EYL

Buha Habibah Majiid Tampubolon (1704231)
Ditha Naprida Murty (1704089)
5 EYL English Education
1. The author provides three reasons why English is learned earlier in countries that treat
English as a foreign language. She argues that the three reasons do not guarantee the
success of EFL learning by young learners.
a. Identify the reasons.

1. Younger is better.
2. Younger is better in the long term.
3. English is an international language.
b. Identify the author’s arguments.
1. Younger is better: there is a special period for young learners to learn a language
efficiently and if the period already passed, it will be hard for children to learn
English. Also, the author believes that teen and adult is faster and more efficient to
learn English.
2. Younger is better in the long term: when children begin to learn English from
primary school, it will help children to achieve a higher level of proficiency than
those starting later.
3. English is an international language: the global needed to learn English earlier was
not important in primary school.
c. Find other sources that support and are against the authors’ arguments.
1. Support: “As babies, we have a better ear for different sounds; as toddlers, we can
pick up native accents with astonishing speed. As adults, we have longer attention
spans and crucial skills like literacy that allow us to continually expand our
vocabulary, even in our own language.” (Hardach,2018)
2. Against: “The ability to naturally acquire the same accent as a native speaker, for
example, is said to decrease every year after the onset of puberty due to physical
changes in the brain. This means that adult learners often need to make the most of
different learning strategies as opposed to children in order to be successful.” (Will,
2019).
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d. Do you agree with the author’s opinion?
I don't agree with the argument given by the author, because in my opinion
giving language lessons to children will help them learn English when they are adults.
Although children do not directly understand the specific skills of the language when
they are younger, it can stimulate the child's brain to recognize the basis of the language
and can develop it more easily when they are adults
2. The authors describe the characteristics of children that make them different from adults.
a. What are the characteristics?

1. No reason for learning.
2. Children’s ability to self-regulate.
3. Children give more attention to meaning rather than form.
4. Learning through experience and activity.
b. Explain the characteristics using your own words.
1. No reason for learning.
They don't know why they are learning English and this is why as teachers for young
learners, we must have creative and innovative activities in teaching English to young
learners. Not only have creative and innovative activities but teachers for young
learners also have to motivate and create interest in learning English, eventually, they
will try to speak in English.
2. Children’s ability to self-regulate.
As teachers for young learners, we have to understand well that teaching English to
adults is very different from teaching English to young learners. It’s because young
learners will let their teachers know when they are bored. When they are bored, they
tend to distract their classmates, they become restless and make a mess in the class, etc.
meanwhile, when teaching the adults, they may get bored but they will handle it because
they know the reasons why they learn English while the young learners don't know the
reasons why they learn English. That’s why as teachers we have to have effective
strategies to make the students happy and enjoy to learn English.
3. Children give more attention to meaning rather than form.
Unlike adults, when young learners watch foreign cartoons or picture books they tend
to focus on the pictures, the places, the situations to understand the story of the cartoons
or picture books. They don't pay attention to words that said by the characters of the
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cartoon movies or the characters in picture books. This is our task as teachers to gain
their interest in understanding the story from cartoon movies or picture books by
understanding the language.
4. Learning through experience and activity.
In language learning, young learners learn experientially because they tend to pursue
their interest in exploring things by touching them. In the article, it can be seen by how
young learners follow the instructions to make a mask. They understand the instructions
given by the teachers to make a mask and this shows that they understand the use of the
language itself.
3. The author argue some conditions that can make children learn EFL best. Based on your
understanding on the article, explain each of the conditions using your own words.
a. How much time and how often?

The overall amount of time and how often the young learners learn the foreign language
are really have big effect of how the young learners improve their foreign language skills.
The less time per week the young learners learn the foreign language, their foreign language
skills wouldn’t be as good as the young learners who have more amount of time per week
to learn the same foreign language.
b. Realistic aims and expectations
In the article, not only governments but also parents think that young learners can be quick
learners, learn foreign language in limited time, for example 1-2 hours per week, then after
a few years the young learners will have great linguistic skills of the foreign language. They
have to be realistic, the expectation is quite impossible to be achieved by the young learners
in limited time of learning the foreign language.
c. Competent EYL teachers
The competent EYL teachers is really important because young learner would probably
learn English for the first time from them, so the teachers have to be great in some aspects
of teaching English for young learners. Teachers have to have good English skills
especially in fluency, good pronunciation, and also the culture of English. Young learners
tend to mimic older people, so when the young learners mimic the teachers’ pronunciation
they will have a good pronunciation because their teachers’ pronunciation is good. Not only
the pronunciation, having teachers who have great English skills can help the young
learners to communicate in English appropriately. Moreover, teachers have to be flexible
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to be able to adjust their language communication skill to the young learner’s level. That
also will help teachers when giving feedback to young learners. Teachers have to have
knowledge on how to teach young learners appropriately and have good strategies to teach
them. They have to be creative in making the strategies to gain the young learners interest
to learn English.
d. Age-appropriate methodology and curricula
The methodology and the curricula should be appropriate for the young learners, means
that the methodology and curricula have to provide learning that suit for young learners’
cognitive and linguistics levels. It should be socially oriented, focus on communication
rather than form, play and fun-oriented also needed so the young learners don’t get bored
easily while learning the new language, the content also have to be suited to the young
learners’ cognitive and linguistic levels.
e. Appropriate assessment
The assessments for young learners should be familiar to the young learners. The young
learners will be monitored to see their performance in class whether the young learners are
improving or not in classroom activities especially in communication skill. The information
will really help the teachers on planning their teaching based on the needs of the young
learners.
4. In your opinion, why does the author describe the challenges of teaching EYL?
In my opinion, the reasons why the author telling us the challenges of teaching EYL because
teaching English for young learners is not as easy as we imagine, it’s actually very challenging
and difficult. We have to inform, especially, the parents that learning new language is very
difficult for young learners and they can’t have unrealistic expectations toward the young
learners’ skills in new language. It’s also a challenge for the Ministries of Education to build
up the teachers to be qualified for teaching EYL which will take time and investment resources.
Also, it will be quite difficult for the Ministers of Education apply teaching EYL schools if the
curriculum and the teachers are not qualified for teaching EYL. If teaching EYL really want to
be applied in primary schools, the Ministries have to make sure that the schools provide the
appropriate methodology in primary school and make sure the young learners receive the best
quality EYL teaching and assessment.
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References
Hardach, S. (October 26, 2018). What is The Best Age to Learn a Language?. Accessed from
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181024-the-best-age-to-learn-a-foreign-language
Will. (2019). Is It Really Easier to Learn a Language as a Child?. Accessed from

https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/general/is-it-really-easier-to-learn-a-language-as-a-
child-2/
Moon, J. (October 2005). Teaching English to young learners: the challenges and the benefits.
IN ENGLISH! Winter 2005.

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Buha Habibah Majiid Tampubolon (1704231)

Ditha Naprida Murty (1704089)

5 EYL English Education

a. Identify the reasons.

a. What are the characteristics?

a. How much time and how often?

Will. (2019). Is It Really Easier to Learn a Language as a Child?. Accessed from

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