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LANGUAGE LEARNING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

High degree of similarity in the early language of children all over the world – developmental sequences.
Earliest vocalizations – crying, cooing & gurgling. At twelve months produce a word or two. By the age of two
produce at least 50 words – combine words into simple sentences – telegraphic speech – creatively combine
words, not merely imitating. First three years – predictable patterns in the emergence and development of
many features of LL.
Grammatical morphemes: ing, plural s, irregular past, possessive s, copula, articles, regular past –ed, third
person singular present s, auxiliary be.
Wug test: children demonstrated that they know rules for the formation of plural and simple past. Their
language not a list of memorized word pairs.
Negation: Stage one – expressed by the word no, alone or as the first word in utterance. Stage two – utterances
longer, sentence subject included. Negative word appears before the verb. Often usedon'tin sentences
expressing rejection or prohibition. Stage three – negative element inserted into more complex sentences. Add
forms of the negative other than no. Stage four – attach negative to the correct form of auxiliary verbs such as
do and be.
Questions: consistency in the way children learn to form questions. Order in which wh-words emerge: what,
where, who, why, how and when. Stage one – single words or simple sentences with rising intonation. Stage
two – declarative sentences with rising intonation. Stage three – fronting – putting a verb form or question
word at the front, leaving the rest in statement form. Stage four – some questions are formed by S-A inversion,
similar to stage 3 but more variety in the auxiliaries that appear. Stage five – both wh- and yes/no questions
formed correctly. Stage six – able to form negative and complex embedded questions.
The pre-school years: By the age of four children, master the basic structures of the language. Learn
vocabulary at the rate of several words a day. Developing their ability to use language in a widening social
environment. Develop metalinguistic awareness – the ability to treat language as an object separate from the
meaning it conveys.
The school years: Expand ability to understand language and to use it to express themselves. Develop more
sophisticated metalinguistic awareness. Growth of vocabulary. Acquisition of different language registers.
EXPLAINING FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISTION
Behaviourism: children imitate language produced by those around them and receive positive
reinforcement. Continue to imitate and practice sounds and patterns until they form habits of correct
language. Quality and quantity of the language the child hears + consistency of the reinforcement shapes
child’s language behaviour. Imitation and practice – primary processes in language development. Children
imitate selectively – based on something new that they have just begun to understand and use. The choice
what to imitate determined by something inside the child rather than by the environment. Children vary in the
amount of imitation they do. They also use language creatively, not just repeat what they have heard. Therefore,
imitation and practice alone cannot explain some forms created by children. Rather, children pick out
patterns and generalise them to new concepts. They create new forms or new uses of words.
Innatists: Noam Chomsky – all human languages are fundamentally innate. Children are biologically
programmed for language, and language develops as other biological functions develop. Environment makes a
basic contribution – as a trigger. Children are not blank slates to be filled by imitating language they hear in
their environment. Children born with specific innate ability to discover the underlying rules of a language –
Universal Grammar – they have to learn only how to make use of these principles. Often linked to the critical
period hypothesis – humans are genetically programmed to acquire certain kinds of knowledge and skill at
specific times. Children who are not given access to language in infancy and early childhood will never acquire
language if these deprivations go on for too long.
Interactionists: language acquisition is example of human ability to learn from experience. What children
need to know is essentially available in the language they are exposed to. Focused on the interplay between the
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innate learning ability of children and the environment – attribute more importance to environment than
innatists, but also recognise a powerful learning mechanism in the human brain. Language acquisition
similar to acquisition of other skills. Relationship between children’s cognitive development and acquisition of
language:
Piaget – traced the development of children’s cognitive understanding of object permanence (knowing things
are hidden from sight and still there), the stability of quantities regardless of changes in their appearance
(knowing that ten pennies spread out to form a long line are not more numerous than ten pennies in a tight
line), logical inferencing (figuring out which properties of a set role cause some rods to sink and others float on
water). Language one of the symbol systems that are developed in childhood – used to represent knowledge
that children have acquired through physical interaction with the environment.
