10.

1 Significant Issues

10.1.1. Significant Issues

Our focus is on significant issues

It’s impossible to cover everything about teaching young learners in one

Module. So, treat this as an introduction.

Later, if this is an area you are genuinely interested in, you can take a full
Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) course.

Note that all the information and activities in the previous Modules will be
of great benefit to you when teaching young learners.

Content

Note that we have included a Unit on using storybooks in the classroom.

We also refer to storybooks on several occasions.

We have cited a couple of excellent storybooks to enable us to

demonstrate particular language points or activities. You may never have
read these storybooks. If you have, that’s great. If you haven’t, please
seek out a copy of each. They are:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (the text is also on the
Internet)

2. The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

You can also find these on YouTube.

10.1.2. Who are young learners?

There is no definitive guide to age ranges in TEFL. The age range applied
to the young learner varies from country to country.

Throughout this short course, we will deem younger young learners to

be those who are in the range of around 3 years old up to approximately 7
years old or so. This group will be our primary focus.

We’ll also mention older young learners. We’ll label those who are in
the range of 8 years old up to around 12 years old as older young
learners. Older young learners will be involved in a lot of the same
learning as younger young learners, but the learning will be more in-
depth. We’ll summarise the information for older young learners.

If we don’t mention younger or older, then we’re talking about young

learners in general.

Remember! Every single child is unique. Thus, there can be significant

differences in children of the same age range. So, it would be foolhardy to
try and categorise what every learner should accomplish by, for example,
age 7 specifically.

10.1.3. How Children Learn And Develop, In General

Here are some key points:

 Children are not just little mirror-images of adults. They are different
from adults.

 Children think differently; their view of the world is different, and it’s
posited by some ‘experts’ that they live by different moral and
ethical principles from those which adults live by.

 It is paramount that a teacher explores and reflects on how her

learners may think and how they may view the world.

 To utilise effective teaching strategies, a teacher must be aware of

learners’ ages and general stages of development.

Language development is our focus in this Module. Note, though, that

language development doesn’t just occur on its own and to the same
degree as peers. When a young learner is developing her language, other
developmental areas are at play, such as:

 Cognitive development

 Emotional/social development

 Physical development

A teacher must also be aware of these aspects. It’s important to reflect on

the various characteristics of development we might expect to see in
children at certain stages. However, these can only be general guidelines
as each child is an individual.

Always remember that all your learners are individuals. Although it’s
useful to study some theories, their end product is almost always the
universal aspects of language development, i.e., conclusions which
typically apply to all or most situations.

However, your role is to develop a group of individuals, some of which

may not fit the universal model.

10.1.4. Key Learning Principles

Here’s what you need to know:

 Children think differently; their view of the world is different. Some

say that they live by different moral and ethical principles than
those which adults live by.
  Language development doesn’t just occur on its own and to the
same degree as peers. When a young learner is developing her
language, other developmental areas are at play, such as cognitive
development, emotional/social development, and physical
development.

 Scaffolding is essential. Scaffolding is when we provide learners with

a great deal of support during the early stages of learning.

 Learning is much more successful when learner preferences and

strategies are considered when teaching young learners.

 Variety brings life to the young learner classroom.

 Use a whole person approach. A teaching approach that appeals to

all learning preferences, development needs, and interests speaks
to the entire person in ways that a one-sided approach does not.

 When teaching younger young learners, it’s paramount that you set
learning challenges that are appropriate to the development stages
of each learner. A ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work, and you
will be doing a disservice to your learners.

Remember this: Don’t focus on the child’s age. Focus on her

development.

To these, we can add some essential approaches you should aim to

implement:

 The need for discovery methods and lots of practical, meaningful

activity

 The value of a learning-by-doing approach

 The importance of play and active learning

 The value of diversity

 The need to create an enriching social, emotional and physical

environment

 The goal of developing autonomy in children

 The importance of emphasising individual needs, abilities, interests,

learning preferences and rates of progress

 The goal of fostering and satisfying curiosity

 The recognition of the value of peer group support

 The need for learner self-expression

  The importance of intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation

 The need to use the environment to promote learning

 The goal of ensuring the quality and intensity of a child’s experience

10.1.5. General Differences Between Younger And Older Young Learners

Here are the main differences between younger and older young learners.
The following guide is not definitive; every child is an individual.

