Children aged 10 to 13 are far more independent than their younger counterparts. They already possess this special ability for abstract thinking, which distinguishes them from other groups of learners and also is an additional strength. Harmer (2001) says that the age is a crucial aspect of how and what to teach to higher primary school learners. He also says that learners of different ages have different needs, competences and cognitive skills. According to Harmer, it is broadly believed that children learn a second language faster than adults. This ability is called the plasticity of a young brain which enables them to acquire a new language without much of an effort.
Motivation is a very important factor that distinguishes this group of learners. They are more aware of the need to learn a foreign language as something that will benefit them in the future. Moreover Pinter (2006) claims that children need to express their opinion about English lessons and their own progress because this is a fundamental part of building self-reliance and awareness. Furthermore Scrivener (2009) says: ‘Studying for work itself, setting oneself a personal challenge or just for reward make the strength of learners’ motivation a great factor in determining how seriously higher-primary school learners approach the work.’ Motivation must be kept at the same level during the acquisition of L2. If it is declining, it is the teachers’ responsibility to stimulate learners. Gaining new knowledge can be problematic or even fruitless if the students’ attention span is not maintained at a steady level.
Other major factors that differentiate higher - primary school learners are: gender, aptitude/intelligence/memory, family background, language level, learnin...
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...lanations, whereas the teacher serves as a prompter. We can say that both the teacher and the learner are participants in the presentation. Furthermore the teacher plays the role of a resource, giving ready-to-use answers. They also need to remain vigilant all the time. Teachers draw conclusions about their students. Additionally they are performers playing the role of actors, where learners are vivid viewers of their way of presenting L2. Besides using mime and gestures teachers are treated as teaching aids. They work using their body as a tool for presenting new grammar material. Furthermore teachers serve as language models so the language that the students are exposed to does not come exclusively from teaching materials such as textbooks but from the teacher as well. Additionally teachers provide feedback and comprehensible input playing the role of providers.
I learned the different ages that children are able to grasp concepts that may seem easily understood to adults. When I compare the conservation of mass task between the two children, I found that since Mason is in an earlier stage than Makayla, he does not quite understand things as well as Makayla does. Age is not the only factor that affects a child’s cognitive development. For example, “Studies specifically examining Piaget’s theory across cultures have generally supported the order of Piaget’s stages, but have found cultural differences in the rate of progression through the stages” (Swartwood, 2012, Pg. 56). A child’s individual culture may cause the age at which a child enters each stage to vary because of their different experiences throughout
There’s a long-standing argument that most people resort to when discussing whether or not children are better suited to acquire a language over adults. The “critical period hypothesis” argues, “that children are superior to adults in learning second languages because their brains are more flexible.” (McLaughlin 2) This argument is true to some extent, however, experimental research has found that adolescents and adults are able to acquire languages better based on their controlled environment. Children, on the other hand, are better able to grasp a better understanding of the pronunciation of languages compared to adults. (McLaughlin
In acquiring this new-found knowledge Piaget stated that when the child is given a more complex problem they can use logical and cognitive processes to answer instead of just their imagination and/or visual prospects (Feldman, 2006, pp. 286-287). Although some kids may not fully just jump into the concrete operation stage Piaget says it is completely normal that kids shift back and forth between preoperational and concrete operational thinking during the two years before they completely reach the stage. When the process is complete you should notice how your child becomes more sophisticated in handling their information. Their concepts of speed and time also highly increase. During the middle childhood stage, short term memory improves significantly. For example, a child will be able to repeat a set of numbers back to you with more ease and less concentration then they could before (Feldman, 2006, p. 289). Vocabulary of children also begin to rapidly increase during the school years. They can take in what the teacher says and store it in their brains so more knowledge is obtained. This is the stage in which your child usually learns to read and
His theory changed how people viewed children’s behaviors and inspired other researchers to study this field, which has increased people’s understanding of cognitive development in childhood and adolescence. More importantly, people have learned how to understand and communicate with children and adolescences based on his ideas, which greatly helps the development of education. Teachers should lead children to pay attention to the process of learning rather than the results. Children and adolescences should also be encouraged to work in individual as well as in groups. Evaluating the level of student’s cognition is also important in order to assign suitable
Based on my experiences, children at this stage have not yet mastered their language ability. Their attention spans improve throughout the year as well as their ability to process information. They sometimes have difficulties thinking outside the box because they may only see things from their point of view. Activa...