Vygotsky – observed interactions – language develops primarily from social interaction – in supportive
interactive environment, children able to advance to higher level of knowledge and performance – zone of
proximal development. Cross-cultural research: ways in which the environment provides what children
need for language acquisition. Effects on language acquisition of the ways in which adults talk to and interact
with young children Child-directed speech – slower, higher pitch, more varied intonation, simpler sentence
patterns, stress on key words, repetition. The importance of interaction: one to one interaction gives the
child access to language that is adjusted to his or her level of comprehension – impersonal sources of language
such as TV alone are not sufficient.
Connectionism: hypothesize that language acquisition does not require a separate module of the mind but can
be explained in terms of learning in general. When children hear a word or a phrase an association is
created in the child’s mind between the word or phrase and what it represents. Hearing a word brings to mind
the objects, and seeing the objects brings to mind the word or phrase.
2. EXPLAINING SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
Learner characteristics: all second language learners have required at least one language – this may be an
advantage in the sense that they know how language works. But, first language knowledge may lead learners to
make incorrect guesses about how second language works, and this may result in errors.
Learning conditions: Young learners, in an informal SLL environment usually are allowed to be silent until
they are ready to speak. Older learners are often forced to speak to meet the requirements of the classroom or
to carry out everyday tasks. Younger learners are exposed to SL for many hours, older are more likely to
receive only limited exposure. One condition that is common to learners of all ages is exposure to modified
input – FOREIGNER TALK or TEACHER TALK. A general theory of second language acquisition needs to
account for language acquisition by learners with a variety of characteristic in a variety of contexts.
Behaviourism: influential on SLL between 1940s and 1970s – AUDIOLINGUAL method – emphasized mimicry
and memorisation, and students learned dialogues and sentence patterns by heart. Person learning second
language starts with habits formed in the first language and these interfere with the new ones needed for the
second language – CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS HYPOTHESIS – learners acquire second language structures with
ease where the first language and second language are similar; where there are differences, learners have
difficulty. Researchers showed that learners do not make all the errors predicted by CAH – instead many of
their errors are not predicable on the basis of their L1. Influence of the learner’s L1 may not be a matter of the
TRANSFER of habits, but a more subtle and complex process of identifying points of similarity and reflecting
whether a certain feature seems to ‘’belong’’ in the L2.
Innatists: UG is not a good framework for understanding L2 acquisition, especially by learners who have
passed the critical period. Researchers working within UG differ in their hypotheses about how formal
instruction affects learners’ knowledge of L2. Instruction changes only the superficial appearance of language
performance, and does not affect the underlying systematic knowledge? Language acquisition based on the
availability of natural language in the learner’s environment.

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Krashen’s Monitor Model: grew out of dissatisfaction with language teaching methods based on behaviourism
– five hypotheses:
1) acquisition-learning hypo. – We acquire samples of L2 in the same way that children pick up their first
language – with no conscious attention to language form. We learn through conscious attention to form
and rule learning.
2) monitor hypothesis – the acquired system initiates speaker’s utterances and is responsible for
spontaneous language use. The learned system acts as an editor or monitor making minor changes
and polishing what the acquired system has produced.
3) natural order hypothesis – second language acquisition, like first language acquisition, unfolds in
predicable sequences.
4) input hypothesis –acquisition occurs when one is exposed to input that is comprehensible and is a level
above the language already acquired.
5) affective filter hypothesis –metaphorical barrier that prevents learners form acquiring language even
when appropriate input is available.
Lead to development of communicative language teaching, including content-based instruction and
immersion.
Current theories – the cognitivists: argue that there is no need to hypothesize that humans have a language
specific module in the brain, or that acquisition and learning are distinct processes.
Information processing – learners need to pay attention at first to any aspects of the language that they are
trying to understand or produce – use cognitive resources to process information.
Learners in earliest stages use most of their resources to understand main words in a message, don’t notice
grammatical morphemes.
Second language acquisition as skill learning – starts with declarative knowledge (knowledge that) which
through practice becomes procedural knowledge (knowledge how).
Connectionism: attributes greater importance to the role of the environment – learners gradually build up
their knowledge of language through exposure. Learners develop strong network of connections between
language features that they hear.
Competition model: related to connectionism – language acquisition occurs without the necessity of learner’s
focused attention. Through exposure to thousands of examples of language associated with particular
meanings, learners come to understand how to use the ‘’cues’’ with which a language signals specific functions.
