Myth 1 Report

8/3/2019 Myth 1 Report

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CHILDREN LEARN SECOND LANGUAGES

QUICKLY AND EASILY

The proposition has various forms. It is said that:

Children can learn languages faster than adults

Immigrate children translate for their parents who have notlearned the languages

Child learners speak without a foreign accent, whereas this is

impossible for adult learners.


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Children may be more motivated than adults to learn the second

language. There is probably more incentive for the child on theplayground and in school to communicate in the second languagethan there is for the adult on the job (where they often can get bywith routine phrases and expressions) or with friends (who may speakthe individuals first language anyway).

It frequently happens that children are placed in more situationswhere they are forced to speak the second language than are adults.


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The bases for this myth are:

According to Lenneberg, 1967; Penfield & Roberts, 1959, they

said that when pressed, people asserting the superiority of childlearners resort to some variant of the critical period

hypothesis. The argument is that children are superior to

adults in learning second languages because their brans aremore flexible.

The frozen brain hypothesis is the corollary hypothesis which

applied to adult learners.


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However, the critical period hypothesishas been challenged by

many researchers in recent years and quite controversial (Geneses,1981; Harley, 1989; Newport, 1990)

The evidence for the biological basis of the critical period

has been examined and the argument made thatdifferences in the rate of second language acquisition may

reflect psychological and social factors, rather than

biological one that favor child learners.


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The evidences (researches) to refute the claim that

children learn second languages quickly and easily

Using Experimental research, children have been compared to adults in

second language learning has consistently demonstrated that adolescents and

adults perform better than young children under controlled conditions.

According to Asher & Price (1967), even when the method of teaching appears

to favor learning in children, they perform less well than do adolescents.


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One exception is in the area of pronunciation, although even

here some studies show better results for older learners.

Similarly, research comparing children and adults learning

second languages as immigrants does not support the notion that

younger children are more efficient at second language (Snow &Hoefnagel-Hoehle, 1978).


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People continue to believe that children learn

languages faster than adults.

The proofs to disprove the claim:One difficulty in answering this question is that of applying the same

criteria of language proficiency to both the child and the adults.

The requirements to communicate as a child are quite different from

the requirements to communicate as an adult.


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The childs constructions are shorter and simpler, and vocabulary is relatively

small when compared with what is necessary for adults to speak at the samelevel of competence in a second language as they do in their first language.

The child does not have to learn as much as an adult to achieve competence

in communicating.

When controlled research is conducted, in both formal and informal learning

situations, results typically indicated that adult (and adolescent) learners

perform better than young children.


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1.) A Q-methodology study of adult English language learners'

perceptions of audience response systems (clickers) as

communication aidesbyRodriguez, Lisa Ann,Ph.D., Walden University, 2010

Results of this study may affect positive social change by leading

to more effective instructional and assessment practices for adult English

language learners and by fostering research into the viability of educationaltechnology communication tools with all English language learners and

there is significant result of the adults learners.

Additional Researches to invalidate the claim


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2.) Language learning in adulthood: Why some have more trouble

than othersbySmith, Asha Halima,Ph.D., Stanford University, 2009

The results showed that early and late L2 learners performedsimilarly on the non-self-paced vocabulary learning tasks (both slow and fast-paced), but responded differently to the order of teaching effects and items

used for teaching and testing. It was concluded that language-learning historymay be tied to differences in how adults go about learning words in newlanguages. Just how flexible these strategy differences are and their directimplications to language learning success is an open question for futureresearch.


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3.) Evaluating the impacts of professional development: A mixed

method study of adult education learning communitiesbyDilworth, Jessica S. ,Ph.D., Capella University, 2010

Adult education programs providing classes to students

preparing for high school equivalency and learning English thatdemonstrate characteristics of learning organizations may be better able

to thrive when confronted with less-than-ideal circumstances and

revealed the strengths of adult education programs and the result wassignificant in learning the English language among adults.


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Pedagogical Implication

1. The research shows that teachers should not expectmiraculous results from children who are learningEnglish as a second language (ESL) in the classroom

context.2. The teachers should expect that learning a secondlanguage is as difficult for a child in their class as it isfor the teachers as adults.


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3. Teachers need to be sensitive to thesefeelings and not assume that, becausechildren supposedly learn the secondlanguage quickly, such discomfort willquickly pass.

4. Children are likely to be more shy and

more embarrassed before their peersthan are more mature adults

5. Some cultural backgrounds areextremely anxious when singled outand called upon to perform in a

language they (children) are in theprocess of learning.


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Personal Reflection

A teacher will check the background and capacity of thehis/her students in acquiring the second language.


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THANK YOU!

Myth 1 Report

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