The Routledge Handbook of Teaching English to Young Learners

Sue Garton, Fiona Copland, Sue Garton, Fiona Copland

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781032338972
• eBook ISBN: 9781317226710
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Multicultural Education

The Routledge Handbook of Teaching English to Young Learners celebrates the 'coming of age' for the field of research in primary-level English Language Teaching. With 32 chapters written by international scholars from a wide geographical area including East Africa, Mexico, the South Pacific, Japan, France, the USA and the UK, this volume draws on areas such as second language acquisition, discourse analysis, pedagogy and technology to provide:

• An overview of the current state of the field, identifying key areas of TEYL.
• Chapters on a broad range of subjects from methodology to teaching in difficult circumstances and from Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) to gaming.
• Suggestions of ways forward, with the aim of shaping the future research agenda of TEYL in multiple international contexts.
• Background research and practical advice for students, teachers and researchers.

With extensive guidance on further reading throughout, The Routledge Handbook of Teaching English to Young Learners is essential reading for those studying and researching in this area.

Part 1
Macro Issues

1
Languages policy and English for young learners in early education

Richard Johnstone

Introduction

English for young learners in ‘early education’

In this chapter EYL refers to children’s learning of English in pre-primary or primary (elementary) school education, for whom English is not their first language. It includes children whose first language is the national language of their country, when learning English there as a additional language. However, there is much more to EYL than that. The globalised world brings many challenges – e.g., movement of people; disparities between small communities in remote rural areas and those in increasingly diverse big cities; and attitudes towards minorities (both indigenous and recently arrived), their cultures and languages – some of which have consequences for EYL. Thus, a child from an EU country in Central Europe learning English in Ireland; a child from Syria being educated in Germany and learning both German and English; children from South America, Africa or Asia learning English in Australia; or in their own country speaking a local language or dialect through which they possibly receive some of their education for a while but at the same time being educated through the country’s national language and also learning English – these examples and many more are included in the present chapter.

‘Early education’ is not only the place where EYL occurs. It is the active process of educating children at school. It has a reciprocal relationship with EYL. Accordingly, one can ask ‘What can early education do for EYL?’ but also ask ‘What can EYL do for early education?’ This latter function of EYL in serving the early general education of children at school is of great importance. If EYL were to exist in a linguistic bubble and be solely about developing proficiency in English language, then its rationale for occupying a place in primary school curricula would be weakened.

Languages policy

In the title of this section, the term ‘Languages policy’ is used because it allows English to be embedded along with other languages in a country’s overall approach. While it is true that Languages Policy has importance at many levels of society – e.g., individual, family, educational institution, peer-group, small community, business, city, region, interest group –in the present chapter it refers mainly to the national/international level.

My reasons for focusing on the national/international dimension of Languages Policy are that it highlights the extent to which a policy caters to all children in a country, rather than an elite minority; it allows for comparison and communication across countries; English as an international language may at times evoke feelings of media propaganda, linguistic imperialism, minority culture suppression or pro-native speaker bias, so it is important to consider what a policy makes of English in the ‘early education’ of impressionable children; and many governments have allocated substantial funds for EYL in early education, so it is reasonable to ask what arises from this investment.

Languages policy makers

Much has been written about Languages Policy but less about those who make it – e.g., their attitudes, agendas (public or hidden) and political imperatives. Many of the policy makers I have met internationally have been civil servants, national inspectors, national policy advisers, politicians, senior staff co-opted from educational institutions or representatives of civic society (including parents). Their government may possibly assign some of them to languages policy for a while and then move them on. This rotation may provide regular fresh thinking and prevent policy individuals from ‘going native’ within the languages community, but it may in some cases need to be balanced against possible lack of knowledge of the historical, intellectual and research traditions of the languages field.

Sometimes tensions can arise from key financial decisions being made at a higher level than that of Languages Policy by those exercising responsibility across competing areas of public policy. Given the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 and the austerity policies that ensued, languages funding might not be the priority it was at the turn of the century. This reduction in funding can put pressure on the sustainability of some of the EYL initiatives and have an unsettling effect on teachers, students, managers and parents.

