Child Sla Lit Report

8/12/2019 Child Sla Lit Report

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TESOL Centre

Assignment Cover Sheet

Course: MA TESOL (TES 14)

Date: March 200

Tit!e o" #e$ort%Assignment:

Secon& Language Ac'uisition inEar! Chi!&hoo& Settings


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AST#ACT

The expansion in the field of teaching English to young learners (age 7 12) over the last

decade has been well-docuented! "hat teachers are now witnessing however is a globalsurge in the teaching of English to very young learners# aged $ 7 years# in preschools and

%indergartens throughout the world! &hildren are exposed to English# at ties

controversially# in the context of various bilingual# iersion and E'E* progras inboth private and public sector settings!

+t is becoing increasingly apparent that a greater understanding of research findings fro a

range of disciplines outside the language classroo# such as fro the fields of bilingualis#bilingual and iersion education and child developent ay assist teachers in ensuring

the successful outcoe of such progras!

This report will begin by briefly considering socio-cultural contexts which deterine the

presence of very young learners in second language classroos# particularly in ,sia! +t will

then proceed to discuss the process of *, in very young children# a%ing a distinctionbetween siultaneous and seuential bilingualis! The stages of children learning a second

language in the early year.s classroo will be exained with a focus on how behaviourist#

cognitive and interactionist theories of language acuisition influence the acuisition of lexis

and the eergence of graar and discourse!

+n conclusion approaches# activities and strategies which support the acuisition of a second

language will be considered in the context of developentally appropriate early childhoodclassroos and in light of current second language learning theories!

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings i


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,bstract (i)

&ontents (ii)

1! +ntroduction 1

2! /eview of the iterature

2!1 *ocio-&ultural &ircustances 1

2!2 *iultaneous and *euential 0ilingualis

2!$ *econd anguage ,cuisition in the Early &hildhood &lassroo

2!$!1 3oe anguage 4se and the 5on-6erbal eriod

2!$!2 *peech Eergence 8

2! *ocial-&onstructivist ,pproaches to anguage earning 7

2! +ndividual earner &haracteristics 9

2!8 'acilitating *, in the &lassroo :

$! ,pplication of Theory to ractice 11

! &onclusion 1

! ;irections for /esearch 1

0ibliography

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings ii


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1* +ntro&uction

The current assively increasing trend in


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*oe experts (e!g! rashen# 2>>$D &uins# 1::) uestion the presence of young

children in iersion or second language classroos! The controversy generated over the

ipleentation of iersion progras in the 4*,# for exaple# has freuently beenapplied# often erroneously# to widely differing contexts! ightbown and *pada (1::$)

effectively suarise arguents against the early introduction of a second language by

suggesting that English language progras are not suitable for Fchildren fro inoritylanguage bac%grounds or hoes where language# literacy# and education are not well-

developed. (1::$# p!11$)! +ndeed# in the case of iigrant children settling in English-

spea%ing countries# such as England# ,ustralia or the 4*,# potential loss of the inority orFheritage. language can be itigated by the ipleentation of bilingual progras which

support learning in both English and the hoe language!

+n contrast# in any ,sian countries# bilingual developent has rarely been viewed asprobleatic! =upta (2>>>) argues that for children growing up in bilingual or ultilingual

societies in ,sia the acuisition and occasional loss of languages is a noral phenoenon

and there is a relaxed attitude to the acuisition of a language at any age! +n any ,sian

counities certain languages are associated with specialised fields# such as education#and it is expected that ebers of the counity have a broad linguistic repertoire! +n

*ingapore# for exaple# a bilingual education policy has long been considered afundaental feature of the education syste and proficiency in English is considered

essential as it is the language of coerce# technology and adinistration (*ingapore

?inistry of Education# 1::)! =upta explains that in both *ingapore and ?alaysiaindividual failies have traditionally engaged in Fpragatic language shift.# fro

unprivileged to privileged languages# in order to advantage and epower their children

educationally (*iew G =upta# 1::D cited in =upta# 1::7)! ;e ?e@ia confirs =upta.s

observations by suggesting the existence of a dichotoy in ,sian countries betweenFlanguages of the head and languages of the heart. (2>>2# p!19$)# where it appears to be an

accepted phenoenon that the language of the school ay differ fro that of the hoe!

