Definition of Young Learners Characteristics of Young Learners

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2.5 General Concept of Young Learners

2.5.1 Definition of Young Learners

Whatever the methods used or the skills to teach, the age of the learner is the major point for teachers to consider. Learners are often described as children, young learners, adolescents, young adults or adults. Phillips 2003: 3 states that “young learners means children from the first year of formal schooling five or six years old to eleven or twelve years of age.” The years at primary school are extremely important in children’s intellectual, physical, emotional, and social development. They go through a series of stages, progressively acquiring skills that are thought necessary by the society in which they live in. Linse 2006: 2 also states that young learners are children between the ages of 5-12. From the explanations above, the writer concludes that young learner is children from the first year of formal schooling five or six years old to eleven or twelve years of age. They are often more enthusiastic and actively engaged in making sense of their world.

2.5.2 Characteristics of Young Learners

In fact, the term children itself can be differentiated into two categories. Scott and Ytreberg 1993: 3-4 states that children of five are little children. Children of ten are relatively mature children with an adult side and a childish child. In this study, the sample of students is considered mature children since they are in the year sixth. 19 The characteristics of the mature children are: 1 Their basic concepts are formed. They have very decided views of the world 2 They can tell the difference between fact and fiction 3 They ask questions all the time 4 They rely on the spoken world as well as the physical world to convey and understand meaning 5 They are able to make some decisions about their own learning 6 They have definite views about what they like and don’t like doing 7 They have to develop since of fairness about what happens in the classroom and begin to question the teacher’s decisions 8 They are able to work with others and learn from others. Scott and Ytreberg 1993: 1 said, “It is possible to point out certain characteristics of young children which you should be aware of in your teaching”. Cameron 2001: 1 also described the characteristics of young learners as follow: 1 Children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners, 2 They lose interest more quickly and are less able to keep themselves motivated on tasks they find difficult. While there are commonalities across learners of all ages, young children differ from older children in many ways. Studies of young children show how learning changes across development. However, we now know that even very young children have a predisposition to learn in certain domains, and that young children are actively engaged in making sense of their world. Young children 20 appear to be predisposed to acquire information http:peni.staff.uns.ac.id20081010young-learner-characteristics . In another term, Harmer 2007: 233 also quoted some of the possible advantages and disadvantages of the children, from the teacher’s point of view, as follows: Advantages Disadvantages • Respond well to individual attention • Curious about almost everything • Respond well to involving activities • Have an unlimited acquisition potential • Shortish attention span • Inability to deal with abstract thought • Ability to forget languages as quickly as they acquire them Beginning level students can be characterized as cited by Bailey 2005: 30 from American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language ACTFL, as follows: 1 Oral production consists of isolated words and learned phrases within very predictable areas of need. 2 Vocabulary is sufficient only for handling simple, elementary needs and expressing basic courtesies. 3 Utterances rarely consist of more than two or three words and show frequent long pauses and repetition of interlocutor’s words. 21 4 Speaker may have some difficulty producing even the simplest utterances. The writer believe by knowing the general characteristics of students we teach, we can apply the best and appropriate teaching media to teach them, and we expect that the learning outcomes will be better.

2.6 English Teaching for Young Learners