Characteristic of Young Learners

Characteristic of Young Learners - Children under 7 years old

The Silent Period

It is important for the language teacher to remember that young children may spend a long time absorbing language before they actually produce anything (Reilly and Ward 2000). The length of the ‘silent period’ is different and depends on child’s ability. At the beginning some children feel uncertain and say nothing at all in class but later, at home, they tell their parents what they have learnt.

In order to avoid children’s emotional stress teachers should not force young learners to speak. By doing repetitive songs, rhymes, games, and plenty of choral work, children will be able to produce language without the stress of having to speak individually (Reilly and Ward 2000).

After some time children grow more and more certain that they can communicate in a foreign language.

Memory in early childhood

At all ages people cannot recall as well as they can recognise (Włodarski, 1996). It is especially hard for young children to recall because they have less general knowledge, know fewer words to identify what they remember and do not have strategies for remembering. According to Piaget (1993) the main issues in memory development are related to its advancing organisation. All these factors seem to influence memory. The improvements that occur between the ages 2 to 5 seem to be related to the increase of general knowledge, since children under 5 do not show any particular effort to remember. They just remember things that make an impression on them.

Yong children recall items better when these items are related to each other –a fact, which indicates the importance of general knowledge. It is not just relations but also the types of relations that matter. Items, which were remembered as ‘one being the part of the other’, are usually better remembered than those belonging to the same category.

Language acquisition is treated as a complex cognitive task in which memory and its control processes have a significant role to play.

The role of imagination

Children’s imaginative thinking is of vital importance, they are keen on imagination and fantasy and in the classroom this capacity has a very constructive role to play. Because children respond well to being asked to use their imagination, they may well be involved in making and drawing things, in games, in physical movements. Children can use their imagination to ...