"hereas in *ingapore soe for of bilingual education is copulsory due to national

language policies# the English language holds no official status in +ndonesia# or indeed

other ,sian countries such as &hina# >1) suggests that any parents a%e a conscious decision to raise their childrenbilingually! =ros@ean (1:92D cited in iller 2>>1# p! 82) refers to this as Fplanned

bilingualis in the faily.! iller (2>>1) clais that planned bilingualis occurs in

societies where bilingualis is increasingly valued and that parents regard it as aninvestent in their child.s future! ,ccording to de ?e@ia# (2>>2# p! x) this elite# or elective#

bilingualis is seen to Fcater ainly for upwardly obile# highly educated# higher socio-

econoic status learners of two or ore internationally useful languages.! ;e ?e@iaclarifies that the ter Felite. in this context refers not only to a select inority of

privileged# rich people# but includes all those# such as teachers# governent officials#

businessen and other professionals who recognise the iportance of learning a second

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings 2


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language! iller (2>>1) expands the definition of elite bilinguals to include expatriates#

those in ixed arriages and acadeics!

iller (2>>1) concludes that in cases of planned bilingualis parental expectations aregenerally high# with ost parents reporting that they regard a bilingual upbringing for their

children an investent# with bilingualis as an asset! iller explainsC F*oeties the

financial etaphor is further explicated in that childhood bilingualis is seen as a sallinvestent (because language acuisition in childhood is easy) which is expected to yield a

high return (because the child is expected to acuire native proficiency). (2>>1# p!71)!

*etiadara and aing (2>>$) suggest three reasons why +ndonesian parents are eager to

enrol their children in an English-spea%ing preschool or %indergartenD

i) parents ay have struggled to learn English theselves and therefore want to a%e

acuisition easier for their children by sending the to a school where they will beiersed in English as opposed to enrolling the in an English course which eets for

@ust a few hours a wee%!

ii) parents who have studied# wor%ed and lived in English-spea%ing countries ay have

decided to adopt English as their faily.s ain language# in which case sending theirchildren to an English ediu preschool or %indergarten is a logical conseuence!

iii) parents who theselves attended 5ational (local) schools which were lac%ing increativity and stiulation are %een to give their children the opportunity to experience a

ore international style education in an environent which is Foften uch better run and

uch ore technologically advanced than any of their local +ndonesian-spea%ingcounterparts. (*etiadara G aing# 2>>$C p! 9)!

0oth de ?e@ia (2>>2) and &aeron (2>>1) agree that any children now have a uch

greater exposure to English# even in traditional E' contexts# copared to previousgenerations! ;e ?e@ia describes a situation very siilar to that in >1# p!98)

+n practice# due to the widely differing patterns of language use adopted by individual

failies it is becoing increasingly coon for iersion preschool and %indergarten

classroos to contain children of varying abilities# ranging fro coplete beginners to

children who are already bilingual in both English and the a@ority language of thecounity!

"hatever the circustances# few would disagree that the goal of introducing a secondlanguage in early childhood is that of Fadditive. bilingualis! nowledge of a second

language is not seen to replace the native language or other tongue# as in subtractive

bilingualis# but instead to copleent it (*wain G ap%in# 2>>)!

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings $


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2*2 Simu!taneous an& Se'uentia! i!ingua!ism in -atura!istic Settings

,ccording to researchers such as ?caughlin (1::) the process of acuiring two or ore

languages in childhood occurs along one of two broad developental paths! "hen a childis exposed to two languages fro birthsimultaneous ilingualism occurs# whereas in

contrast# if a child begins life as a onolingual spea%er and then at soe stage during early

childhood begins acuiring a second language# then the process is %nown as sequentialilingualism.

+n the case of siultaneous bilingualis the child spea%s the second language within thefaily or at counity level within the society! "ithin the faily# the child ay spea% the

second language with either one or both parents# with grandparents# siblings or a caregiver!

,t the counity or societal level# the child ay grow up spea%ing the second language

with playates fro a very young age or be exposed to the language on a daily basis frocaregivers outside the hoe! "hatever the case# the child is seen to acuire proficiency in

two languages during infancy or the early preschool years!

+n contrast# in the case of seuential bilingualis the child is generally exposed to thesecond language on oving overseas and having to acuire the language of the new

counity or on entering a school where a language other than that used at hoe iseployed! +n the first case# children will generally acuire the second language through a

process of iersionsubersion as they need the new language to counicate in the

new environent# whereas in the latter context the child.s only exposure to the languagewill be through soe for of iersion or bilingual educational progra!

,lthough alost all children becoe fluent in their first language there is uch ore

variation in how well and how uic%ly individual children acuire a second language! Evenaongst children who begin to learn a second language in childhood there will always be

soe who experience peranent difficulty with pronunciation# rules of graar and

vocabulary (&lar%# 2>>>D ?caughlin# 1::D ightbown G *pada# 1::$)!

&urrent research indicates that when children acuire two languages siultaneously

although the route is consistent with that of children acuiring a first language in aonolingual context# the rate of developent tends to be slower! Evidence of this is seen

for exaple in lexical developent whereby# although bilingual children ay have a

cobined conceptual vocabulary which surpasses the vocabulary of a onolingual child of

the sae age# their active vocabulary in each language is saller!

"eitIan and =reenberg (2>>2) suariIe their interpretation of the research by stating

that when children are exposed to two languages siultaneously in infancy they passthrough three stages of language learning!

