2.2 Teaching English reading comprehension
2.2.3 Young learners in EFL classroom
The term “young learners” refers to students who are not yet grown up. The word was dated back in the early 1990s to represent a movement in several nations throughout the world to make English language learning more accessible to younger age groups.
For several organizations and linguistic practitioners, the phrase relates to any learner who still hasn’t gained maturity (typically at the age of 18) and to whom we get responsibility to care as teachers. This opinion is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
which defines a child as “a human being under the age of 18 years unless majority is attained earlier under the law applicable to the child.”
In general, the concept “young learners” can refer to children of all ages and developmental stages, including babies to preschool students, as well as teenagers and youngsters. However, in educational fields, “young learners” is often used to describe children from their first year of academic education (ranging from the age of 5-7 years) until they are 11-12 years old, or until their transition from primary to secondary school. Hence, in the context of this study, the term “young learners” is appropriately defined students in age 10, who participate in the experimental group and comparison group.
According to Cameron (2001), children are much more energetic and passionate, preferring to satisfy the professor over other age groups, but easily get bored , and are less able to maintain themselves engaged if the task becomes more challenging. Children apply their interest and enthusiasm to understand reality and language learning. They will, in most cases, enthusiastically and willingly take on the most difficult and demanding activities in class.
Moreover, age 10 is considered the threshold for more literacy education by Cameron (2001). By the time children reach the age of ten or maybe around, their first language oracy and literacy are likely well developed, they have a good understanding of how text - based materials work, they have management over skills for writing, and they can communicate and understand language differences. As a result, at this stage, RC can be part of English language instruction (p.138).
It is also emphasizes that, for young learners, foreign language acquisition differs from first and second language learning in terms of the quantity and kind of exposure to the language. “There will be little exposure to the language outside of the classroom, and language encounters will be limited to a few hours of instruction during the school day”
(Cameron, 2001, p.11). Moon (2000) clarifies this view as living in the nation where the language is spoken, being exposed to it, and learning it effortlessly through using it daily is the perfect scenario for young learners to acquire a second or foreign language.
Young learners, like adults, are unique individuals with distinct personalities, preferences, interests, and opinions. As a result, generalizations regarding how to teach kids are problematic. Educating young learners, on the other hand, varies from teaching adults in four significant ways, as listed in TKT: Young Learners Teaching Knowledge Test Handbook for teachers (2019):
Learners between the ages of 6 and 12 are still building their thinking skills, as well as their first language systems as well as other motor skills;
Even if young students have no apparent purpose for learning English, they will bring enthusiasm, enthusiasm, and curiosity to the lesson;
Young learners’ literacy skills may not always be developed enough to facilitate their English study. Because they probably do not have the abilities to interpret information from the text, talking is often the primary method of intake in many young learner settings;
Young students have a tendency to learn slowly but forget rapidly. They are thought to learn things faster than adults, however there is little evidence of this in classroom settings when they take a few English sessions each week.
According to McCloskey (1998), there are eight principles that a teacher should consider when providing English lesson to young learners. They are: provide learners with exciting, active participation in the learning experience; assist students in developing and practicing language with collaborative efforts; use multiple-organized activities; offer additional comprehensible input with scaffolding; teach vocabulary as an active approach;
combine language with content; validate and incorporate home language and culture; provide concise goals and success feedback.
It may be concluded from those views that children actively try to construct meaning.
They actively try to make sense but they can only make sense in terms of their world knowledge, which is limited and partial (Moon, 2000). The special features of young learners mentioned previously may lead to the demand of L1 support in ESL and EFL classroom for young learners, which is also the setting of this research.