Younger Young Learners Older You

Fidgety Stay still fo

Limited concentration in short bursts Concentra

Lack of ability to plan and control behaviour Starting to

Like to have fun Like to hav

More self-c
No fear or embarrassment when making mistakes
think

Limited life experiences Developing

They have limited knowledge of the world. A growing

Concerned about themselves, with little concern for others Developing

Concerned with concrete experiences in the here and now: what they can Starting to
see, touch, smell, etc. experience

They enjoy play, fantasy, imagination, and movement. Beginning

Understand meaning but cannot analyse form in language, nor are they
Developing
interested in analysis

Little awareness of language learning and themselves as language Increasing

learners as languag
 Limited literacy skills Developed

10.1.6. Affective Factors In L2 Learning

Remember! L1 is the term used for a learner’s first language (the

learner’s native language). If someone asks you if you allow L1 in the
classroom, they are asking if you allow your learners to use their native
language in class.

L2 stands for the second language a learner is learning. Your learners’ L2

will be English.

There are two crucial differences between L1 and L2 learning: affective

factors and fossilisation. Let’s explore affective factors first of all.

Affective factors are emotional factors that impact on learning an L2. They
can have a negative or positive effect. Negative affective factors are
called affective filters.

Examples Of Affective Factors That Can Impact Learning, Positively Or

Negatively

 A learner’s attitude to English, to the teacher, and other learners in

the group

 Whether L2 learning is deemed as an essential life skill in young

learners’ minds.

 New and different learning contexts and situations

 The class environment: the degree to which it is relaxed and

comfortable

 Degrees of feelings and emotions:

 inhibition

 mood

 attitude

 motivation

 self-confidence

 anxiety

Unlike parents/caregivers in a learners’ L1 setting, teachers in the L2

environment often must work hard to build trust, understanding, and
motivation to try and free learners from their inhibitions and attitudes so
that the learners can freely interact and use the English language.
Aim to reduce the negative factors and develop positive ones by building
a positive group dynamic. You can achieve this by allowing a degree of
learner autonomy and ensuring that the activities are motivating for the
age and interests of your learners.

10.1.7. Fossilisation In L2 Learning

The second crucial difference between L1 and L2 learning is fossilisation.

Fossilisation is the loss of progress in the acquisition of an L2, following a

period where learning occurred, despite regular exposure to and
interaction with the L2 and the learner’s motivation to continue studying
the L2. It is commonly described as ‘reaching a plateau’.

Fossilisation is pretty much unique to L2 acquisition. It would be rare to

see a child fossilising certain forms of the language when she is acquiring
her first language.

It is a phenomenon that occurs in many L2 learners when learning certain

aspects of the language, for example:

 phonological (the sounds in a language)

 morphological (the forms of words)

 syntactic (arrangement of words in a sentence)

 semantic (the meaning)

It appears that no further learning will make any difference, no matter

how much additional exposure is given to the L2 language and how much
help is offered in error correction. The point the learners reach in their
path of development – the plateau – seems set in stone.

There is no particular level of advancement which can be pinpointed as

the stage where a learner may appear to fossilise. Still, it’s safe to say
that this is more often observed in intermediate proficiency levels
onwards.

Here we will focus on the possible causes of fossilisation. Various

suggestions have been put forward for the causes of fossilisation:

1. Native-like fluency in an L2 may not be possible beyond a certain

age – the learner’s brain loses plasticity at a critical period, and
therefore certain linguistic features cannot be mastered.

2. Transferring language rules from the L1 to the L2, thereby causing

confusion
 3. Using some learning strategies to too great an extent, e.g.,
overgeneralisation, simplification, paraphrasing for the lack of
linguistic knowledge

4. Communicative pressure – the learner is pressured to communicate

ideas above her linguistic competence

5. Weak teaching and a poor learning environment, e.g., too much

negative feedback or failure to build a classroom community

6. The lack of desire to articulate – the learner makes no effort to

adopt target language norms because of various social and
psychological factors.

