UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN’S LEARNING:
An Overview of TEFL for Young
Learners
Methodology
A.
Introduction
The interests in teaching English
for young learners have been gaining momentum in the past few years. This trend
might be well-represented by the growing phenomenon of parents sending their
children to private English courses, not to mention the growing interests in
teaching that subject in Public Elementary Schools. Instead of being a
controversy, this early English instruction for Indonesian young children keeps
on going and that is why it deserves much more attention from EFL education
practitioners in this country.
B.
Who Children Are and How They
Learn a Foreign Language
In attempting to help children
develop their skills through education, adults tend to have some misconceptions
about the children’s characteristics and existence. Such misconceptions have a
wide range of implications which can lead to the failure of the process of
education. The misconceptions, which commonly held by adults about children,
among others are:
1.
The belief that children begin
learning from the moment of birth on. Neuroscience researches have shown that children are born
learning and this learning begins even before birth. Studies conducted by Dr.
Charles Nelson from Harvard
Medical School
2.
Children are considered as empty
vessels or blank slates to be filled with knowledge.
Science has proved that children are
active learners; the more involved they are in their own learning the better
they learn. Kuhl, a professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences from University of Washington
(http://www.mindinthemaking.org/pdfs/whatisearlylearning.pdf)
3.
Children’s social, emotional, and
intellectual learning are considered as separate, and
intellectual or cognitive learning is considered most important.
Adults talk about social, emotional
and intellectual learning as being different. Research says that they are
completely interconnected. Kuhl, a professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences
from University
of Washington
(http://www.mindinthemaking.org/pdfs/whatisearlylearning.pdf)
4.
Adults’ role is to teach children,
making even every moment a teaching moment.
Research says that adults’ role is to encourage and increase children
engagement in learning. Adults, who bombard children with factual information
and feel that they must entertain children non stop, are likely to
over-stimulate and turn children away from learning. Lieberman, a professor of
medical psychology from University
of California
5.
Adults tend to consider children
as “a miniature of adults” (Musthafa,
2003:2).
Children learn in different ways
from what adults do. In fact, they are unique individuals who deserve
appropriate attention and treatment from adults. The uniqueness of children in
term of their learning activities, among others, are:
a.
They tend to learn easily from what they see and hear. In
other words, children work well with hands-on activities.
b.
They tend to have relatively short span of memory or
attention. Research says that they can sit still, listen and focus their
attention for 10-15 minutes. What they need, then, is frequent change of pace.
c.
They are expansive, adventurous, curious, eager to learn,
energetic, always in motion and playful, loud and emotional.
d.
They are unique in their skills. They have uneven and
incomplete muscular coordination and control.
e.
They learn with real/concrete objects. They have different
pace of developing their logical and symbolical thinking skills. Children are
moving from concrete to abstract thinking.
f.
They are very “me” centered. They seek attention, loves and
praise from adults. They want to please adults.
g.
They have difficulties in controlling impulses and
regulating behaviors.
h.
Learning for them will be easier if it focused on the here
and now.
i.
They learn things holistically. Meaning that they learn
best when learning is kept whole, meaningful, interesting and functional.
j.
They learn best as a community of learners in a non
competitive environment.
Misconceptions about children
aforementioned have led to the wrong way of children’s education. As a matter
of fact, children have their own world. They are unique in terms of the way
they learn, which is by no means comparable with the way adults do.
To gain a better understanding of
how children learn, it would be useful to see what researches say about it. So
far, many theories have been developed regarding children’s learning styles.
One of the most popular theories says that educators should deal with four
modes of children’s learning, i.e.:
1.
The spatial-visual learners.
They needs and like to visualize
things; learns through images; enjoy art and drawing; read maps, charts and
diagrams well; fascinated with machines and inventions; play with logos; like
mazes and puzzles, often accused of being a day dreamer in class.
2.
Kinetic learners.
They process knowledge through
physical sensations; highly active, not able to sit still long; communicate
with body language and gestures, show you rather than tell you; need to touch
and feel world; good at mimicking others; like scary amusement rides; naturally
athletic and enjoy sports, often labeled with attention deficient disorder.
3.
Language-oriented learners.
They think in words, verbalize
concepts; spin tales and jokes; spell words accurately and easily. They can be
good readers or prefer the spoken word more; have excellent memory for names,
dates and trivia; like word games; enjoy using tape recorders and often
musically talented.