Key agencies

Among the key agencies complementing national governments and playing a role in influencing languages-policy development are major transnational entities such as the European Commission (EC) and the Council of Europe (CoE), plus organisations with remits for languages (or a particular language) internationally such as the British Council, the ECML (European Centre for Modern Languages), the Alliance Française and the Confucius Institute. I believe the role of such bodies has largely been positive, though all policies always need to be scrutinized for false claims, for bias and for ‘hidden agendas’.

Equally important are international professional associations that among other things support EYL in early education, such as Asia TEFL, IATEFL and AILA. They create a forum for disseminating independent, peer-reviewed research findings, for presenting new ideas and developments, critiquing national and international policies, creating special interest networks and supporting teachers, teacher educators, researchers and policy makers.

Thinking about policies for EYL

It is not always the case that policy makers have a blank sheet of paper. Often, there is an explicit or implicit EYL policy already in existence. If so, then policy makers need to ask questions such as: ‘What’s wrong with the present policy?’, ‘Do we simply need to improve it?’, or ‘Do we need more radical change?’ As such, they have much to think about, but four considerations seem particularly important:

Aims and values

• What aims should the policy have and what values should it seek to promote?
  • Examples of aims: ‘proficiency in English’; ‘children’s general social, cognitive, intercultural, literacy, numerical, aesthetic development’.
  • Examples of values: ‘citizenship’, ‘national identity’, ‘international outlook’, ‘humanitarian’, ‘environmental’, ‘entrepreneurial’.

Societal factors

• What factors operating in a nation’s society are likely to influence (positively or otherwise) the EYL policy when implemented, and in what ways should the policy address these factors?
  • Examples of factors: ‘public and media attitudes to English and EYL’; ‘degree of exposure to English in everyday society’; ‘disparities of socioeconomic status and also of geographical location’; ‘issues of minority culture, gender, migration, ethnicity, religion, fundamentalism’.

Provision factors

• What provisions are needed in order to ensure that the policy is adequately financed, resourced and informed?
• Examples of provisions: ‘supply, training and continuing development of teachers’; ‘supply of appropriate resources and technology’; ‘amount of time allocation per week for EYL’; ‘surveys of research on areas relevant to developing the policy’.

Process factors

• What policy-related processes will need to be put in place?
  • Examples of processes: ‘planning, monitoring, research, evaluation, piloting, decision making, accountability, management, stakeholder consultation and involvement, partnership, international co-operation, fund-raising, long-term sustainability’.

Further examples of these four key considerations are embedded in the remainder of the chapter. They are vital not only in planning and implementing an EYL policy but also in making informed judgements about its outcomes.

Historical perspectives: 1950s to present day

Phase 1: 1950s to late 1960s

Stern (1969) reports on a major UNESCO conference in Hamburg (1962) at which it was claimed that, following World War II, the education of children ought not to be unilingual and unicultural. Many key issues were discussed: e.g., the best age for beginning another language; the effects of an early start in learning an additional language on the further learning of other languages; similarly, on a child’s more general development and sense of self; the needs of bi- and multilingual communities; the needs of children from families of immigrants or minority groups; the use of a child’s first language in learning an additional language; the use of the additional language for teaching other aspects of the curriculum; the importance of continuity into secondary education; and the supply of trained teachers. These issues from more than half a century ago remain pertinent today.

Phase 2: mid-1980s to roughly turn of the century

The European Commission (EC) and the Council of Europe (CoE) lent strong support to Languages for Young Learners (henceforth LYL), including EYL. Their influence has extended beyond Europe and across much of the world, including website publications, international working groups, networks, research surveys and international conferences for teachers, teacher educators, inspectors, researchers and policy makers. The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), within the ambit of the Council of Europe, lends strong support to languages for all ages (including pre-primary – see ‘References’ for their excellent ‘Pepelino’ website).

An EC-commissioned research survey (Blondin et al. 1998) drew on published research studies from across the EU and beyond. The research team’s analysis concluded that LYL, including EYL, in pre-primary and primary school education could generally promote positive attitudes among children and to some degree language awareness. Many pupils were able to talk fluently and with a good accent but seemed to speak mainly in prefabricated chunks rather than spontaneously through the use of an internalised set of rules.