When children reach a certain age in their life, their mental thought process shifts into a more logical or adult form. "Beginning with the adolescent period, however, children become increasingly less dependent upon the availability of concrete-empirical experience in meaningfully relating complex abstract propositions to cognitive structure." (Ausebel, 1966) The way in which they learn is shifted also.
As a teacher language is the most important tool in order to support student learning. The book Elementary Classroom Management by Kerry Williams discusses how language is an important tool to use “language can be a powerful vehicle for activating thought, and as teachers we need to be aware of the role it is playing” (ref pg. 196). The use of words and tone that the teacher uses to the students is significant in the behaviour of students. For example if a student is displaying
In the twentieth century, the avoidance of the using L1 in classrooms dominated teachers’ minds; as well it was implemented in many policies and guidelines of language teaching (Cook, 2001). Thornbury (2010) listed a set of arguments against using L1 in L2 classrooms mainly for that the translation of L2 into another language will play negative effects on students’ learning process. He pointed out that the use of L1 will result learners to have a cognitive dependence on their mother tongue at the expense of developing independence TL learning. Although the two language systems are not equivalent in many aspects, students may have an awareness of the notion of equivalence of the two languages if translation serves to convey meanings. Some argue that the use of translation to convey the meaning of the TL is more efficient and more memorable. However, Thornbury (2010) sees the opposite. He stated that the simple and direct way of translation will make L2 knowledge less memorable since the process lacks mental efforts in working out meanings.
...ed that children's thinking does not develop entirely smoothly: instead, there are certain points at which it "takes off" and moves into completely new areas and capabilities. He saw these transitions as taking place at about 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years. This has been taken to mean that before these ages children are not capable (no matter how bright) of understanding things in certain ways, and has been used as the basis for scheduling the school curriculum. Whether or not should be the case is a different matter”.
Thus, the book answers numerous practical questions that teachers have often struggled with; for example, how to increase the chances of academic success for language learners, how to use technology to teach language effectively, or how to teach language and content material concurrently. From the preface, the author makes it very clear that the book is designed to support language teachers in their journey as new teachers and throughout their teaching careers. In total, the book contains eleven chapters, which have been divided into four parts. The first part, "What Do Language Teachers Think About?" includes topics of foreign/ second language acquisition theories and language teaching methodologies. This part introduces the background knowledge readers will need in their journey as language teachers. The second part, "How Do You Teach a Language?" introduces approaches to teaching and learning that improve students’ writing, listening, speaking and reading abilities. Each chapter in this part includes suggestions for how students can be motivated and describes teaching and testing approaches to assess students ' language skills and academic literacy. The third part, "How Do I Know What to Teach?" is instrumental in helping teachers adopt teaching practices to particular teaching settings. The fourth part, "Where Do I Go from Here?" helps teachers gain a clearer perspective of what language teaching is all about; this section also considers teacher 's self-assessment and personal
“Human development is a constant life long process of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth and change” (http://www.education.com/topic/child-adolescent-development/). These characteristics for the primary grades are all very important when it comes to the children’s learning. Primary grade children make up the first, second, and third grades. They also range from the ages six, seven, and eight. Most are just at the beginning of their educational learning process and are hitting peaks of developmental growth.
However, CLIL has a lot of beneficial side there are unanswered question in connection with applying it in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom. How can motivation be created and maintained during the whole l...
Student motivation can be affected by several factors. These elements include parent involvement, teacher enthusiasm, rewards, peers, the learner’s environment, personal experiences, personal interests of the student, and self-esteem and self-image.
Children differ from one another. Their ability, skills and potentiality vary; this is because they are unique. According to Henson and Eller (1999),
English language has been rated as one of the most important international languages nowadays. It has been found at primary levels around the world. Teaching English as a foreign language is not an easy task and need a lot of hard work, especially for young learners. However, starting earlier is not the solution for producing better English speakers. EFL teachers of young learners have to follow some strategies and techniques to understand and teach young learners better. YL Students who aged 5-12 can not spend two or three hours sitting on chairs and listening to teachers lectures as adults do. They lose interest more quickly and less able to keep motivated on tasks for long time because these students have short attention spans and are easily distracted. YL Students will be usually learning very basic material but a skillful teacher has to design creative lessons that get students attention and participation during the class, such as moving around and speaking with one another. Interacting with each other improves their communication skills and even building confidence in using the language. In addition, young learners are generally very enthusiastic at this level about songs and games. In order to encourage everyone to participate, it is important to include your sessions with different types of songs and active games to make the lessons relaxed and fun. The teacher should be able to create different activities to encourage and activate students that everyone can enjoy learning in.