Children and English as a foreign language
Synopsis
It is not often that there is a need to publish a book made up of chapters selected from three previously published books. The Croatian national research project Investigating learning and acquisition of foreign languages at an early school age (led by Mirjana Vilke) and its sequel Investigating learning and acquisition of foreign languages in primary school (led by Yvonne Vrhovac), with their unique experimental longitudinal design and involving four foreign languages, caught attention of the international audience from the very start. The interest has continued to this day.
With the growing importance of English as a modern lingua franca teaching English to young learners has spread to practically all parts of the world. This global change, combined with a lack of systematic studies into early language learning in the formal setting, has made findings such as those of the Croatian research highly valuable.
The three volumes describing early learning and teaching of English as a foreign language to Croatian young learners from which the chapters in this book were selected – all called Children and foreign languages – were published in 1993, 1995 and 2001, respectively. What is quite unique to the three volumes, and to the present book, is that they offer an in-depth view into early teaching and learning of English from two perspectives: the researchers’ perspective and the teachers’ perspective.
Chapters
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PREFACE
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INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK
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Section 1: THE CONTEXT
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Introduction
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Early foreign language teaching in Croatian primary schools
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Section 2: FOCUSING ON THE YOUNG EFL LEARNER
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Investigation of attitudes and motivation in early foreign language learning
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Fitting the syllabus and method to the young learner
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Do young learners know how to learn a foreign language?
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Section 3: FOCUSING ON THE YOUNG EFL LEARNER CLASSROOM
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Are available teaching time and the number of pupils important factors?
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Music and verses in teaching English to young learners
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Elements of drama in teaching English to young learners
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English across the curriculum
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Language (EFL) integration with other areas of the primary curriculum focusing on art
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Environmental education and creativity in teaching English
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How to outdo the textbook
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Section 4: FOCUSING ON ACQUISITION OF GRAMMAR, LEXIS AND READING SKILLS
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Should we teach children grammar?
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The lexical approach in early foreign language learning
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Reading: Some theoretical issues and their pedagogical implications
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The development of strategic readers
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Reading authentic stories in English as a foreign language with seventh graders
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Section 5: FOCUSING ON LINGUISTIC AND NON-LINGUISTIC OUTCOMES OF EARLY LEARNING OF EFL
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Foreign language acquisition in children: Some evidence from testing English with first graders
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Children and foreign languages in Croatian primary schools. Four years of a project
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Attitudes of young foreign language learners: A follow-up study
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