The interaction hypothesis – conversational interaction is an essential condition for L2 acquisition.
Comprehensible input is necessary. Modified interaction makes language comprehensible. Learners need an
opportunity to interact with other speakers o reach mutual comprehension – through these interactions they
figure out what they need to make the input comprehensible.
The noticing hypothesis – nothing is learned unless it has been notices – noticing is an essential starting point
for acquisition. Second language learners unable to acquire language feature until they become aware of it in
the input.
Input processing – learners have limited processing capacity and cannot pay attention to form and meaning at
the same time – they give priority to meaning.
Processability theory – learners do not transfer features from L1 at early stages of acquisition – they develop
a certain level of processing capacity in L2 before they use their knowledge of the features that already exist
in L1.
Sociocultural perspective – speaking and thinking tightly interwoven. Speaking (and writing) meditate
thinking – people gain control over their mental processes as a consequence of internalizing what others say to
them and what they say to others. Learning occurs when an individual interacts with an interlocutor within his
or her zone of proximal development.
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3. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN SLL
Individual differences that are inherent in the learner can predict success or failure in language learning. Some
learn languages more quickly than others do. Some students progress rapidly while others struggle along
making very slow progress. Some characteristics that are thought to contribute to successful language learning:
motivation, intellectual abilities, personality and learning preferences.
Intelligence: IQ is related to metalinguistic knowledge rather than to communicative abilities. Traditional IQ
test may be a strong predictor when it comes to learning that involves language analysis and rule learning- but
is less important in classrooms where the instruction focuses more on communication and interaction.
Traditional IQ tests assess only a limited range of abilities – Gardner suggested that individuals have multiple
intelligences.
Aptitude: Aptitude is the ability to learn quickly – learners with high aptitude may learn with greater ease and
speed, but others may also be successful if they persevere. Aptitude has several components: ability to identify
and memorize new sounds, ability to understand the function of words in sentences, ability to figure
out grammatical rules, and ability to remember new words. Children who are good at analysing language
are the most successful learners in programs in which activities never involve direct attention to grammar.
Successful language learners may not be strong in all of the components of aptitude, their weaknesses, and
strengths account for their ability to succeed in different types of instructional programs.
Learning styles: individual’s natural, habitual, and preferred way of absorbing and retaining new information
and skills – e.g. visual learners, kinaesthetic learners, etc. Field independent (separate details from the general
background) and field dependent (see things more holistically) – field independence leads to success in L2
learning?
Personality: It was often argued that extroverted persons is well suited to language learning, but research
does not always support this - in certain language situations, the quiet observant learners may have greater
success. Inhibition – discourages risk-taking, necessary for progress in language learning.Learner anxiety –
feeling of worry, nervousness, and stress – dynamic and dependent on particular situations – but not all anxiety
is bad, some can have positive effects. Learner’s willingness to communicate – related to anxiety – learners
who are willing to communicate in a wide range of conversational interaction are able to do so bcs their prior
language learning has led to development of self-confidence. Personality variables may be a major factor
only in acquisition of conversational skills, not in the acquisition of literacy or academic skills?
Motivation and attitudes: It is difficult to know whether positive attitudes produce successful learning or
successful learning engenders positive attitudes, or whether bot are affected by other factors. There is ample
evidence that positive motivation is associated with willingness to keep learning. Motivation can be defined in
terms of two factors: learners’ communicative needs, and their attitudes toward second language
community – INSTRUMENTAL MOTIVATION AND INTEGRATIVE MOTIVATION. Motivation in the
classroom: T make positive contribution to students’ motivation to learn if classroom are places that students
enjoy coming to bc the content is interesting and relevant to their age and ability, the learning goals are
challenging yet manageable and clear, and the atmosphere is supportive. Motivating students into the lesson
– remarks that T makes about forthcoming activities can lead to higher levels of interest. Varying the
activities, tasks and materials –lessons that consist of the same routines lead to a decrease in attention and
increase in boredom – varying can help to avoid this and increase interest levels. Using co-operative rather
than competitive goals – increases self-confidence and motivation.