7. The learner’s mind has reached subconscious conclusions that are

difficult to unlearn.

However, some believe that it’s possible to prevent fossilisation

before it takes place.

Here are some suggestions that will help to overcome or, at least,
delay fossilisation:

 Correcting repeated errors the learners make

 Practising more problematic language than the non-problematic

language the learners have already acquired

 Increasing the input of the target language via the spoken word,
using the extra time gained from activities such as reading and
analysing, thereby reducing the effect of the negative transfer from
their L1

 Introducing them to better language strategies: motivating them to

use them on every occasion; encouraging strategies which link both
form and meaning and encourage crosslingual comparisons

 Increasing exposure to the target language and the target culture,

via multimedia, authentic texts, field visits to English-speaking
environments, seeking help from parents/caregivers in increasing
the learner’s exposure, etc.

Well done! Let’s now explore grammar in the young learner

arena.
10.3 Lexis (Vocabulary, Chunks of Language)

10.3.1. Lexis (Vocabulary; Chunks Of Language) For Younger Young

Learners

Let’s now explore how younger young learners typically learn and develop
their lexis. The word lexis is used to signify both the teaching of
vocabulary and areas of grammar together.

Remember: Vocabulary is generally seen as individual words, whereas

lexis is a somewhat broader concept and consists of words, phrases,
collocations, chunks, and formulaic grammatical expressions.

These words, chunks, and patterns are now often called lexical items.
Instruction focuses on fixed expressions that frequently occur in dialogues.

Younger young learners love learning new words and chunks of

language.

Remember that they will know lots of meanings of words in their L1. So,
they know what a bird is and that it flies. So, there is not always a struggle
with meaning. The challenge is to get them to say these words in English.

To embed words and meanings in their memory banks and recall them
when they need them is dependent on lots of factors, particularly the
number of times they hear and come across a word (frequency).
This is language recycling: meeting and using a word several times so
that eventually it is remembered and recalled naturally.

Some reasonably complex concepts are picked up early due to the

amount of recycling that goes on.

For example, the verb structures is/are and the articles the/a are likely to
be remembered and recalled easier than the word meerkat, due to the
number of times is/are and the/a are being used daily.

Learning and developing lexis is a continuous and dynamic process. Young

learners continue to encounter new words and phrases which are
explained to them by you and, sometimes, their parents/caregivers, with
the young learners sometimes guessing the meaning.

When images and sounds accompany meaning, the form and meaning of
the words and chunks are better understood, better remembered, and
better learned. At this stage, they enter the learners’ short term memory.

The final key is usage. When the learners are then provided with lots of
opportunities to use the words and chunks, again and again, these words
and chunks become embedded in their long-term memory banks.

10.3.2. Teaching Lexis To Younger Young Learners

1. You must introduce lexis to them in meaningful situations and

contexts. Remember: Giving them an isolated new word,
which is not linked to a context/setting, will not work.

2. The lexis should be concrete and relate to things they can see, feel,
play with, and experience daily, e.g., doll, pen, school, door, bag, in
the bucket.

3. Stories, songs, chants, and poems are dependable vehicles for

teaching them lexis.

4. Use lots of repetition, rhyme, rhythm, and movement, e.g., clapping

hands, miming actions.

5. Use lots of realia they are familiar with, e.g., dolls/puppets to act out
a dialogue and classroom objects such as a chair to act
out sit and stand. Use realia they will be familiar with at home,
e.g., an apple, spoon, toothbrush, etc.

6. Younger young learners are easily distracted, so keep trying

different types of presentations for learning lexis. Build up their
interest, curiosity, and anticipation.

7. To help them grasp new lexis, your approach needs to be dynamic,

demonstrating that words don’t stand alone, isolated from other
 words. Words interlink in different patterns. For example, you need
to show them and help them recognise that:

1. words link together, e.g., not just a hat, but a blue hat, a big
hat, etc.