*tage 1C &hildren ix the two languages into one syste with vocabulary fro both

languages being eployed in the child.s short sentences!*tage 2C ,t the age of approxiately two and a half years# children begin separating the

vocabulary belonging to each language and recognise with who to spea% each of their two

languages

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings


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*tage $C &hildren continue to separate use of each language and eventually one language

tends to doinate! 0y the age of seven# the child uses each of the two language systes

separately and balanced bilinguals will usually have age-appropriate astery of bothgraar and vocabulary!

=enerally spea%ing# the bilingual child.s proficiency in each language reflects the aount

of exposure to each language with successful bilingual acuisition facilitated by regular andrich exposure to both languages! Jet despite seeingly systeatic exposure children rarely

a%e eual progress in both languages ('avreau G *egalowitI (1:9$)# 'illore (1::1)D

cited in ?caughlin# 1::)! The language-learning environent ay change over tiewith the addition of siblings# changes in childcare arrangeents# or schooling! anguage

ibalance often appears as the aount and %ind of exposure to each language changes# and

for any children one language becoes their doinant language!

2*. Secon& Language Ac'uisition in the Ear! Chi!&hoo& C!assroom

The process of acuiring a second language seuentially differs fro that of acuiring a

first language or of acuiring two languages siultaneously! &opared with children whoare in the early stages of learning their other tongue# children learning a second language

already have access to one language syste through which they can express theselves#and they already have soe understanding of pragatics! +n addition they also have greater

cognitive capacity and have acuired a great deal of understanding of the world around

the (?oon# 2>>>D &aeron# 2>>1)!

*econd language acuisition is further influenced by the type of language learning

environent! +n naturalistic settings the child is exposed to the language at hoe or in the

wider counity# including school settings where the a@ority of the child.s peers arenative spea%ers of the target language! +n contrast# instructional settings are those where the

a@ority of pupils are second language learners!

,ccording to Tabors and *now# research carried out in a preschool setting deonstrates that

children learning a second language are seen to pass through a distinct series of

developental stages (Tabors G *now# 1::D Tabors# 1::7)! These stages closely reseblethose identified by rashen and Terrell (1:9$)!

i! The child uses only the hoe language in the second language setting# unaware that there

is another language around!

ii! The silent (or non-verbal) period# when the child does not spea% at all! ;uring this stagethe child typically deonstrates data gathering# spending tie spectating# closely observing

other children spea%# and rehearsing!

iii! Early production with the child beginning to Fgo public. using telegraphic and forulaicspeech!

iv! *peech eergence with the child deonstrating productive language use by building

original sentences# although there are still any errors in graatical structure!

2*.*1 /ome Language se an& the -on,era! 3erio&

The phase of hoe language use can last anything fro a few wee%s to up to one year# and

is usually longer the younger the child! Tabors cites a study by *aville-Troi%e (1:97) which



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indicates that it is coon for children during the hoe language stage to engage in

Fdilingual discourse.# whereby the child will continue to use the hoe language with the

teacher replying in the target or second language! ;ilingual discourse is seen to be oreeffective when visual clues were also available to support eaning# for exaple during

Fhands on. activities when there are concrete ob@ects to anipulate rather than in de-

contextualised situations! +n the case of a native spea%er teacher of English who cannotspea% the child.s other tongue# contextual clues are also iportant in a%ing eaning

accessible not only for the child# but also for the teacher!

The non-verbal period can last fro a period of a few wee%s to up to a year often

depending on the age of the child# with younger children spending longer in this phase!

Tabors prefers to refer to this period as non-verbal rather than use rashen.s Fsilent period.

terinology! *he argues that although children ay not be spea%ing they are still trying tocounicate by non-verbal gestures# or body language# to convey reuests# disagreeent#

to @o%e or attract attention to theselves or a situation! F,ttention-getting. ight# for

exaple# ta%e the for of holding up an ob@ect to another person# pointing or ta%ing the

teacher.s hand!

,lthough children ay not be using language to counicate during the non-verbal periodthey are building up a passive %nowledge of the new classroo language! ,ccording to

Tabors this period of Fdata gathering. is ar%ed by tactics of Fspectating. and rehearsing!

"hen children spectate they focus closely on the language the teacher and other childrenay use around the# listening to and watching what is ta%ing place! This strategy

anifests itself by intense concentration# which distinguishes it fro siply uninvolved

listening or watching! /ehearsing and sound experientation are additional features of this

stage and &aeron (2>>1) agrees that any use of the target language in Fprivate speech. willprovide useful practice for later interactions!

2*.*2 S$eech Emergence

Evidence now suggests that behaviourist# innatist and interactionist theories of language

acuisition can be applied to different eleents of the child.s language learning! Kwens

suggests that there is increasing evidence to deonstrate that the relative influence of eachtheory depends on the age or developental stage of the child (1::8D cited in 0er%# 2>>>)!

+t is argued that whereas behaviouris can explain the acuisition of routine or forulaic

chun%s of language# ore coplex areas of graatical acuisition appear to be explained

by cognitive or innatist theories! +nteractionist theories appear to wor% in con@unction withthese and are seen to explain the acuisition of additional pragatic %nowledge# as well as

social and cognitive awareness!

