Songs are popular resources with teachers of young language learners. In addition to important socioemotional and developmental outcomes, a common assumption is that songs will help support learning ...the target language. This systematic review narratively synthesises evidence from intervention research on the effects of using songs in second or foreign language classrooms on linguistic outcomes among children aged 2–18 years. 1862 potentially relevant reports were identified. After screening, 60 intervention studies from 23 countries were located that assessed the relationship between using songs in the classroom and substantive linguistic outcomes. These were vocabulary acquisition, grammatical learning, and speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. While most of the assembled literature made positive causal claims about the relationship between singing songs and these outcomes, a majority were not appropriately designed to support these claims. Our formal assessment of the robustness of the designs and other methodological characteristics of the included studies suggests that it is not possible to draw firm causal inferences about the effect of using songs on linguistic outcomes. This systematic review makes the case for conducting further robustly designed intervention research to better inform our understanding of the linguistic effects of using songs to teach young language learners.
Millions of Chinese children learn English at increasingly younger ages. Yet when it comes to measuring proficiency, educators, and researchers rely on assessments that have been developed for L1 ...learners and/or for different cultural contexts, or on non-validated, individually designed tests. We developed the Assessment of Chinese Children's English Vocabulary test (ACCE-V) to address the need for a validated, culturally appropriate receptive vocabulary test, designed specifically for young Chinese learners. The items are drawn from current teaching materials used in China, and the depictions of people and objects are culturally appropriate. We evaluated the instrument's reliability and validity in two field tests with a combined sample size of 1,092 children (181 children for the first field test and 911 children for the second field test, age range from 3.1 to 7.7, mean age: 5.2. Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses show that the ACCE-V is sufficiently sensitive to capture different proficiency levels and that it has good psychometric properties. ACCE-V scores were correlated with Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test scores, indicating concurrent validity. We found that children's age and English learning experience can significantly predict the scores of ACCE-V, but the effect of English learning experience is greater. The ACCE-V thus offers an alternative to existing vocabulary tests. We argue that culturally appropriate assessments like the ACCE-V are fairer to learners and help promote an English learning and teaching environment that is less dominated by Western cultures and native speaker norms.
Classroom-based assessment (CBA) is an approach for learning improvement that has been advocated as having strong potential in enhancing learner autonomy of young language learners (YLLs). This study ...investigated Chinese primary school English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ beliefs about CBA, their assessment practices, and the relationship between their CBA beliefs and practices. Drawing on data from a survey of 195 Chinese primary school EFL teachers, results showed that the teachers positively believed in the value of various CBA processes, including planning assessment, collecting learning evidence, making professional judgments and providing appropriate feedback, and they also attempted to enact these assessment practices; belief-practice alignment was also identified, showing that teachers’ beliefs about CBA were significant predictors of their assessment practices. Implications are provided for promoting the implementation of CBA for YLLs in similar contexts.
This study explores the instances when teachers employ language policing (Amir, 2013) in the Turkish EFL young learners’ context. Language policing studies are scarce in EFL young learners’ ...classrooms. Hence, this study is an attempt to address the gap in the literature concerning EFL young learners’ contexts from the expanding circle and contribute to the code switching literature. Data consists of 270-minute video recordings from three different classes in two private schools in Turkey and it was analysed using Conversation Analysis. Results show the presence of Turkish, English, as well as a bilingual medium before and after the policing was initiated through formulaic expressions. Unlike some secondary school contexts where the English-only policy is enforced with a strict rewards and punishment policy (Amir & Musk, 2013), speaking Turkish and the bilingual medium for the most part of the lessons was not corrected by the teachers in the current study. These findings have implications for teaching EFL to young learners, language policing and code switching in secondary contexts.
Bu çalışmada, İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen çocukların sınıflarında öğretmenler tarafından uygulanan dil polisliği uygulamaları incelenmektedir. İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen çocukların sınıflarında gerçekleştirilen dil polisliği çalışmaları oldukça sınırlıdır. Böylece, bu çalışmayla genişleyen çevreden İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenen çocukların sınıflarıyla alanyanızdaki ilgili boşluğu ele alma ve düzenek değiştirme alanyazınına katkıda bulunma hedeflenmiştir. Veriler, Türkiye'deki iki özel okulda üç farklı sınıftan alınan 270 dakikalık video kayıtlarından oluşmaktadır ve söz konusu veriler, Konuşma Analizi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Sonuçlar, sadece Türkçe ve sadece İngilizcenin kullanılmasının yanı sıra kalıplaşmış ifadeler yoluyla da dil polisliğin başlatılmasından önce ve sonra iki dilli bir ortamın varlığını göstermiştir. Sınıfta yalnızca-İngilizce politikasının katı bir ödül ve ceza politikasıyla uygulandığı bazı ortaokul bağlamlarının aksine (Amir & Musk, 2013), kaydedilen derslerin çoğunda ana dil ve ikinci dil sorunsuz bir şekilde kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular doğrultusunda, çocuklara İngilizce öğretimi, dil polisliği ve ortaokul seviyesinde düzenek değiştirme konularında çeşitli çıkarımlar sunulmaktadır.
