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Characteristics of Yls

This document outlines 15 key characteristics of young language learners: 1) They have involuntary attention and acquire language indirectly through peripheral learning. 2) They have limited attention spans and focus on ends of words before prefixes and prepositions. 3) They approach language holistically without analyzing chunks, and production depends on implicit not explicit knowledge.

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155 views16 pages

Characteristics of Yls

This document outlines 15 key characteristics of young language learners: 1) They have involuntary attention and acquire language indirectly through peripheral learning. 2) They have limited attention spans and focus on ends of words before prefixes and prepositions. 3) They approach language holistically without analyzing chunks, and production depends on implicit not explicit knowledge.

Uploaded by

fatihgun007
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Characteristics

of Young Learners

1.

Involuntary attention

not pay attention to


language system but to
task, topic & situation
form is acquired indirectly
through peripheral learning
language is a means for
expressing meaning

2.

Limited attention

short attention & concentration span


tend to focus on the end of words &
add suffixes & postpositions before
noticing the existence of & begin
using prefixes & prepositions (e.g.
goed, eated, whom with)

3.

Holistic skills

approach language holistically not


analyzing it or breaking phrases into
chunks but treating & learning it
formulaically & integrated with other
skills
language production does not depend
on explicit knowledge, but must be
developed implicitly

4. Inability to observe
regularities & causal relations
are neither cognitively nor psychologically
mature to make comparisons between the L1
& the TL
require constant repetition to infer &
generate grammar rules & to identify causal
relations between various occurrences

5. Undeveloped problem-solving skills

cant yet diagnose problems & generate


solutions based on the information
available

6.

Weak memory

cannot control what they are taught


the younger the learner, the patchier
the storage & recall
need recycling activities

7.

Limited experience

have limited life & learning experience


do not bring in background knowledge
they are in the process of learning their L1

8. Here & now reasoning


concrete reasoning concerned with
physical here & now realia & observable
situations in the immediate environment
abstract reasoning is tied to biological growth
& does not develop until between 11 - 14
years old abstract grammatical patterns
are beyond children grasp

9.

Undeveloped LL aptitude

influence the rate of development where


formal classroom learning is concerned
4 major components of LL aptitude:
(1) phonetic coding ability: an ability to identify distinct
sounds, and to form associations between them and
representative symbols
(2) grammatical sensitivity: the ability to recognize the
grammatical functions of words (or other linguistic entities)
in sentence structures
(3) rote learning ability: a memorization technique based
on repetition
(4) inductive (language learning) ability: the ability to infer
or induce the rules governing a set of language materials

10. Mechanical memory


2 kinds of memories:
mechanical memory (short-term memory)
predominant in children
logical memory (long-term memory)
develops very slowly between 11 - 14 years of age,
is related to abstract thinking

children under 12-13 can repeat & memorize


long words & expressions, but are not able to
analyze them because logical memory is not
well developed yet

11. Lower-order functioning


2 broad types of functioning:
lower-order functioning
responsible for the understanding & production of
speech
involves basic syntactic processing & the motor
operations employed in speaking & writing
a function of early maturing
higher-order functioning
involves semantic processing & verbal recognition
dependent upon late developing neural circuitry
available for use only in older learners

12. Undeveloped interactional skills


young learners are prone to be less
involved in sustaining a conversation
progress less rapidly than older
learners

13. Motivation
rarely have clear motivation
be less able to:
assume responsibility for their learning
use the metacognitive strategies of
focusing, arranging, planning,
monitoring & evaluation
rule out any serious attempt at largescale comparative assessment of their
progress

14. Literacy (& numeracy)


children are far behind taking
their first steps with the
alphabet & numbers
a whole new code must be
taught alongside the
introduction of literacy &
numeracy

15. Ongoing categorization


children still acquire L1
establish the range of reference of the lexical
items
find out the boundaries of the relevant
classes

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