Principles For Teaching Young Learners of English

Principles for Teaching Young Learners of English
The Multiplier Effect of

Language Learning
Mary Lou McCloskey, Ph.D.

Atlanta, Georgia, USA
mlmcc@mindspring.com
www.mlmcc.com
What Children Bring Children Bring…

Bring …
w Innate “programming”
to acquire language
(Chomsky , Pinker,
2000)
w Critical Period for
language acquisition?
Critical Period?
The Effects of
Language Learning
mlmcc@mindspring.com www.mlmcc.com
1
The ability to
-talk to more people,
-read more books,
-experience other cultures
Jean Piaget
Mary Lou McCloskey, 2005 www.mlmcc.com 8
Assimilation Assimilation
Kitty Kitty
Accommodation
Doggie
Kitty Recent Studies
of the Brain
2
Differences in brain activity

during language tasks between
Language Areas
adults (18-
(18-35) and children (7-
(7-10)
(Schlagger et al 2002) of the Brain
(Kim, 1997)
Broca’s Area: Wernicke’s Area

w Children had more activity in left extrastriate cortex
w Adults had more activity in left frontal cortex.
Differences in where language Piaget’’s Stages of Cognitive

Piaget
is processed: Development
w Languages learned early in life:
Processing occurs in overlapping regions w Sensorimotor (birth-2)
of Broca’s and Wernicke’s Areas w Pre-operational (2-7)
w Languages learned later: Wernicke’s
Area for what words mean; Broca’s Area w Concrete Operations (7 -11)
for grammar and syntax. w Formal Operations (11-15)
Mary Lou McCloskey, 2005 www.mlmcc.com 15 Mary Lou McCloskey, 2005 www.mlmcc.com 16
Piagetian Stages and Brain

Development Stages
(Sprenger, 1999)
Piaget’s Stages of myelin release
stages of and brain growth 3. Expanded ability
w development to learn
Sensorimotor Large motor system and visual
(birth-2 years)
system
Pre-operational Language acquisition
(ages 2-7)
Concrete operational Manipulation of thought and
(ages 7-11)
ideas
Formal operations Higher-order thinking
(ages 11-15)
3
How reading
changes language
learning
4. School performance of
students learning a second
language
5. Learning Refined cultural

additional awareness and
adeptness; cognitive
languages
flexibility
When to Start EFL? When to Start EFL?

w Why wait?
w Why start early? – Older learners can learn very rapidly and
– Potential for native-like pronunciation effectively using their higher-level
cognitive abilities
– Easy and natural acquisition of
– Native-like pronunciation is not necessary
language structures during critical for effective communication
period – Resources may be better used to provide
– Opportunity to develop positive needed quality and intensity for older
attitudes toward the language learners
– There may be concern about language loss
of L1 if English use is highly prevalent
4
When to Start EFL?

w It depends on quality and model Principles for
– Quality of program and of teaching
are the most important variables developing a new
w Many effective models, e.g., language with
– Progressive transition 90/10 to 80/20
etc. younger learners
– 50/50 – often content-based
– 90/10 – structured immersion
Principle 1 Principle 2
Offer learners enjoyable, active Help students develop and practice
roles in the learning experience language through collaboration
Use multi-dimensional, thematically- Provide comprehensible input with
organized activities scaffolding
5
Integrate language with content Validate and integrate home language
and culture
Provide clear goals and feedback on Develop learner’s own strategies for
performance language development
Learning languages is
exponentially beneficial
w Improved cognition & brain
Implications development
& Considerations w Improved L1 proficiency
w Improved academic performance
w Improved abilities in social, cultural
understanding
6
When to begin What about language

language learning? policies?
w There is no simple, “younger is w Movement toward linguistic

better” answer. pluralism
w What about literacy? Usually best w Need for pro-language-development
in L1 first. governmental policies
w What are the variables? Time,
capacity, commitment
Anonymous Anonymous
-Martin Steingesser
I know a poem of six lines that no one
knows imagine that poem, written
who wrote, except by a poet truly
that the poet was Chinese and lived who is Anonymous, since
centuries before the birth of in the strict corporeal sense
Christ. I said it aloud he hasn't existed for thousands of
once to some children, and when I years--imagine his little
reached
poem
the last line suddenly they
understood and together all went-- traveling
"Ooo!"
Anonymous
without gas or even a single grease The Multiplier Effect of
job
across centuries of space and a Language Learning
million
miles of time Mary Lou McCloskey, Ph.D.
to me, who spoke it Atlanta, Georgia, USA
softly aloud to a group of children mlmcc@mindspring.com
who heard www.mlmcc.com
and suddenly all together cried
"Ooo!" October 2005

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Principles for Teaching Young Learners of English

The Multiplier Effect of

Mary Lou McCloskey, Ph.D.

What Children Bring Children Bring…

Differences in brain activity

Broca’s Area: Wernicke’s Area

Differences in where language Piaget’’s Stages of Cognitive

Piagetian Stages and Brain

5. Learning Refined cultural

When to Start EFL? When to Start EFL?

When to Start EFL?

Mary Lou McCloskey, 2005 www.mlmcc.com 25

Mary Lou McCloskey, 2005 www.mlmcc.com 36

When to begin What about language

w There is no simple, “younger is w Movement toward linguistic

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