Tabors and Snows developmental stages are an indication of how thedierent theories can be seen to interact. Behaviourist theories whichpropose that language is acquired as result of imitation, practice,feedback and habit formation with children imitating sounds and speechpatterns in their environment may eplain acquisition of vocabularyitems and unanaly!ed formulaic chunks typical of the early productionstage. "ositive reinforcement in the form of encouragement, praise or



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successful communication with those around them and quality andquantity of input are seen to in#uence successful language acquisition,at any stage $%ightbown & Spada, '(()*.

&aeron (2>>1) also cites research by ?itchell and ?artin which further suggests that

forulaic chun%s contribute substantially to children.s early speech efforts as part of anFevolution fro chun%s to creativity. (?itchell and ?artin# 1::7D p!2$)!

+lthough it is now accepted that behaviourism may go some way toaccount for the acquisition of early language, behaviourist theories alonecannot eplain how children master more comple structures during thephase of emergent speech production.

This stage develops once children have acuired a nuber of vocabulary ites and learnt

several useful phrases! Knce they begin to analyse the language they hear around the theybegin to construct their own sentences# Fhypothesis testing. or a%ing guesses about how

the language is put together (&aeron# 2>>1)! &ognitive or connectionist theories oflanguage acuisition suggest that language# especially syntax# eerges organically through

an innate ability of brain to for patterns or neural connections fro a language richenvironent# with productive language eerging fro the lexical to the syntactical!

"hereas during the early production stage words and forulaic chun%s are assiilated and

stored randoly in the brain# during the stage of eergent language production neuralpathways develop! +t is argued that children have an innate ability to distinguish

graatical features in the input they are exposed to# discover any regularities and

copress these into Fschea. or sets of rules (=ell-?ann# 1::D cited in Thornbury# 2>>1)!Thornbury refers to this process as Fgraaring.! ,lthough the schea ay be iperfect#

the child is able to counicate his ideas in an effective and age-appropriate anner!

The neural syste is adaptive and constantly restructures itself along predictable routes#

although these routes often produce incorrect language especially in the early stages as

rules are over-generalised! =radually however there is a re-ordering of the child.s early#

ista%en or over-generalised rules in favour of later ones! 0oth Ellis (1:9) and Thornbury(2>>1) refer to this eerging set of rules as a dynaic Fprocess graar.!

&aeron ephasises the iportance of children possessing a strong lexical base frowhich graar can eerge! *he clais that as children are already able to distinguish

words as recognisable linguistic units in the first language they will be able to do so in the

second and that for this reason individual words have particular significance for youngchildren! &hildren gradually attach eaning to the individual words in forulaic chun%s

they have acuired and telegraphic speech is little ore than a series of lin%ed words

(&aeron# 2>>1)! Even in telegraphic speech however there are signs that a graar isalready beginning to eerge# often referred to as a Fpivot graar.! &hildren see to

understand which %ind of words can go together and develop categories of Fopen. words

(nouns# verbs# ad@ectives) which revolve around Fpivot. words such as naes and pronouns!



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2*4 Socia!,Constructivist A$$roaches to Language Learning

/ecent research findings support the view that successful language acuisition reuires an

appropriately supportive linguistic# social and cultural environent! +ccording toygotskian socio-cultural theory cognitive and language developmentcan be accounted for by social interaction, with adults mediating the

environment for the child, using language as a cognitive tool to developthoughts and ideas. %anguage develops as a result of a compleinterplay between the childs innate ability and interaction with theenvironment $%ightbown & Spada, '(()*. Thornbury also recogniIes interactionas a vital eleent in the process of Frule-foring# rule-testing and rule-refining. (2>>1D

p!>)!

Socio-cultural theory is seen to provide a theoretical framework forlanguage teaching because of the emphasis on mediation during theteachinglearning process. This theory was etended by Bruner whoreferred to the mediating language as /scaolding $"ood# 0runer and /oss#

1:78D cited in 0ameron 122', p.9*! *uch child-directed speech, tuned intothe needs of the child and ad3usted according to the childs competence,is seen as making an important contribution to the childs languagedevelopment. Scaffolding allows children to wor% in their FIone of proxialdevelopent.$ygotsky# 1:79D cited in &aeron# 2>>1) and enables the to achieve orunderstand soething which is @ust beyond their own level of developent and which they

couldn.t achieve unaided! +n the case of language# the input is odified to suit the child.slevel of coprehension so that it can be processed and internalised during negotiation of

eaning# eventually resulting in upta%e when the child is able to use it in his own original

speech and discourse!

There are obvious siilarities between scaffolding# the L;# 0runer.s Aspace for growthBand rashen.s notion of coprehensible input or FM1.! 3owever whereas withcoprehensible input rashen iplies that ere exposure to language is sufficient for

language acuisition to ta%e place# the support and guidance inherent in scaffolding

ephasises the iportance of interaction as a feature of successful language learning

environents!