Pragmatic competence is an essential element of communicative competence, which makes it relevant for speakers of all ages, including young language learners (YLLs). Despite the recognized importance ...of pragmatics, research of textbooks for adult second language (L2) learners to date has found them lacking in their approach to this key aspect of language. However, there is very little research of pragmatics in textbooks for YLLs, which would provide insight into the extent to which these materials can support teachers in including elements of pragmatic competence into their language classes. The present study aims to fill this gap by determining how much pragmatic content is included in 18 textbooks used in Croatian primary schools with learners aged 9–12 years. The textbooks are compared in regard to the percentage of pages with pragmatic content as well as the different speech acts that receive explicit attention in them. The main finding of the study is the great amount of inconsistency when it comes to the scope and treatment of pragmatic content, with some textbooks proving extremely lacking. The results present a concerning picture as all of the students using these diverse textbooks should be following the same curriculum which emphasizes the development of communicative competence.
This article discusses the effects of reciting English story in a way to prepare a storytelling competition in a private elementary school. Initially forced to use the method, the young language ...learners (YLL) gradually came to appreciate it. The practice enabled them to construct the story comprehensively, to improve pronunciation, to motivate their peers to tell the story confidently, and to develop the habit of attending the details of language in the context of language input. To investigate how beneficial the English story recitation is, I use interview to examine teacher’s perceptions and experiences about story recitation and its effect on language development. I will also investigate how story recitation is used and its effects in an EFL (English as a foreign language) context. The paper concludes that such practice enhances YLL’s noticing and rehearsal and later it facilitates second language acquisition. Therefore, teachers are suggested to have a positive attitude towards English story recitation for young language learners.
A growing number of studies have examined self-assessment (SA) of language abilities; however, SA has not been investigated extensively in the context of language teaching and learning in China. This ...study aims to explore SA of reading and writing abilities among young Chinese learners of English, and the relationship between SA and objective tests of reading and writing. 106 Chinese learners of English (ages 12 to 14) completed a Reading Comprehension Test (captured by Free Recall, Sentence Completion, and Multiple-Choice Questions), a Writing Task (a picture-based writing prompt), and criterion-referenced SA Items. Correlational analyses revealed a significant correlation between scores of SA reading and reading comprehension. The correlation between scores of SA writing and writing production was also found to be significant. Findings indicate that young learners tend to self-assess their foreign language reading and writing abilities accurately. Findings add some empirical information useful for a better understanding of the trajectories of SA with young learners. Young learners’ self-perceived strengths and weaknesses in reading and writing abilities are presented. The potential to use SA as a tool to promote foreign language instruction for young learners is explored.
The article focuses on developing the awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity at the pre-school level. We first present the DivCon model (Diversity in Context) which promotes systematic ...exposure to linguistic and cultural diversity and is based on a framework which integrates six basic aspects: the journey metaphor, exposure to linguistic diversity, exposure to cultural diversity, progression from concrete to symbolic level, effective second language teaching approaches and children participation. In the second part of the paper we present the results of a qualitative study conducted in three kindergarten groups (n=40) to evaluate the model in the Slovenian context. The main aim of the study was to analyse pre-school children’s responses to the different dimensions in the model and the ways they perceive different languages and cultures. The results indicate that the participants responded positively to the activities carried out in order to evaluate the proposed model and showed that they are aware of linguistic and cultural diversity in a variety of ways. We argue that the model offers effective strategies for developing linguistic awareness and positive attitudes towards linguistic and cultural diversity at an early age.
Most countries in Latin America are extending English language education in their public school curricula by beginning earlier and increasing hours of L2 instruction. The reason for this rapid ...expansion is encapsulated in the common refrain “English opens doors,” which acknowledges the perceived power of global English in affording individuals greater economic and social opportunities. Mexico is a prime example, where English instruction in public education has been expanded from 3 to 13 years. On the surface, the new program represents a broad attempt at acquisition planning that would “level the playing field” by significantly expanding access to learning English among working class Mexicans and opening new doors of economic opportunities.
Drawing on critical theorists' examinations of class, education, and social reproduction, the author examines how English instruction differs in classrooms across social class, and asks if English will actually change the equation for working class children. Presenting classroom observation data from an impact study of the pilot phase of the Mexican program in the primary grades, and from interviews with a variety of the stakeholders, the researcher looks at ways that the reality of program implementation does and does not match its aims.
The current study investigates the impact of the teachers' societal dominant language use within a weak version of translanguaging in early heritage language education. We explored five preschool ...teachers' use of English, the dominant majority language, in Tamil heritage language classes in Singapore and examined its impact on 33 children's immediate language production in class and in their Tamil language storytelling at the end of the academic year. Our findings demonstrate that while the conventional thinking of protecting the heritage language's pureness is still dominant, the Tamil language teachers did employ English in their Tamil instruction, and their English use had a substantial variation in frequency. The teachers mostly switched to English due to habituation but not with explicit instructional purposes. When English use aided language instruction, it facilitated children's comprehension and elicited more child talk. Results also indicated that children model their teacher's English usage in their immediate responses. When teachers increased their English use in daily practice, children also incorporated increased English use in their Tamil storytelling task at the end of the academic year. Regardless of English use, however, children's output remained predominantly in Tamil. The implication of using translanguaging in early heritage language education is discussed.
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