2. words can be grouped, e.g., a cow with other farm animals,

a lion with other wild animals

3. words can have different meanings, e.g., a blue hat, out of the
blue

4. different words can carry much the same meaning, e.g., great,
awesome, wonderful

5. different words can have opposite meanings, e.g.,

cold and hot, good and bad

Using a dynamic approach is the route to success.

10.3.3. Presenting Lexis For Learning To Younger Young Learners

Your ultimate goal is to ensure the words are embedded in their long-term
memory banks.

When you present new lexis and chunks of words to learners, it is not
useful to simply give them definitions. Give an active presentation of the
lexical item, which ensures that learners have a better chance of being
more motivated to learn and will increase the chances of them
remembering the word.

In a beginners’ class, you could convey the meaning of a lexical item

visually (using a picture or object) and get the learners to practise the
spoken form. Then, you can write the form on the board for reinforcement.

1. Select Appropriate, Relevant And Frequent Lexis

In some cases, you will be helped in the selection of new lexical items by
the coursebook that you use, if there is one. If there isn’t one, storybooks
published in your learners’ native language for their level should give you
a fairly good idea.

However, to some degree, the selection of the lexis that you will teach will
also rest with you and will depend upon the needs and the ages of your
learners.

Remember: One significant factor in the selection of lexis is the

frequency of the word. There would be little point in teaching words to the
learners if they were rarely likely to need them or use them.

2. Use A Variety Of Sources

Typical sources are storybooks, chats with the learners, songs, chants,
rhymes, games, and exercises. A variety of sources and plenty of fun are
paramount.

3. Use A Range Of Techniques

You should use a range of techniques to help learners learn the meanings
of new words and chunks of language. For example, where the focus is on,
say, kitchen-related words, cup, tea, teapot, and pour, here are a range of
ways this could be accomplished:

 A little bit of drilling, followed by some of the techniques below

 Demonstrating new words via actions, using realia, e.g., showing a

real cup and pouring tea from a real teapot into the cup

 Showing the same process via a picture of the action taking place in
a tearoom

 Using a puppet to do the action

 Singing a song while doing the action, e.g., The Little Teapot

4. Also, Focus On Form

You also need to focus on the form of the new word – how it is pronounced
and how it is written (later, for those who are literate).

Pronunciation can be practised by drilling and simple and repeated

questions to the learners (What is this, Li?) until you are sure they have
grasped the spoken form.

When learners are ready to write these new words, your focus on form will
include the word’s spelling, shape, initial and final letters, etc.

5. Keep Translation To The Minimum

Translation doesn’t push or motivate the learner to construct meaning,

and there is much less chance that the new words will be embedded in
their memory banks. The new words may soon disappear from their recall
and memory mechanisms.

Use this technique only where you must. You may hear the younger
learners speaking out the words in their native language. If you know
these words in their language, you can acknowledge that they are on the
right track, but your demonstration should be based on English.

6. Keep Recycling The Lexis

The learners need to frequently use the new words and chunks to enable
learning to take place. This recycling of the lexis is critical. Some research
indicates that a new word or chunk needs to be encountered at least six
times or so for there to be any chance of it being learned and recalled in
the future.

7. Plan Additions And Connections

Learning opportunities should build on the first encounters of the word

and aim to build on new additions and relationships to the word.

For example, let’s focus on the word shower, meaning a device that
releases drops of water through a lot of tiny holes that you stand under to
wash your whole body.

After several opportunities to meet the word shower per se, new additions
and connections can be made, through time:

 Take/have a shower

 A quick shower-not a fast shower

 A shower, in terms of a small burst of rainfall

 Related words, such as wash, spray, sprinkle, bathe, bath, etc.

You must plan carefully to ensure these additions and connections are
made at the right time in terms of the learners’ age and language level
and that they are recycled frequently.

Embedding the new words in their long-term memory banks

This is the next stage in their learning of new words – ensuring the new
words are embedded in their longer-term memory banks.

