners are not supplied with something to look at
that is relevant to the learning task in hand they will find and probably be distracted by something that
is not.

The most obvious type of visual niaterial for children is the picture: and the more clearly visible, striking
and colorful the better. On the whole, professionally drawn pictures or photographs are used: those in
the textbook, Teaching children Pc-colored posters, or pictures cut from magazines. But there is also a
place for the teacher's own quick sketches on the board (however unprofessional and untidy!); and of
course for the children's own drawing. There are, incidentally, ks that give advice and help with
drawing: have a look, for example, at Wright (1984), 1000 Pictures for Teachers to Copy.

aplication If you are teaching or going to teach children, and do not already have a collection of pictures
of your own, start making one!

Stories

Young children love having stories told to them (even adults continue to enjoy it!); and older ones begin
to read for themselves. Moreover stories - in contrast to pictures or even games- are pure language:
telling a story in the foreign language is one of the simplest and richest sources of foreign language input
for younger learners. The most effective combination in teaching is pictures and stories together: and
the success of use of picture-books with young learners has been attested by many (see articles in
Brumfit et al., 1991 and in Kennedy and Jarvis, 1991).

Applcation Can you think of stories or books which you think would be suitable for use in a children's
foreign language class? Perhaps pool ideas with other teachers and make a list of recommended
material.

Games

Some years ago I wrote an article which began with the words: 'I am not, in principle, in favor of the use
of games in language teaching' (Ur, 1986). This was an obviously provocative statement, but based on a
serious argument. Games are essentially recreational 'time out' activities whose main purpose is
enjoyment; language study is serious goal-oriented work, whose main purpose Is personal learning.
Once you call a language-learning activity a 'game "you Convey the message that it is just fun, not to be
taken too seriously: a message I consider anti-educational and potentially demoralizing. Very
occasionally we play real games in the classroom, (at the end of a course, for example, or as a form of
concentrated work); but to call something a game when our goal is cr serious learning may harm the
learning - and / or, indeed, spoil the game '! -as well as being dishonest.

Two further dangers are: first, the tendency of some teachers to call activities 'games' for the sake of
raising initial motivation, when they are not in face games at all (' Lets play a game: l'll give you a word,
you tell me how it is spelt second, the danger that the obvious activity and enjoyment caused b game
may obscure the fact that its contribution to learning is minimal ien example, Scenario 1 in Box 2.2)

However another definition of games' ignores the implication of non-seriou recreation and
concentrates rather on their quality as organized action that i rule-governed, it involves striving towards
a clear goal through performance of a challenging task, and provides participants and / or onlookers
with a feeline of pleasurable tension. Children in general learn well when they are active; and when
action is channeled into an enjoyable game they are often willing to invest considerable time and luck in
playing it. If we design our games in such a way that they are productive of language learning they
become an excellent even essential, part of a program of children's learning activities.
My conclusion would certainly be to include game-based procedures as a substantial component of any
children's language course; though I am to this day uncomfortable about using the term 'game',
because of the misleading and belimling implication. I would rather think of and present them as (game-
like) language learning activities.

Application Together with colleagues, describe and list some language-learning games that you know er
have used, or seen used, successfully with children. You may End some of the references under Further
reading helphil; three favorites of my own appear in the Notes, (2).

Unit Three: Teaching adolescents: student preferences

For inexperienced teachers, elasses of adolescents are perhaps the most daunting challenge. Their
learning potential is greater than that of young children (see Unit One), but they may be considerably
more difficult to motivate and manage. and it takes longer to build up trusting relationships.

One source of guidance about how to reach adolescents successfully is books on developmental
psychology. Another-arguably no less reliable, and Perhays Lunder-used-is the adolescents themselves.

Inquiry Finding out how adolescents like to be taught

Stage 1: Preparation Look through the questionnaire shown in Box 30.2. noting down for each item
which responses you expect. Optionally, administer it also to an experienced teacher of adolescents,
and compare their answers with yours. This will help you to familiarize yourself with the items, and wal
by raise some interesting speculations to which your later survey may supply answers. Add further
items if you wish, or delete any you feel irrelevant.

HAL 291

Stage 2: Interviews

If you are working on your own, find some teenagers learning foreign languages locally who are willing
to answer your questions: if possible about fifteen of them, but it is worth doing even with a smaller
number you are in a group, each participant may work with two or three respondents, pooling results at
the end.)

You may do this as a series of interviews, noting a mark or tick in the appropriate space on your copy of
the questionnaire for each answer make multiple copies, and distribute to respondents, collating results
late (I did it by distributing copies in a lesson, letting students fill in their own answers, but being myself
on hand to clarify uncertainties about meanings.)

Stage 3: Summarizing results

Look at your results, or pool them with colleagues. Were there any surprises? If so, how would you
account for the difference between your expectations and the respondents' answers?
Stage 4: Drawing conclusions Assuming that your results are based on honest and fairly representative
student opinions, in what way can you use them to guide you in planning your own teaching approach
and procedures? Discuss this question with colleagues, or note ideas for yourself in writing.

Some general comments and conclusions of my own, based on a similar survey carried out by teachers
in my own school are given in the following section.

Results and comments

The following comments are based on responses from two classes of fifteen-year-olds in the school
where I teach, and are not necessarily all true for or applicable to other situations; implications for
teaching are therefore expressed as personal conclusions. Nevertheless, you may find some interesting
points of similarity between your own results and reflections and mine!

Statement 1

On the whole I found that students in fact care a lor less about their teachers' appearance than the
teachers expect. If this is generally true, then relax!

Statement 2

Most agreed. The fact that teachers care about their teaching is apparently clearly, if unconsciously,
conveyed; and this appears to be important to adolescent students. I should therefore not be misled by
outward displays.of indifference or cynicism!

Statement 3

This was strongly agreed with. Most students appear to like to feel that the teacher has authority and is
clearly in control.