Learner beliefs: Learners have strong beliefs about how their instruction should be delivered – based on
previous learning experiences and the assumption that a particular type of instruction is the best way for them
to learn. Learners’ instructional preferences, based on their styles or beliefs will influence the kinds of
strategies they use in learning new material – T can use this to help them expand their learning strategies and
develop greater flexibility in ways of approaching language learning.
Age of acquisition: older learners depend on more general learning abilities, which are not as effective as the
more specific, innate capacities available to the young children. Critical period ends somewhere around

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puberty. If the objective is second native-like mastery – early language learning is preferable but when the goal
is basic communicative ability it may be more efficient to begin second language teaching later.
8. LEARNING TO LEARN
One of the most important objectives for all learning/teaching contexts for all ages. It is impossible for learners
to acquire all the knowledge and skills while in school – it is schools responsibility to teach learners how to
learn i.e. equip them with strategies that they can use outside school.
The overall aim is to raise children’s awareness of the various factors that influence their L learning and
give them some time and space to think for themselves.
Learning to learn encompasses a variety of activities, task or discussions between children and the
teacher. What types of strategies can be developed?
- Social and affective strategies – raise awareness about how learners’ own emotional states and
feelings as well as those of others can influence their learning.
- Strategies related to raising awareness about what language learning is – cover general
understanding about language learning in terms of what language learning means.
- Metacognitive strategies –introduce and develop ongoing process of reflection through planning,
monitoring, and evaluating language learning.
- Direct or cognitive strategies – develop children’s ability to deal with linguistic information in an
effective way i.e. to organise, categorize, or memorize linguistic information.
Social and affective strategies: In terms of affective factors, all teachers are concerned with issues such as
building confidence and raising self-esteem. Without these and positive learning environment full of
encouragement, it is impossible to achieve goals related to fostering positive attitudes. All teachers can
foster children’s self-esteem through emphasizing what children can do rather than what they can’t do. Asking
children’s opinions about the lesson and their own progress are fundamental parts of building self-reliance.
Children’s reflection notes about their progress should focus on what has been achieved rather than what the
gaps are. Teachers should provide positive reinforcement, use plenty of praise, encourage children to express
their feelings and to listen to those who have something important to say.
In terms of social development – it is important for teachers to be sensitive to individuals and friendship
groupings. Children should be involved in the process of drawing up class rules so that they can feel they have
some control. It may be appropriate to talk about general expectations in learning languages. For older children
it is also possible to raise awareness about other languages, how are they different, etc.
Metacognitive strategies: Learning to reflect – It is important that children understand why particular
activities are used in the classroom and how they can participate effectively. Such reflection on the learning
process is a natural part of effective learning and can be adapted at the level of individual activities, task,
lessons, etc. Developing metacognitive awareness is directly linked to developing skills in self-
assessment. For younger children reflection process may start by asking them to think and decide which
activities they liked. Once they identify them, it is useful for them to being to think about reasons – if such
reflection is carried out on a systematic basis, the children will get used to having to think for themselves –
plan-do-review reflective cycle. For older learners one way to foster metacognitive growth is to encourage
explicit analysis of tasks and games in order to learn to play them better.
Cognitive skills: LL often requires manipulating ling. information in an effective way – there are specific
strategies to help language learners such as organizing rehearsing, using different visual and other meaningful
clues, predicting, and using deduction while listening and reading. For younger children teachers may start
developing cognitive strategies slowly and carefully, by encouraging, for example, rehearsal strategies – give
explicit advice as to how to help each other and what clues they can use to remind themselves of what comes
next. For older children it is possible to do more organizing and categorizing of vocabulary learning strategies.
Giving space to children’s choices: In order for children to be able to put their developing strategies into
practice, it is a good idea to give them more space and time during lessons. This means that teachers will have

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to let go of their total control of the classroom and involve children in the decision-making process which is
motivating for them. Offering choices and encouraging the independence of children in small ways is consistent
with the principle advocated that children’s needs are different – it is important for teachers in language classes
to cater for individual learner differences, interests, and needs.
9. MATERIALS EVALUATION AND MATERIALS DESIGN
In some contexts teachers follow a set course book very closely lesson by lesson, while in others teachers are
able to select their own materials and activities more freely. Realistically, most teachers are somewhere in the
middle.