Phase 3: turn of century to present day

By the end of the twentieth century LYL, including EYL, was truly entering its global phase, thereby astronomically increasing the number of children involved, particularly but by no means exclusively in Asia and South America.

Some societal and cultural issues

Writing on research in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan (2004–2014), Butler (2015) claims that despite clear differences, they have certain features in common. Although the number of speakers of English in these countries is rising, most people do not use much English in their everyday lives. So, children do not receive substantial societal exposure to English, and learning English usually takes place at school. Another common feature has been teaching methodologies that have tended to be teacher centred and traditional, with emphasis on vocabulary and grammar. High cultural importance is attached to examinations, and good results are considered to reflect good character, diligence and effort.

With its population of over 1.385 billion, major disparities between cities and rural areas and with substantial variations in primary school class size (Wang 2009), China has faced a mighty challenge. Wang’s authoritative account indicates that in 2001 the Chinese government decided to promote English in primary schools, starting from Grade 3, and in some cities from Grade 1 (children begin primary education at age 6). A rapid expansion has taken place across China. The National English Curriculum Standards (NECS) were piloted from 2001 and went nationwide in 2006. Primary English is compulsory within the nine-year compulsory education that connects to the English curriculum of senior high schools. According to Wang (2009) previous English syllabuses in China had prioritised basic knowledge and language skills as primary goals, but NECS broke new ground by highlighting whole-person development and encouraging learners’ interest and motivation in learning the language. Wang (2009, p. 280) described this as ‘a paradigm-shift from a teacher-centred to a pupil-centred approach’. To me, the China curriculum for EYL seems a remarkable instance of intention, planning, ambition, boldness, courage and risk-taking in moving forward so quickly across a vastly populated, diverse territory, while also encouraging teachers to find ways to integrate aspects of a more learner-centred approach.

Native speakers

In many countries, by no means limited to Asia, there are feelings of dependence on native-speaker teachers of English – creating a demand that cannot be met. A key policy consideration therefore consists of helping teachers with first languages other than English to develop the competence and the self-confidence to view themselves positively and to be just as good teachers of EYL as some but not all native speakers of English can be. This issue already has an impressive literature, e.g., Copland et al. (2016).

Top-down and/or bottom-up

Butler (2015) has pointed to a tension in East Asia between top-down and bottom-up approaches to policy development and implementation that in fact are characteristic of many countries around the world: she argues that ‘top-down’ may yield equality of access but create problems at the local level, whereas ‘bottom-up’, while offering greater local autonomy and diversity, may lead to inequalities – so what is the best way to provide both diversity and equality of access?

Teachers as agents of ‘policy distortion’ and/or of ‘policy enhancement‘

Butler’s insightful view reflects a related issue already identified by Hamilton over 25 years ago (1990, p. 90). He argues that a curriculum designed by experts may look quite different from the same curriculum implemented in school. This can lead to two differing interpretations: one that the distortion of a curriculum is a retrograde process (implying that teachers need training in how not to distort the new policy); the other that the distortion can add strength (by drawing on teachers’ situated craft skills), enabling the curriculum to become what Hamilton (1990, p. 90) calls ‘a tried and tested artifact’. An implication might be that for a curriculum to be truly successful, then ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches must interact with and challenge each other, suggesting an important creative role for teachers’ classroom pedagogy.

Teachers’ situated craft skills

An example of the tension that can exist between top-down and bottom-up approaches, and of the value of teachers’ situated craft skills (Hamilton, ibid.), is offered by Lee (2010), who states that South Korea has a national curriculum, with a top-down educational policy. The government decided that traditional teaching of English was inefficient for the modern day and a policy of Teaching English Through English (TETE) was recommended, with extensive use of English in the EYL primary school classroom. Lee reports that Kang’s (2007) study of TETE in a Korean primary school acknowledges the benefits of TETE but found that the teacher, who was proficient in English, drew consciously and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part 1 Macro issues
• Part 2 In the young learner classroom
• Part 3 Young learner pedagogy
• PART 4 Technology and young learner curriculum
• Part 5 Researching young learners
• Part 6 Teaching English to young learners: regional perspectives
• Index