This requires careful planning and repeated use of memorising activities

to embed the learning in their long- term memory so that the lexis is
‘learned’ and can be recalled and used pretty seamlessly.

Memorising activities include:

1. Using Stories

Stories where, for example, the words cup, tea, teapot, and pour will be
repeated or where a situation arises in the story, which offers an
appropriate link for you to use the words. For example, the scene in the
storybook may show animals drinking from a pool in a game park. You
could ask them:

 Do animals use a cup/teapot to drink the water?

 Why not?

 Would they be able to hold a teapot?

  Could some animals do this?

Learners also like lists in their stories. The Very Hungry Caterpillar lends
itself to memorisation. Most learners, through time, have little difficulty in
recalling the ten items the caterpillar eats on Saturday.

The amusing events in stories also help to embed as learners can often
easily recall together.

2. Using Groupings Of Words

A useful memorising technique is putting words into groups. You could

use:

 Lexical sets, e.g., drinks, drink containers, animals

 Rhyming sets, e.g., tea, sea, pea; pour, four

 Grammatical sets, e.g., things (nouns) such as cup, tea, teapot

 Colour sets, e.g., red teapot, red cup

 Words with only 3 letters, e.g., cat, bat, sat

 Words beginning with the same letter or sound, e.g., boy, bag, bit

 Words ending with the same letter or sound, e.g., hat, mat, rat

 More difficult words with the same letter in the middle of a three-
letter word, e.g., boy, toy

3. Using Lexical Grids

Here your grid could be headed up Drinks. Then there could be three sub-
headings in columns:

 What people drink

 What people put drinks in

 What they pour from

You might give them an example they can put under each sub-heading:

 Water

 A glass

 A tap

Then they try to add three or four more examples. You will remind them
that they already have an example they could use by prompting and
eliciting:
Can anyone remember? We also sang a little song when we were doing
it (you could hum the tune to The Little Teapot). Remember, the drink
sometimes comes in little paper bags. Yes, that’s right – tea. See if you
can add that one.

4. Drawing A Thematic Collage

 One group could do: What people drink, e.g., pictures and drawings
of coffee, slushes, coke, milk, etc.

 One group could do: What people put drinks in, e.g., glasses, milk
jugs, bottles, etc.

 One group could do: What they pour drinks from, e.g., bottles, fruit
juice packets, taps, etc.

Again, you can prompt and elicit cup, tea, teapot to reinforce their
memory.

5. Singing While Acting And Moving

You could put the names of the songs they know in a box. Each group
picks one at random from the box. One of these will be The Little Teapot.

Their task is to use the realia you have brought to the classroom and
mime the actions while singing the song. You will have brought in a cup,
tea, and teapot for The Little Teapot choice.

To embed the learning of cup, tea, teapot, and pour, the groups can then
make another choice until, eventually in that lesson or the next, they have
all had a chance to do the cup, tea, teapot, and pour activity.

6. Using Flashcards To Embed The Learning

Select four action pictures. Put the groups in pairs. Give all the pairs the
same group of four pictures, turned over so no-one can see the picture.

In all the sets of pictures, there will be a picture of someone pouring tea
from a teapot into a cup.

Learner A in a pair picks up the first picture so that learner B cannot see it.
Learner B has, say, 10 (or more) questions he can ask A to try and work
out what the picture is. Then the roles are reversed. Ensure that all
learners do the cup, tea, teapot, and pour activity by placing it first in the
pile.

During the activity, you will be moving around observing and facilitating.

7. Games
There are a variety of games you could use to embed the learning of the
target lexis: cup, tea, teapot, and pour:

 Hangman, with the target lexis

 Small crosswords, with the target lexis

 An illustration of items dumped by the public refuse collectors, e.g.,

broken chairs, an old TV and a cup, a branded tin of tea, and
a teapot. Learners list what they have noticed and say what they
could use them for.