Multi-layered syllabuses: A multi-layered syllabus in addition to the traditional structural and functional
language components, other components such as phonology, cultural components, or learning to learn skills are
included.
Evaluating course books: They are evaluated informally all the time by teachers and learners – teachers
monitor what works and what doesn’t and add their own style and interpretation to the book. They can also be
evaluated formally – when teachers need to put a case to school administration to change and old course book
or to identify ways in which the given course book could be supplemented. Teachers will evaluate and select
course books according to how appropriate they seem for the given contexts: young learners, older learners,
inexperienced teachers, etc. They can also be evaluated by exploring teachers’ and learners’ experiences and
opinions of them as used in the classroom.
Supplementing course books: It is important for teachers to take time to identify gaps in their course book.
They can being to adapt and rewrite materials to fill these gaps so that the book becomes better suited to their
class. [ostalo je glupo, ne znam šta da pišem, pročitaj jednom i znat ćeš]
10. Assessment
All teachers need to know how effective their teaching is and all learners are interested in how well they are
doing. Assessment is therefore an integral part of teaching and learning. However, traditional assessment
methods can be problematic.
Purpose of assessment: Refers to the process of data analysis that teachers use to get evidence about their
learners’ performance and progress. Assessment is carried out bc head teachers, authorities, parents, etc,
require evidence of learning, but it is also the right of the children to know how they are doing.
Teachers are concerned with what the students will be able to do, say, write as a result of their teaching – it is
important to identify these objectives at the beginning of each unit so that they can check children’s
performance against them. These finding will feed directly into everyday teaching – e.g. teachers may spend
more time on those aspects of the unit that proved to be harder. The main aim of this process, called formative
assessment, is to inform and improve teaching. In addition to formative assessment, teachers also need to
engage in summative assessment – taking stock of what has been learnt and achieved at the end of a longer
period.
Why traditional methods are problematic?
Children’s knowledge of English comprises of being able to sing songs, participate in stories and games, mime,
etc – things that are not easy and straightforward to assess objectively. Traditional paper and pen tests
typically include activities such as filling in gaps, answering questions, translating vocabulary – they are
relatively easy to set and correct and they reduce knowledge to quantifiable results. However, these tests
often do not work because such isolated exercises do not show what children know and can do with
confidence. They may also have negative influence on teaching, by dedicating time away from games and
activities to preparation for tests. This is often called negative washback effect of tests.
There is also a danger that inappropriate assessment methods and possibly lower grades would discourage
children and cause them to lose motivation to learn English.

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Gap between teaching and testing?
Pen and paper test use a narrow range of grammar and vocab in single sentence exercises. The most tested
skills are reading and writing, at sentence level, and listening is not mentioned at all. Children’s natural
capacities to work out meaning from rich language input were not taken into account when these assessment
tools were designed.
Child-friendly methods: self-assessment, portfolio, observations.
Two main approaches to assessment: norm referencing and criterion referencing.
- Norm referencing – teachers compare their learners’ achievement with the norm, i.e. class average.
Problems: encourages comparison and competition, fails to take into account small individual progress
and achievements.
- Criterion referencing – learners have to meet certain set criteria. Comparisons are discouraged bc
individual achievement is in focus. Children’s results are compared with their starting point.
Assessment techniques:
Observation – teachers can use systematic observation to assess children’s performance – they are non-
intrusive bc children often are not even aware that they are being assessed.
Self-assessment – encouraging children to assess themselves is an integral part of a learner-centred approach.
Self-assessment means that children are asked to think about their own performances on a regular basis. It is
linked to the principle learning to learn.
It is important to emphasize that careful and gradual training is needed, and the ability of children to assess
themselves cannot be taken for granted.
Portfolio – a collection of a student’s work and evidence of student achievement over a period of time. Link
teaching and assessment very clearly since they offer concrete evidence of what a learner can do. It can
motivate learners by getting them to focus on what they are good at and develop ownership of the learning
process.
Project work – the advantage is that it combines all four language skills and joint effort of several students.
Disadvantage is that it is very difficult to assign grades to project work bc of the need to acknowledge both
individual and group effort, and impossible to be fair to everyone.