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YOUNG CHILDREN LEARNING LANGUAGES:

“Teaching English to Children: From Practice to Principle”.

Longman (1995) by Brumfit, Jayne Moon and Ray Tongue.

Prof. Estela N. Braun-Human Sciences College, UNLPam.

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FROM MOTHER TONGUE CONTEXT TO L2 LANGUAGE

DEVELOPMENT

What research has to say:

There are studies showing children develop the use of two languages almost simultaneously in a home where two languages are in daily use.

The early years of childhood provide an optimum period for learning languages: Critical period Hypothesis (Lenneberg, 1969).

Children learn the L1 with speed and competence although they are unable to understand the system/ It should be possible to design activities to learn the L2 in the same way.

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The role of INTERACTION

Potential for social and cognitive development.

Cognitive development depends on children being drawn into interaction with others.

Physical handling, plus aural and visual stimulation.

In the same way as parents’ voice, facial expression and gestures call for responses in a baby.

Children play with sounds at age 3 or 4 months. There is growing control of mouth, tongue and throat which allows for the articulation controls needed for the production of speech.

Children communicate their ways by REACHING, POINTING, SMILING, FROWNING, CRYING.

Babies distinguish between pleasant and disapproving tones of voice. (Bruner) Social interaction is established and communication is underway.

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How concepts are formed:

As they investigate SPACE through crawling, then walking, more information becomes available through sight, hearing and touch.

All this helps concept formation and they start to impose structure on the language they hear, which is reflected in the language that they attempt to use.

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Studies on L1 Acquisition

SLA: first words between 12-18 months; two years start of telegraphic speech as they discover the system of the L1.

(*) The sequence of development of the L1: notes from Andrew Radford “Syntactic Theory and the acquisition of English syntax”, Blackwell, 1990.

LONGITUDINAL STUDIES. STRATEGIES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SPEECH OF

YOUNG CHILDREN. Brown, Fraiser, Braine (1963) in two word utterances two

types of words: open/pivotal. They apply rules of word order related to meaning

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The Emergence of Syntax:

Researchers have studied the kind of errors children make as they move towards grammatical competence. The use of negatives/questions. Responses to questions, development of verb and noun inflections.

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Order of Acquisition of morphemes:

Roger Brown (1973) Order of acquisition of morphemes (14). “Although the rate of development may vary among children, the route will be the same.”

Villiers &Villers (1978). Children use certain structures before others, Slobin

(1973). LAD: all young children will develop language as a result of innate cognitive and linguistic abilities, whatever the context (Chomsky, 1966).

Research: the frequency with which children were exposed to particular structures was not a predictor of the order of appearance in children’s talk (Brown, 1973).

Rod Ellis, “The Study of SLA”, OUP (1994),pages78,94.

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Children’s experiences of the use of language:

1970´s: Studies on parents and caretakers´s talk.

MOTHERESE: Parent’s talk shows some of these characteristics: They talk about objects present and

distinctive action. Reference has concrete illustration. They use higher pitch of voice. More clearly articulated speech,

grammatical simplification, frequent repetition, repetition of what the child has said.

Expansion or elaboration on what the child has said.

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Learning to communicate through talk:

Parents use motherese intuitively and adjust it as the child grows. There are more attempts at negotiating meaning than at correcting the child’s use of language.

Slowly there is incorporation of words and phrases used earlier in conversation with adults.

(Bruner, 1978) Patterns of interaction in children. Gordon Wells (1978) Bristol University, longitudinal study 1972-

1981, children’s talk at home with parents and responses in school and educational achievement at age 10.(between 18 months and 10 years).

Parents: supportive approach/ tutorial approach. Conclusion of the study: interaction with adults through talk

involves children in the adults’ ways of thinking and children attempt to express similar meanings.

However, at school teacher’s talk predominates (Tizard, Philps and Plewis, 1976) and opportunities for children to communicate and extend their ideas are limited.

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Young Children Learning to use an L2:

Research shows that:1. There are some universal processing strategies that are used

for both L1 and L2.

2. Children gradually reconstruct rules for L2 which is becoming familiar. (Dulay & Burt, 1978)

3. The kind of interaction and contexts from which young children will receive the most effective support for learning an L2 has not been the subject of much research yet.

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Becoming attuned to a second language:

At school, children between 3-7 years have got many more tools in terms of skills than two-year olds.

They are still unable to conceive the language as a system.

They are still unable to read and write so they wholly depend on learning language through understanding and talking.

Articulation is well under control. They need to feel at home, welcome

and secure to learn the L2.

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Best Conditions for SLA in YLE:

“The conditions for acquiring the L2 should resemble as far as possible those of living in a family where two languages are in daily use”. We have to use strategies that parents use intuitively.

Period of attunement will vary: Silent Period (Krashen, 1985).

Wong Filmore (1979):Importance of formulaic speech. e.g.: “I don`t know”, “it doesn`t matter”, “That’s no good”. Imitation, repetition and FS are the first strategies children use. Implicit knowledge.

I don’t know

It doesn’t matter

That’s OK!

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The teacher’s role in promoting L2 development:

Teachers need therefore to use deliberately STRATEGIES that parents use intuitively.

TASK for trainees: Summarize them. (pages 225.226)