Task 3: Myths about how languages are learnt

Hello bookworms!

Once having analysed what parents, educators and old students of my context think about early foreign languages learning, I will describe and analyse their answers:

1. Young children learn languages as a game and they are more motivated than older learners in Primary.

English  language learning as a game

Educators, parents as well as old students think that kids are more motivated than older learners in Primary, because games are an essential part of the class during their first years at school.  Specifically, one of the parents I asked stated that young children learn languages because “they have fun and don’t see foreign language learning as a duty, but as a game”. What’s more, some parents also made reference to the fact that “older children have different motivations”, which is what Carmen Muñoz (2000) says in Bilingualism and Trilingualism in school students in Catalonia: “young people are also attracted to English because of its value as a lingua franca for use in travelling abroad and communicating with foreign people”. Older students agree with parents and their opinions are similar.

Regarding educators, they consider that games are a good strategy and resource to motivate younger children to learn a foreign language. However, we have to take into account “what type of games teachers carry out in class”, one of the educators expressed.

2. The earlier you start learning a foreign language, the better results in written language.

English language learning

This statements is a little bit controversial due to the different opinions I was given by educators and parents. Specifically, some parents think that “children have more abilities to develop writing skills since early ages”; they consider that the more inputs they receive, the more outputs there will be in the future. Nevertheless, other parents and also educators don’t agree this statement saying that younger children “don’t have enough resources to practice or develop their writing skills. For example, three year-old kids don’t know to write yet”.

Older students are more open-minded and consider that “since early ages pupils are exposed to foreign languages materials such as readings, songs, games, etc. that can develop indirectly their writing skills. If they are used to reading these kind of materials, they will assimilate some writing issues”. As far as I am concerned, it was interesting listening to such opinions, so most people are convinced that receiving inputs without producing immediate outputs doesn’t mean that children cannot do it in the future.

3. Children are like sponges because they have more resources to learn a new language.

All three educators, parents and old students agree this statement. Actually, their opinions express the same ideas: “the earlier kids are exposed to a new language, the more links they set in their brains. Therefore, they build a clearer structure than an adult”.

I consider that this statement may have been considered true by the majority of people because bilingualism in Catalonia is a fact, I mean all children are exposed to Catalan and Spanish since they born and they learn both languages without problems. That’s why some parents consider that a new language such as English will not be difficult for children who are used to using both Spanish and Catalan.

 4. Children cannot speak a foreign language while learning it but they can understand it.

This statement was also considered true by educators, parents and old students. However their opinions were different. For instance, some parents think that children “can understand general information given that they have developed basic listening skills in such foreign language”. Others say that children can understand a language without speaking it because “they have not enough confidence to speak a foreign language”.

Educators consider that children cannot speak a foreign language, but understand it because “their listening skills are more developed than speaking ones”. On the other hand, old learners believe that children “cannot difference language structures, but understand them. Yet, when they get older, they will be able to set links and apply all what they have learnt”.

5. Is the early introduction English going to affect the development of the other 2 languages?

Educators, parents and old students answered “no” to such question. They believe that “children cannot confuse all 3 languages when learning them, so they can learn more than one language at the same time”. Specifically, one of old learners state that “it (English) can actually make easier the learning of new foreign languages”.

Bilingualism in Catalonia

In any case, English doesn’t affect negatively to Spanish or Catalan development. Indeed, bilingualism in Catalonia is positive for introduction of other foreign languages at early ages. That’s why young children develop some metacognitive abilities that imply language transfer strategies and interlanguage dependence. Nevertheless, we may take into account that these cognitive benefits only take place if young pupils are exposed to massive inputs in formal or natural contexts (Cenoz, n.d.).

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: 

Personally, I would like to tell my experience related to early foreign language learning, since I consider important my parents decision when I was just a child. My parents didn’t want to join me in an academy when I was 6 years old, my Primary teachers even insist on being enrolled in a language schools. However, my parents didn’t consider that it was necessary for me receiving extra classes of English until I was on Secondary schools.

Despite my parents didn’t want to join me in an academy, I insisted on going to one because I loved all what I did in my Primary English classes. Then, when I started secondary school, my parents gave me the opportunity to improve my English, but I refused it. It wasn’t until I was 16 years old that I ask my parents for enrolling an academy. My main motivation was my educational and professional future, not having fun as I expected when I was just a child.

It was frustrating observing how some of my classmates had more English skills than me. Here it was when I blame my parent for not having enjoined me in an academy when I was 6 years old. I thought that the sooner, the better. However, I could observe how in just 6 years I improved my English until getting an advanced level. It was thanks to lots of strategies I set to learn vocabulary, expressions, grammar and so on (some of them are the same ones I use for Catalan and Spanish); lot of practice during the week in the academy through role playing and communicative situations.

French language learning

I would also like to highlight that in 3^rd of secondary I chose French as 2^nd foreign language. It was fun observing that I mixed French and English because some words were similar in both languages. Later, I learnt to difference them by using some strategies. However, I didn’t consider it a negative fact; actually, mixing languages means that learners are building a strategies network and are transferring knowledge from one language to another. In such transfer, there may be mistakes related to foreign languages learning process.



CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, I strongly believe that most parents and educators are concerned about English early learning because they are influenced by society. I mean the more languages you master, the more professional prospects you will have. That’s why parents want their sons to learn it since they born.

What’s more, another issue for parents and educators is the insignificant number of hours schools teach studentsEnglish. Consequently, most parents think of enrolling their children to academies or language schools. However, schools are increasing English hours in class by applying CLIL approach. Thereby, pupils develop English language skills at the same time they learn Science, Maths or Geography contents, for instance. 

In the case of academies, I must highlight that a vast majority of them apply a communicative approach, which is meaningful for English learning. Nevertheless, pupils only go 2 days per week, which is few for developing proficiency skills. 

To sum up, Catalonia situation is absolutely advantageous for learning foreign languages, so bilingualism allow pupils to transfer their knowledge (from L1 and L2) to L3 acquisition; this transfer implies language interdependence and learning strategies. This process would be like learning to divide: if we know to add, substract or multiply, we will be able to do a division.