4.
Logical learners.
They
think conceptually, like to explore patterns and relationships; enjoy puzzles
and seeing how things work; constantly question and wonder; capable of highly
abstract forms of logical thinking at early age; compute math problems quickly
in head; enjoy strategy games, computers and experiments with purpose; create
own designs to build with blocks/ logos.
C.
Essential Principles of Good
Learning Materials for Children
Based on the theories above, the
followings principles might be useful for EYL teachers to take into account in
developing materials for their young learners’ foreign language learning:
1.
Since children tend to have relatively short span of
memory/ attention, teachers should not use too long materials.
2.
Rhyme makes things easier for children to remember.
3.
Children learn easily from what they see, hear and touch. It
would be advisable for the teachers to use real/ concrete objects.
4.
Learning should help children understand their experiences,
not fill their heads with facts through “drill and kill.”
5.
Children are expansive, curious, and eager to learn. Use as
many exploratory materials as possible.
6.
Children are playful, adventurous, energetic, always in
motion and emotional (has mood swings). Use materials which are developmentally
appropriate with them, for example games, stories, songs etc.
D.
Essential Principles of How to
Facilitate Children Learning a Foreign Language
Given the fact that English is a
foreign language in Indonesia
The followings are some principles
to keep in mind for teachers of EYL to facilitate their students’ English
learning:
1.
Start where the child is.
Children
bring so much with them to the classroom that is often ignored or
underestimated. They have experience of life, knowledge of their world.
2.
Encourage social interaction
Learning
is an interactive process. Piaget, with reference to general development, holds
that the quality and quantity of social interaction a child receives can
markedly affect rate of development.
3.
Support negotiation of meaning and
collaborative talk
Wells
(1987) believes collaborative talk is a key in helping children to shape and
arrive at shared meanings and understanding.
4.
Allow children to be active
participants in the learning process
"The
child's task is to construct a system of meanings that represent his own model
of social reality. This process takes place within his own head; it is a
cognitive process. But it takes place in contexts of social interaction, and
there is no way it can take place except in thee contexts". (Halliday, 1975)
5.
Pitch input within the zone of
proximal development.
Krashen
(1982) has comprehensible input (1 + 1 = input plus one) as key in the learning
process because this 'gap' stimulates and challenges learners to develop their
language further while the message remains understandable and accessible.
6.
Introduce language at discourse
level
Lewis
(1993) suggests that foreign language teaching might also be looked at from the
perspective of 'multiword chunks', developing learners' ability to 'chunk
successfully'.
7.
Plan meaningful and purposeful
activities within a clear, familiar context.
Children
learning their first language do not choose the contexts; these are part of
their daily lives. They bring what knowledge they have to the situation and
build form the known to the new, adjusting schemata constantly through
'accommodation' and 'assimilation'.
8.
Help learners to become more
independent and autonomous.
It
is natural for young learners to be dependent on their teachers. However, if
learners are to become active participants in the learning process creating
their own understandings and meanings, it is important that activities are
designed and sequenced to support and foster growing independence.
9.
Develop a supportive, noon-threatening,
enjoyable learning environment.
All
learners are valued as individuals, challenges and risks are supported, topics
are relevant and interesting, activities are meaningful and purposeful, praise
is given where and when it is due and discipline if firm, consistent and fair.
10.
Test and assess in the way that we
teach.
If
we take the above nine points to be key to successful learning, then it is
essential that the ways in which learners are tested and assessed in the classroom mirrors and
complements these.
References
Halliday, M, 1975, Learning How
to Mean: Exploration in the Development of Language, London
Kahn, R., Thinking and Learning
Characteristics of Young People, http://www.pumas.jpl.nasa.gov/benchmarks/TL_char.html
Krashen, Stephen D., 1982,
Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, New York
Musthafa, Bacharudin, 2003, EFL
for Young Learners: Course Materials, Bandung Indonesia University
Pam Wynne Fellers, Children's Learning Styles, http://www.fortnet.org/Parent
ToParent/PFellers/par_lern.html.
Wells, G.,
1987, The Meaning Makers: Children Learning Language and Using Language to
Learn, Portsmouth
________, What is Early Learning, http://www.mindinthemaking.org/pdfs/
whatisearlylearning.pdf
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