8. Use Opposites

Opposites are yet another excellent way to embed words in their memory.
You could do this in all kinds of ways:

 Showing flashcards of someone hot and cold

 Drawing stick figures on the board to represent, say, going

up and down a ladder

 Miming happy and sad, or fast and slow

 Using realia – your glass of water full or empty

9. Encourage Guessing

Through all your lexis activities, you should encourage the learners to
guess the meanings of words they don’t know. You’ll introduce them to
strategies that will help them, e.g., sounding out the sounds of the word
one at a time and then trying to link them.

Encouraging guessing will make them more self-confident, and this will
encourage them to have a go when there’s no adult around to help. These
independent efforts will help them to remember the words they have
guessed.

10.3.4. Lexis (Vocabulary, Chunks Of Language) For Older Young Learners

1. With older young learners, you’ll build on the foundations created

already with the younger young learners.

2. Don’t just focus on new words and chunks. Continue to recycle

words they have met previously. Not only will this help to ensure
that words are embedded in their long term memories, but it will
also ensure that the learning of new lexis is a bit easier.

Let’s explore the word awesome.

Recycling this word will provide a solid foundation for introducing

 them to a variety of words with somewhat similar meanings,
e.g., amazing, wonderful, great, remarkable. The point is it’s easier
to introduce them to new lexis when they already have a base to
work from.

The same could happen with a word such as nearly when teaching
younger learners. When using realia such as a glass of water to
demonstrate degrees of fullness, e.g. full, half-full, the idea
of nearly full is likely to come up. This is a useful word for younger
learners to know and use.

Later, you can use nearly as a base to introduce synonyms

like almost, about, etc.

Of course, this doesn’t happen all the time. But it happens pretty
frequently, and you will then see the advantage of having done all
your good recycling work.

With older young learners, your goal is to widen and deepen their
word knowledge.

3. Older young learners are ready to handle more abstract issues and
issues which are more distant from the immediate, everyday
experience of younger young learners.
Remember: They may have covered abstract topics already in their
L1 lessons, so most likely you will not be starting from scratch. Now
they will be ready (to different degrees) to be involved with topics
which relate to abstract issues such as these human characteristics:

 Bravery

 Confidence

 Curiosity

 Determination

 Fear

4. With younger young learners, your primary technique was to help

them notice and learn words. Now you will move on to more
constructed and deliberate practice of words via demonstration and
practice with exercises, linked, of course, with grammar.

This will ensure their learning can be recalled effectively from their
memory banks.
 Deliberate practice like this will encourage the learning of new lexis
and grammar.

Ensure, though, that deliberate practice enables them to use the

language learned in a meaningful way in meaningful situations, i.e.,
the learning from practice can be used in everyday communication.

5. Some may be ready to handle vague words. Inexperienced teachers

often avoid this area of words. It’s not a good idea to avoid this as
language is full of vague words and terms which are used in
everyday language:

 Thing, a bit of, stuff, logical

 A few, a couple of, a lot of, plenty of, loads of

 Around, about, 300 or so, 300-odd people, more or less

convinced

 Brownish hair, arrive around sixish, a tallish guy

 Sort of, kind of

 And so on, and the like

Introduce them to vague language, a bit at a time.

6. You should introduce them to dictionary work. This is an essential

skill in itself. Gradually you can guide them to all the different bits of
information included in a dictionary entry, e.g., part of speech,
pronunciation, etc.

7. Gradually, you will introduce them to higher-level (higher than

the younger young learners) methods of learning words, e.g.,
synonyms, comparisons with their native language words,
definitions, and more complex functions when dealing with words,
e.g., paraphrasing, explaining

And they will be ready to learn from you various learning strategies to
help them memorise new words, such as:

 Keeping a journal of new words and their meanings (with a sentence

showing the usage of the word), learning these and testing them out
in the classroom in pairs

 Having a go at guessing the meaning by utilising all available

information in the text or picture

 Having a go at predicting what the meaning of a new word in a story

may be before it’s explained in the text
  Noticing links to words in their L1

 Self-evaluation – listing new words at the end of a lesson and

deciding which ones they need to find out more about

Well done! Let’s now examine how to teach the 4 skills –

listening, speaking, writing and reading – and how to assess
them.