Some people maintain that as for language acquistion, the earlier the better, and that an L2 should be tought to children as early as in kindergarten. I would like to know your opinion, the earlier the better or otherwise.
The earlier is easy to learn, as there is no prejudice of selection or choice. Research also indicates that elementary school aged children can benefit from reading in two languages at the same time without hindering their ability to be effective readers in English. Multilingual literacy interventions in mainstream schools, such as dual language books, build on children’s first and second languages
https://arts.ucalgary.ca/news/research-shows-children-can-learn-multiple-languages-simultaneously
This is a very significant question indeed! It's an area of never-ending debates. I believe the decisive factor in to teach L2 at an early age or NOT is the 'CONTEXT'!
No harm! Language must be taught as early as possible as small child is a fast learner of language.
The earlier is easy to learn, as there is no prejudice of selection or choice. Research also indicates that elementary school aged children can benefit from reading in two languages at the same time without hindering their ability to be effective readers in English. Multilingual literacy interventions in mainstream schools, such as dual language books, build on children’s first and second languages
https://arts.ucalgary.ca/news/research-shows-children-can-learn-multiple-languages-simultaneously
There's a plethora of 'settings' within the 'instructional setting'! Where? Why? How? Which L2? etc. are all contextual factors that need to be addressed. Take, for instance, the case of 'HOW'. If L2 instruction is delivered by inefficient teachers (in the Sudan we suffer from this), the result of early L2 instruction (and the L2 is English in this context) is sometimes catastrophic!
Dear All,
One of my daughters is a professional interpreter and translator who has been examined several times by international juries whose members were competent and distinguished specialists. These examinations focused practically all the abilities of interpreters and classified the candidates according to international standards. It was very astonishing that some interpreters were not able to achieve the standard of a native speaker in any languages. These candidates were who started to learn too early their 2nd language before they have learned appropriately their original mother tongue. These interpreters have had now an official certificate that they have no mother tongue and they are not able to express themselves as fine as it is expected at the highest level of communication.
So much about the suggestion to learn the second language as early as possible. This proves that the mind of a child cannot be a perfect tabula rasa.
I see as will earlier to teach L2 for childern is better because they catch languages easier
Not necessarily but I do not object early L2!
Obviously, a second language is learnt later than a first language and so L2 learners are usually older than L1 learners. Therefore, characteristics associated with growing older, such as more mature cognitive & emotional development, must inevitably be expected to affect L2 learning. A teenager or an adult can use more conscious mental processing than the intuitive processing of the child and in the emotional sphere, the difference between what a learner wants to say in L2 and what s/he can say in his/her L1 is frustrating in a way similar to the pressure on a starting child to communicate. In addition, L2 learners have rather different attitudes from L1 learners in aspect of precision (When I once phoned a hostel in M.E.T.U-Ankara to talk with a friend, his Turkish flat mate's reply was "Mr. X does not exist!" while correct English says "Mr. X is not here at the moment"). Finally, L2 learners have often learnt to read & write in their L1 and this causes them to approach L2 in a different way such as accumulating more vocabulary for the sake of fluency in speech, in particular.
Some articles on the ESL policy recommend that the children should have developed strong skills in their L1 before learning English. From their views, there is no need for the learners of English to try to be, think or speak like native speakers of English. Their L1 is the most important tool which will help them develop as a good member of the society. Skills in an L2 is just a plus.
In my personal view, any language needs years to learn. When the children are young, they have more free time than adults. They should receive support in learning foreign languages, computer languages, maths, music, sports, and any useful skills that they are interested in. Forcing little children to learn too much won't be useful.
In some countries in which bilingual skills are necessary. The adults may choose to raise the children as simultaneous bilinguals. In this case, the children should be exposed to both languages as infants. The parents need to set up a special language environment at home.
Starting children early on foreign languages seems to be successful but, as mentioned earlier, the quality of the outcome may be heavily influenced by the quality of the teachers. For some strange reason the less able teachers may congregate in the earlier years of education. So, starting early is good but starting badly is not as it will have a long-term effect..
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