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4. Young children love to play, and learn best when they are
enjoying themselves 5.
Young children are enthusiastic and positive about learning
Moreover, Harley in Cameron 2002: 15 states that young learners are group of children 7-8 years that are studying a foreign language; they seem to
pay more attention to sound, whereas older children 12-14 are more attentive to cue of word order. Brumfit 1997: 67 states that young learners are group of
children level of age five to six, where they learn language without reading and writing.
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that young learners is a group of students
’ level of age five to fourteen, where every stage they have some characteristics suitable to their level of age. When they learned language, the
teacher should choose the right method or technique so that the young learners are able to study with their ability and interest. Young learners are interested in
knowing further about something new in their surrounding such as new word and new sound. The children like to learn something new that they consider strange
and make them enjoyable.
2. Teaching Speaking to Young Learners
According to Brown L Kenneth 1996: 5, oral communication is not a single skill. To communicate competently and effectively, one must develop any
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different but interrelated skills. For example, an effective speaker must know how to:
1. produce the sounds of language
2. combine sounds into words and words into sentences;
3. choose words that express meaning clearly;
4. speak with clear enunciation and articulation;
5. use appropriate gestures, facial expressions, distance, body stance
and eye contact; 6.
adjust volume, speed, pitch, tone, and inflection of voice appropriately to listeners
7. adapt to different audiences;
8. react appropriately to different kinds of response;
9. organize message clearly;
10. exemplify, illustrate and generalize when necessary; and
11. adapt style and level of formality to the situation.
As the children grow, they need to develop several competencies that together comprise mature communication ability. These competencies can be categorized
as verbal language, nonverbal language and situational sensitivity. A six years old child demonstrates some understanding that different
perspective exist. They can also figure out what the differences are in cases of visual perception but not in cases of information or intention. Moreover, they have
limited awareness of the need to analyze another person’s point of view unless
they are reminded to do so by an adult. According to Thornbury, 2002: 19 the
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difficulties face by the learners can be divided in to two points: knowledge factors, the learners do not yet know aspects of the language that enable
production; s kills factors, that learner’s knowledge is not sufficiently automated to
ensure fluency. He adds that the lack of confidence or self-consciousness which might inhibit fluency.
Audio-visual aids can help the students to make the speaking process more interesting. As stated before that children like to see an interesting objects
includes sounds, colourful pictures, and visual objects and so on, and it can be solved by using audio visual aids. It is hoped that the students can understand and
attract their attention to speak English. So, the use of audio visual aids can improve the students speaking skill
D. Review on RSBI Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional
