Teaching English Language to Young Learners

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the writer will explain about some literature reviews related to the topic discussed in this paper. There are four main theories including teaching English to young learners, teaching speaking to young learners, teaching speaking to young learners by using games and teaching speaking by using guessing games. Those parts will be explained detail below.

A. Teaching English Language to Young Learners

The definition of young learners is children between the ages of about 5 years old to 12 years old Rixon: 1999. However, the concept of childhood itself varies considerably from country to country. In many parts of the world, ‘children’ take on ‘adult’ responsibilities at ages when in other countries they are still protected within their schools. These differences will lead to differences in the purposes of language learning. Similarly, attitudes to authority, to teaching and to learning in general vary from culture to culture. While, Brumfit gives a list of the characteristics which young learners share: 1. Young learners are just beginning their schooling, so that teachers have a major opportunity to mould their expectations of life in school. 2. As a group they are potentially more differentiated than secondary or adult learners, for they are closer to their varied home cultures, and new to the conformity increasingly imposed across cultural groupings by the school. 3. They tend to be keen and enthusiastic learners, without the inhibitions which older children sometimes bring to their schooling. 4. Their learning can be closely linked with their development of ideas and concepts, because it is so close to their initial experience of formal schooling. 5. They need physical movement and activity as much as stimulation for their thinking, and the closer together these can be the better. Brumfit, 1997: v Nowadays, learning English is a vital activity done by young learners. Singleton surveyed that there are a number of reasons for teaching English at young age as follows: 1. The need to expose children from an early age to an understanding of foreign cultures so that they grow up tolerant and sympathetic to others. 2. The need to link communication to the understanding of new concepts. 3. The need for maximum learning time for important languages – the earlier you start the more time you get. 4. The advantage of starting with early second language instruction so that later the language can be used as a medium of teaching. Singleton, 1989 Lynne Cameron argues that the continuing growth of teaching English to young learners brings a number of challenges Cameron, 2003. Starting to learn English at an earlier age may not bring automatic improvement to proficiency levels, unless the teacher ’s education and secondary language teaching both adapt to meet the challenges of the new situation. According to Cameron, among other knowledge and skills, teachers of young learners need: 1. An awareness of how children think and learn 2. Skills and knowledge in spoken English to conduct whole lessons orally 3. An ability to identify childrens interests and use them for language teaching 4. To be equipped to teach initial literacy in English. Other current issues in teaching young learners include: 1. The use of learners first language in the language classroom 2. Teaching other subjects through the medium of English e.g. CLIL 3. Developing appropriate assessment of young learners 4. Young learner teacher education Cameron, 2003.

B. Teaching Speaking to Young Learners