a. Characteristics of Young English Language Learners
Young children do not enter the language classroom without any basic skills. They have a well-established set of instincts, skills, and characteristics
which help them to learn another language Halliwell, 1992. All of the qualities of the children an help them to learn in the foreign language classroom.
1 Children’s ability to grasp meaning
According to Halliwell 1992, children have the ability to understand utterances or sentences although they have not understood the meaning of the
individual words yet. Children grasp the meaning of the utterances from the intonation, gesture, facial expressions, actions, and circumstances. Children start
to understand the language by understanding the message in this way. Children also use this ability in their school world. When they learn a new language at
school, they interpret the new sounds, new words, and new structures by using the ability of grasping the general meaning from the intonation, gesture, facial
expressions, actions, and circumstances. They do not know exactly the meaning of every single word to know the overall meaning of the utterances.
2 Children’s creative use of limited language resources
In addition of the ability to grasp meaning, children also have great skills in producing meaningful language from very limited resources. Halliwell 1992
states that the children’s ability to produce meaningful language from very limited resources also help them to deal with a new language. For example when they do
not know the word or the grammatical structure of the foreign language, they will produce only their mother tongue in a foreign accent. It actually occurs in the
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language classroom without being managed. It occurs naturally when the learners need to communicate in the unpredictable occasions which make them find some
way of expressing themselves.
3 Children’s capacity for indirect learning
According to Halliwell 1992, children have the capacity for indirect learning. This capacity can be an advantage for the teacher and also the children
in a language class. Children usually concentrate to guess phrases. After passing long processes of guessing, children will have confirmed words and structures
they only half knew at the beginning. Guessing is actually a good way of learning phrases and structures, but it is indirect because the focus is not on the language
but more on the task. Since children have good capacity in indirect learning, Halliwell 1992
also states that they will be interested to do real task in the language classroom. Real tasks here mean the meaningful and interesting things to do which are not
just language exercises. It is good to provide the children with an occasion for real language use, and let their subconscious mind work on the processing of language
while their conscious mind is focused on the task. Games are also appropriate to be used for real using and processing of language. In this way, game is an
effective opportunity for indirect learning.
4 Children’s instinct for play and fun
Children have the capacity for finding and making fun. Halliwell 1992 states that children are very good in imagination and creativity. The activity given
to the children to learn something with fun and play give positive impact for the 17
children since they already have the sense of fun and play. Then they will engage with the real use of language.
5 Role of imagination
According to Halliwell 1992, children are really keen in imagination and fantasy. It becomes important to create language teaching-learning for children
which promote imagination and fantasy. For children, imagination and fantasy are included to reality. The act of fantasying, of imagining, is very mush an authentic
part of being a child. If the educators accept the role of the imagination in children’s lives, they can see that it provides another powerful stimulus for real
language use.
6 Instinct for interaction and talk
Halliwell 1992 states that the most important instinct and character of children that must be considered in language classroom is their instinct for
interaction and talk. This children capacity is the advantage for the primary language classrooms. It is one of the most powerful motivators for using the
language. Children need to talk. They can learn about the language, but the only way to learn to use it is to use it.
In addition of what have been explained above, there are also some important characteristics of young English language learners that may be useful
for educators to keep in mind which are given by Coltrane 2003. Those important characteristics are:
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1 Young children’s first language is not yet fully developed
As Chomsky 1969 demonstrated, children are still acquiring the structures of their first language. For children younger than 5, many aspects of
their first language have not yet fully developed. So while older learners have the foundation of a fully developed first language when they begin acquiring a new
language, younger English language learners are working toward two big jobs at the same time. The big jobs are the full development of their native language and
the acquisition of English.
2 Children need to develop their native languages along with English
Educators must
consider that
young English
language learners
communicate with their parents, extended families, and community members is their native language. According to Chomsky 1969, in order to develop their
native language skills fully, young English language learners need support in both their native language and English. Ideally, those who work with young English
language learners should be able to speak the native languages of the children. Children should be provided with opportunities for meaningful interaction in both
languages, including verbal interaction and engagement with printed materials such as books and other media. In as many ways as possible, programs for young
English language learners should support the children’s native languages. Lindfors 1980 also identify four areas of continuing language growth
through the elementary school years. The four areas are: 1 language structure, the ongoing expansion and refinement of semantics and syntax and to a lesser
degree, phonology, 2 language use-the increasing ability to use language more 19
effectively to serve a variety of functions in diverse communication situations, 3 metalanguage, the growing ability to talk about language in a conscious way, as a
particular kind of code, 4 language as an independent symbol system-the increasing independence of language from contextual support.
Lindfors 1980 states that children do not learn the structure of language and then learn how to use language to serve their communication purpose. Rather,
they learn language always within the context of real communication, by using particular language structures to serve particular purposes, and by listening to and
interacting with others who do the same.
b. Principles of Children Language Learning
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