The influence of theories of ediation and scaffolding as tools for language teaching andlearning reuires a realignent of the teachinglearning paradig with the concept of

teaching# especially during early childhood# ta%ing on a ore facilitative nature! /ather

than focus on curriculu guidelines and s%ill-acuisition# teachers in a ediational role

participate @ointly with the learner in the co-construction of discourse and %nowledge#providing support and guidance and facilitating learning rather than siply transitting

%nowledge!

2* +n&ivi&ua! Learner Characteristics

,lthough children of the sae age follow a siilar route of language developent# there is

uch individual variation in the rate of acuisition! ,part fro the degree and richness of



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exposure to the second language# bilingual developent is also influenced by other factors#

such as otivation# cognitive developent# aptitude# socio-cultural bac%ground and the

child.s personality and learning style (Tabors G *now# 1::D Tabors# 1::7D &lar%# 2>>>)!

,ccording to Tabors (1::7) when preschool children find theselves in a classroo

situation where they can continue to spea% in the hoe language# they ay lac% otivationand choose not to learn the second language! +n bilingual classroos in particular she states

that children can function by using the hoe language both in play situations and with

adults who also spea% the sae language! ,lthough the children ay develop a receptiveunderstanding of the second language they ay lac% sufficient otivation to use that

language as a eans of counication theselves!

&hildren who are outgoing and sociable ay learn the language uic%ly because they havethe intrinsic otivation to be li%e their English-spea%ing peers! ,ccording to &lar% (2>>>)

such personality types ay actively see% out opportunities to interact with spea%ers of the

target language# thus prooting their own language developent! Tabors (1::7) cites 5ora

("ong 'illore# 1:7:) as a child who ade aaIing progress in the acuisition of Englishsolely on the basis of strong otivation to be a eber of the social group which spo%e

English! *he describes children li%e 5ora as being Fris%-ta%ing children NwhoO oftenplunged alost fearlessly into counication in the new language# a%ing any ista%es#

but getting by nonetheless while receiving a lot of exposure at the sae tie!. (p!98)

,ccording to ?caughlin (1::) others ay be uiet and shy# saying little for fear ofa%ing a ista%e and learning by listening and attending to what is being said around

the! Tabors (1::7) cites *aville-Troi%e.s (1:99) study in which children who are

characterised as being ore reflective and inner-directed are seen to engage ore in

private speech as a eans of practising the target language before using it out loud!

/esearch deonstrates that despite their differences both types of learner can be successful

at learning a second languageD group wor% situations tend to favour the socially activechild# whereas children who are active listeners tend to find ore success in a traditional#

teacher-oriented classroo setting!

Kther factors such as socio-econoic status# parental support# ethnicity# place of birth and

hoe language or counity language doinance are also seen to be influential on the

language developent of individual children!

2* 5aci!itating SLA in the C!assroom Environment

0oth Ellis (1:9) and *now G 'illore (2>>>) cite research carried out by 'illore (1:92)

which deonstrates how four different %indergarten classroo environents lead todifferent outcoes in second language acuisition! 'illore.s research revealed that

children learnt ore successfully in either teacher-centred %indergarten classroos wherethere were large proportions of English language learners (E.s) or in learner-centred

classroos where there was a cobination of 1 and 2 spea%ers! +n contrast little second

language acuisition too% place in both learner-centred classroos with a high nuber of

E.s and teacher-centred classroos containing a ix of native spea%er children andE.s!

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings :


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+n the learner-centred class with a ix of native spea%ers and E.s# language acuisition

was facilitated as the learners obtained negotiated input both fro the teacher and thenative spea%ing children who ade up an eual proportion of the class! 1 spea%ers were

able to provide exposure to the language at an appropriate level and also able to provide

any clues as to how to counicate effectively in ters of conveying ideas# inforationand intentions! ,s learners were involved in negotiating and clarifying eaning they

received aple corrective feedbac% and were able to refine their eerging graars!

3owever the learner-centred class with a high proportion of E.s was less effective infacilitating second language acuisition as pupils did not receive so uch teacher input and

tended to use 1 when tal%ing aongst theselves! +nteraction with native spea%ers was

liited or non-existent and children were found to either a%e little progress in learning

English# or to learn it fro one another! This was seen to result in fossilisation# effectively ashutdown of adaptation or restructuring of the process graar! +n such a case pupils are

seen to becoe cofortable counicating in an interlanguage which deviates

substantially fro a standard for of English and conseuently stop trying to decode the

input they receive any ore ('illore# 1::2D Thornbury# 2>>1)!

The teacher-centred class with a high nuber of E.s was deeed effective as the teacherserved as the ain source of input for the children# thus ensuring that the input was

coprehensible to the! +t would therefore appear that in a second language classroo

where ost# if not all# children are learning English as a second language soe type ofteacher directed Ffocus on for. is vital if language acuisition is to be successful!

Thornbury (2>>1) argues that the teacher ust axiise exposure to the target language#

effectively iersing children in it! 3e clais that children need opportunities for repeatedlistening in addition to opportunities to spea%# both of which can be achieved when the 2

is used additionally for classroo anageent and content language integrated learning!

&uins (1::) clais however that even for children learning English in an iersioncontext it can ta%e between one to three years for children to achieve @ust basic

conversational fluency in the second language! 3e goes on to suggest that to learn the ore

acadeic language needed to achieve well at school can ta%e fro five to eight years!,ccording to &aeron (2>>1) language developent is influenced by both the type of

language experience offered and the teaching ethod eployed and children will not learn

extended discourse s%ills such as describing# narrating or negotiating or any type of

acadeic discourse if they never have the opportunity to participate in it!

The decision to adopt a bilingual or iersion approach in the early childhood classroo

is one which arouses uch debate and is often based on political and social as well aslinguistic factors! The fact that the terinology is applied differently in various contexts

adds to the confusion surrounding the debate (*now# 2>>>D *wain G ap%in# 2>>)!

, truly bilingual education progra involves the use of two languages in delivering thecurriculu whereby both the first language and the second language are eployed# often

concurrently# as vehicles for the construction of %nowledge as well as being used as

languages of counication within the classroo! The other tongue is seen to support

learning of the second language in the classroo!

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings 1>


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+t is generally accepted that the focus of early second language learning should be on the

developent of oracy rather than literacy! Tabors. (1::7) stages of developent and

&uins (1::) arguent that children reuire one to three years to achieveconversational fluency iply that teachers should not expect iediate results but instead

ta%e a gradual approach to language acuisition# respecting each stage of developent as it

occurs! + have seen children who begin attending an inforal preschool two or three ties awee% fro the age of 2 $ years slowly ove through Tabors stages and by the age of five

years# attending %indergarten for five half-days a wee%# reach the stage of productive

speech eergence with no detrient to either their other tongue or cognitivedevelopent! Kn entry to the preschool children are exposed to English through songs#

finger-plays and action rhyes# T/ activities and siple Fcircle tie. gaes to encourage

vocabulary acuisition# with a balance between teacher-led and child-initiated play and

activities! +nitially there is uch dilingual discourse as children continue to use +ndonesian#their other tongue# and bilingual teachers reply in English! There is no pressure on

children to spea% in English# although during large and sall group activities they are

encouraged to repeat targeted vocabulary in the context of gaes and Fshow and tell. type

activities! =radually lexis is acuired# telegraphic speech begins to eerge and then after 2 $ years children begin to use English spontaneously and# provided there is continuity# are

at the ta%e-off point for ore rapid language acuisition! The fact that children graduallyreach productive speech stage while still in iaget.s concrete-operational stage of early

childhood# and benefit fro a Fhands on.# experiential approach to learning ay be a a@or

benefit of starting early! Teachers can ta%e advantage of a relatively unhurried schedule with perhaps three hours exposure to the target language daily copared to possibly $

hours per wee% in a typical foreign language context!

+n the early stages of language learning children need a great deal of contextual support inthe for of concrete teaching aids such as pictures# odels# realia# puppets# hands on

learning (experiential)# gesture and T/# finger plays# songs# stories# role play and other

non-verbal aids or accopanients! 6ocabulary should be encountered and recycledfreuently in a variety of contexts with repeated exposure enabling children to %eep

vocabulary active and facilitate recall! 5ation suggests that words need to be et at least -

8 ties before there is any li%elihood of the being learnt (1::>D cited in &aeron# 2>>1)!Thees which run for several wee%s allow for this and the preschool should be well-

resourced to provide teachers with a wealth of aterials with which to enrich the learning

environent!

"hereas content words are lin%ed cognitively in schea or networ%s of eaning# this is not

the case for function words# which are also uch ore freuent! 0oth reuire different

teaching approaches whereas content word teaching can be planned and eaning adeexplicit# this cannot be done so easily with function words! +n effect this eans that the

teacher ust be sensitive to graar teaching opportunities as they arise and develop a

repertoire of techniues to encourage children to Ffocus on for.! ,s children do not havethe etalinguistic or cognitive awareness necessary for understanding of explicit graar

teaching they need s%illed assistance in helping the Fnotice. graar# with soe planning

and anipulation on the teacher.s part to ensure that children are exposed to the targeted

for (&aeron# 2>>1)! Thornbury (2>>1) adits however that children are not good at



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noticing and he recognises the difficult tas% of attepting to balance focus on eaning and

focus on for! ,lthough it is possible to plan to bring graatical features of stories#

songs and dialogues to the attention of children# teachers ust also be ready to ta%eadvantage of the ore unpredictable language learning opportunities afforded by

spontaneous situations which arise in the classroo daily!

