Teaching Languages to

Young Learners

Lynne Cameron
P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E P R E S S S Y N D I C AT E O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A M B R I D G E
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011±4211, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
Ruiz de AlarcoÂn 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa
http://www.cambridge.org

# Cambridge University Press 2001

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2001

Fourth printing 2002

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

Typeset in Sabon 10/12 pt ce

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 521 77325 3 Hardback

ISBN 0 521 77434 9 Paperback
Contents

Preface page xi
Acknowledgements xvi

1 Children learning a foreign language 1

1.1 Taking a learning-centred perspective 1
1.2 Piaget 2
1.3 Vygotsky 5
1.4 Bruner 8
1.5 From learning to language learning 11
1.6 Advantages to starting young with foreign languages 16
1.7 The foreign language: describing the indivisible 17
1.8 Summary of key learning principles 19

2 Learning language through tasks and activities 21

2.1 The task as an environment for learning 21
2.2 Task demands 22
2.3 Task support 25
2.4 Balancing demands and support 26
2.5 The importance of language learning goals 28
2.6 De®ning `task' for young learner classrooms 29
2.7 Stages in a classroom task 31
2.8 Hani's Weekend: Possible preparation and follow-up
activities 32
2.9 Task-as-plan and task-in-action 35

3 Learning the spoken language 36

3.1 Learning the spoken language: guiding principles 36
3.2 Discourse and discourse events 37
3.3 Meaning ®rst 38
3.4 Analysis of a task-in-action 42
3.5 Discourse skills development in childhood 51

vii
Contents

3.6 Effective support for children's foreign language

discourse skills 58
3.7 Short activities for learning the spoken language 60
3.8 Supporting the spoken language with written language 66
3.9 Using dialogues 68
3.10 Summary 70

4 Learning words 72
4.1 Introduction 72
4.2 Vocabulary development in children's language learning 73
4.3 Organisation of words in a language 81
4.4 Learning and teaching vocabulary 83
4.5 Children's vocabulary learning strategies 92
4.6 Summary 94

5 Learning grammar 96
5.1 A place for grammar? 96
5.2 Different meanings of `grammar' 98
5.3 Development of the internal grammar 101
5.4 A learning-centred approach to teaching grammar:
background 105
5.5 Principles for learning-centred grammar teaching 110
5.6 Teaching techniques for supporting grammar learning 111
5.7 Summary 121

6 Learning literacy skills 123

6.1 Introduction 123
6.2 Literacy skills in English 124
6.3 Factors affecting learning to read in English as a
foreign language 134
6.4 Starting to read and write in English as a foreign
language 139
6.5 Continuing to learn to read 150
6.6 Developing reading and writing as discourse skills 154
6.7 Summary and conclusion 157

7 Learning through stories 159

7.1 Stories and themes as holistic approaches to language
teaching and learning 159
7.2 The discourse organisation of stories 160
7.3 Language use in stories 163
7.4 Quality in stories 166
7.5 Choosing stories to promote language learning 167

viii
 Contents

7.6 Ways of using a story 169

7.7 Developing tasks around a story 175
7.8 Summary 179

8 Theme-based teaching and learning 180

8.1 Issues around theme-based teaching 180
8.2 Theme-based teaching of a foreign language 181
8.3 Planning theme-based teaching 184
8.4 Learning language through theme-based teaching 191
8.5 Increasing target language use in theme-based teaching 195
8.6 Summary 197

9 Language choice and language learning 199

9.1 Introduction 199
9.2 Patterns of ®rst language use in foreign language
classrooms 200
9.3 Dynamics of language choice and use 205
9.4 Taking responsibility, making choices 209
9.5 Summary 213

10 Assessment and language learning 214

10.1 Issues in assessing children's language learning 214
10.2 Principles for assessing children's language learning 218
10.3 Key concepts in assessment 222
10.4 Teacher assessment of language learning 228
10.5 Self-assessment and learner autonomy 233
10.6 Use of assessment information 238
10.7 Messages from assessment 240

11 Issues around teaching children a foreign language 241

11.1 Review of ideas 241
11.2 The need for research 242
11.3 The need to develop pedagogy 243
11.4 Teaching foreign languages to children 246

References 247
Index 256

ix
1 Children learning a foreign language

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