The repetitive and predictable nature of routine and transition ties also provide children

with any opportunities to discover word eanings! "eitIan G =reen (2>>$) ephasise

the iportance of routine and scaffolding as language learning strategies! They clai thatthe teacher can help very young children understand by adopting the following scaffolding

strategiesD using graatically siple sentences# using siple every day vocabulary to

describe what.s happening in the here and now# exaggerating iportant words# repeating

what is said# using gestures and actions to atch speech# drawing attention to new words#using the specific naes of ob@ects rather than pronouns! 0y adopting scaffolding strategies

typical of Fotherese.# Fcareta%er speech. or Fteacher tal%. the odified input will assist

children in wor%ing out the rules of graar iplicitly or deductively! 0y slowing down

and drawing attention to certain words# phrases or graatical constructions# often duringdiscussions# circle tie activities# content-language integrated learning activities or gaes#

the teacher is effectively incorporating Fnoticing. or Fconsciousness raising. activities(Thornbury# 2>>1)! Kther scaffolding techniues the teacher can use include recast

(repeating the child.s sentence in the correct for)# expansion (repeat the child.s sentence

but expanding it with the teacher.s own words to deonstrate a ore advanced way ofexpressing the sae eaning) and extension (providing ore inforation related to the

child.s utterance and therefore increasing both linguistic and cognitive %nowledge

siultaneously)! ,lthough scaffolding techniues as these are widely believed to aid

learning# there is however soe evidence which indicates that children especially are notalways able to discriinate between feedbac% on eaning or feedbac% on for!

"eitIan G =reen (2>>$) suggest that once a child has a large passive vocabulary# the gapwidens between what the child can understand and what he can say! They argue that

language should be odelled on two levels a sipler one for children to iitate and a

ore coplex one to further increase the child.s understanding of the language!Kne of thebenefits of using language scaffolding as a teaching strategy is that it is individualised

according to the needs of each child! +n y experience scaffolding lends itself well to

contexts where children are engaged in sall group or individual activities and can provide

targeted coprehensible input# especially in play-based approaches to early childhoodeducation# by enabling the teacher to follow the child in his or her interests and interact

accordingly!

,lthough the value of traditional presentation# production and practice () techniues

has been widely debated# + would argue that there ay still be a place for soe rote or

choral repetition in the early years classroo# once children have been socialised into groupactivities! This can often be disguised in the for of gaes# with this for of repetition

allowing children to ta%e advantage of an innate ability to iitate and repeat which is lost

as they children get older and gain in cognitive aturity! F&ircle tie. can also be adapted

to accoodate language learning activities! 'arrell (2>>) suggests that this type of

A. Kho: Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood Settings 1$


17/22

activity helps fulfil two purposes in an ,sian context# where there is often scepticis

regarding a ore child-centred or play-based curriculu! 'irstly it allows teachers the

opportunity to feel that they are actually Fteaching. in the traditional sense# preparing andplanning a siple lesson and transitting soe %nowledge and vocabulary to the children!

*econdly# it reassures parents that their children are being Ftaught. and when children bring

hoe a newsletter giving the vocabulary or words to a song enables the to help theirchildren with the Fhoewor%. they feel is necessary! "e also find this a successful approach

in the centre where + wor%!

4* Conc!usion

There is a growing body of research which assists the second language teacher in

understanding not only how children learn a second language but also why they arelearning it! ;ifferent circustances guide policy a%ers and teachers in developing an

appropriate progra for the context in which they are wor%ing# which varies widely

throughout the world! ,lthough this report focuses priarily on children learning English

through (parental) choice and with adeuate hoe support for the other tongue# itac%nowledges that this is often not the case and that for a variety of reasons exposure to a

second language at such a young age is not always in the best interests of the child# hisfaily or the long-ter survival of his ethnic or linguistic heritage! "ith the expansion of

English in any ,sian countries it is becoing clear however that policya%ers are

attepting to ta%e a pragatic approach to its inclusion in educational refor byDF Flegitiating. the hegeony of English by Happropriating English in ways which

do least daage to their national language and identity!. (=raddol# 2>>8# p!117)

+n +ndonesia an early start to learning English ay no longer be valued solely as a long-ter educational investent but also as a tool which allows iediate access to a ore

prestigious lifestyle locally or a privileged counity globally!

E* teachers wor%ing in early childhood settings can ta%e advantage of the inherent

copatibility between accepted developentally appropriate practice and effective second

language learning strategies for exaple the focus on experiential learning# the relianceon routine and structure in classroo organisation and the suitability of activity and tas%-

based approaches to learning! 'ailiarity with techniues such as scaffolding and

consciousness-raising allow for axial language learning opportunities and %nowledge of

*, theories and stages of developent allow teachers and policy a%ers to developappropriate rationales for language use rather than relying on an Fad hoc. bilingual

approach where languages are ixed indiscriinately! +n addition# research indicates that

eleents of both child-centred and teacher-centred approaches to learning should becobined for optial second language acuisition! This suggests that a collaborative

wor%ing relationship between native and non-native spea%er teachers# especially in ,sian

countries# could be very beneficial!

4ltiately# with a greater understanding of how young children acuire a second language

and why and in what context they are learning it# the teacher is in a better position to



18/22

develop a progra which eets the needs of all children in the setting! +n the words of

0ialystoc% and 3a%uta#

F"hen we learn a new language# we.re not @ust learning new vocabulary andgraarC we.re also learning new ways of organising concepts# new ways of thin%ing and

new ways of learning language! nowing two languages is uch ore than siply

%nowing two ways of spea%ing!. (1::# p!122D cited in &lar%# 2>>># p!19)!

* Directions "or #esearch

There are any directions for further research in this field! They include studies to

deterine to what extent approaches which support the use of both first and second

languages in the classroo benefit the learner and in what contexts either language-ixingor language separation strategies ay be ore appropriate! +n addition it would be helpful

to have ore understanding on the role of repetition# noticing activities# scaffolding and

corrective feedbac% in prooting second language acuisition in very young children#especially to deterine whether children.s response to these strategies is influenced by age

or developental stage! "eitIan G =reenberg (2>>2) suggest that the ability to scaffold

coes ore naturally to soe teachers than others research to deterine whether

teachers of a second language to young children can be taught effective scaffoldingtechniues would be useful in light of the current ephasis on socio-cultural learning

theory! 'inally# in an attept to deterine what type of curricular approaches are ost

effective# studies to exaine how teachers plan and deliver thees or topics in early yearsclassroos would be inforative! =iven that content language integrated learning is

becoing ore widespread# it would also be helpful to explore the relationship between#

for exaple# aths and English and to what extent aths is an appropriate vehicle forteaching a second language in early childhood!



19/22



20/22

+L+O6#A3/7

0er%# ! E! (2>>>)! Child !e"elopment.(thEd!)! 0ostonC ,llyn and 0acon!

0ialystoc%# E! G 3a%uta# ! (1::)!#n $ther %ords.5ew Jor%C 0asic 0oo%s

&lar%# 0! ,! (2>>>)!&irst and Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood. /etrieved

;ec 9# 2>> fro httpCceep!crc!uiuc!edupubs%atIsyclar%-b!pdf

&aeron# ! (2>>1)! 'eaching Languages to (oung Learners. &abridge 4niversity ress

&uins# >)! ,n eergent curriculu in &hinaC collaborative tolerance!

Contemporary #ssues in Early Childhood! 6ol! # 5o! 2! 2$-2>2>>! /etrieved ?arch :#2>>8# fro httpCwww!wwwords!co!u%pdfviewpdf!aspR@SciecGvolSGissueS2GyearS2>>GarticleS1>Q'arrellQ&+E&QQ2QwebGidS218!2$8!11:!

92

'avreau# ?!# G *egalowitI# 5! (1:9$)! ,utoatic and controlled processing in reading in

a second language!emory and Cognition# 11# 8-7!

'illore# !"! (1:7:)! +ndividual differences in second language acuisition! +n &!

'illore# ;! epler G "! *-J! "ang (Eds!)##ndi"idual di,,erences in language aility

and language eha"iour (pp! 2>$-229)! 5ew Jor%C ,cadeic ress!

'illore# ! "! (1:92)! +nstructional language as linguistic inputC *econd language learning

in classroos! +n ! &! "il%inson (Ed!)! Communication in the classroom! 5ew Jor%C

,cadeic ress!

'illore# !"! (1::1)! "hen learning a second language eans losing the first! Early

Childhood /esearch 0uarterly# 8# $2$-$7!

http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/pubs/katzsym/clark-b.pdfhttp://www.abtassociates.com/articles/Dixon_IJBEB_2005.pdfhttp://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=ciec&vol=5&issue=2&year=2004&article=10_Farrell_CIEC_5_2_web&id=216.236.119.82http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=ciec&vol=5&issue=2&year=2004&article=10_Farrell_CIEC_5_2_web&id=216.236.119.82http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=ciec&vol=5&issue=2&year=2004&article=10_Farrell_CIEC_5_2_web&id=216.236.119.82http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/pubs/katzsym/clark-b.pdfhttp://www.abtassociates.com/articles/Dixon_IJBEB_2005.pdfhttp://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=ciec&vol=5&issue=2&year=2004&article=10_Farrell_CIEC_5_2_web&id=216.236.119.82http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=ciec&vol=5&issue=2&year=2004&article=10_Farrell_CIEC_5_2_web&id=216.236.119.82http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=ciec&vol=5&issue=2&year=2004&article=10_Farrell_CIEC_5_2_web&id=216.236.119.82


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'illore# !"! G *now# &!E! (2>>>)! %hat 'eachers 1eed to Kno) Aout Language!

/etrieved >8# fro httpCwww!cal!orgericcllteachers!pdf

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=upta# ,! '! (2>>>)! 0ilingualis in the &osopolis! +n Tope Koniyi (Ed)# +slands and+dentity in *ociolinguisticsC 3ong ong# *ingapore and Taiwan!#nternational Journal o,

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