Current discussions about children’s age factor in learning foreign languages

There are age-related benefits and also challenges for children learning foreign languages. According to Enever (2015), it is not clear whether the earlier start is advantageous or not in English learning context where children only take two to three hours per week rather than in the immersion or native context. The challenges for early starting have been discussed by many researchers. Cenoz (2003) argued that “children who start learning foreign language (English) later achieve distinguish better results in general than those who started earlier with the same amount of exposure in English learning” (p.91). One part of Tragant’s (2006) study concentrated on the motivation and age of onset. Under the same amount of time instruction, children starting learning English at eleven had comparatively more positive attitude than those starting at

eight. The primary school students had lower motivation in learning English than the secondary school stu-dents had. The primary school student’s motivation might relate to external factors such as teachers and classroom activities while the older students might have clear and realistic motivation. The result of this study is consistent with the result of the study conducted in mainland China by Xu and Case (2015). The research explored age differences in motivation in learning English among mainland Chinese primary, mid-dle and high school students (Xu & Case, 2015). The motivation of primary students learning English is not formed yet. The middle school students were integrated motivation oriented while the high school students were found to be significantly instrumental motivation oriented in learning English. In Finland, Aro and Erdmann (2015) evaluated English language skills in primary school with children who attended English day cares and those without attending English day cares. The result indicated that the students who attended English day cares did not show better English skills than those who did not attend.

More specific studies can be found in different skills of English learning in different age groups. The older group achieved higher scores in grammar. It is to be noted that the effectiveness of exposure plays more important role than the length of the exposure time (Pilar & Mayo, 2003). Older group students have better sound perception than younger group students do. They distinguish better in both vowels and conso-nants. The older group students have less foreign accent. Especially, “Students who began English instruc-tions at the age of 11 showed significantly better sound discrimination than those who started earlier (age 8 and 4), and that in turn, those who started at age 8 discriminate better than those who started at age 4” (Luisa, Lecumberri, & and Gallardo, 2003, p.126). As regard to writing, research finding (Lasagabaster & Doiz, 2003) indicated that older group students have advantages in cognitive stage so they produce better in writ-ing (content, organisation, vocabulary, use of language and mechanics) than the younger group. The

younger group students were influenced highly by the L1 language pronunciation and spelling (Lasagabaster

& Doiz, 2003). The difference between listening comprehension between early starters and later starters was not significant but the later starters behaved more active in the oral interview. “In order to enhance foreign language learning in a school setting, changes that guarantee sufficient exposure to and meaningful interac-tion in the target language have to be implemented”(Munoz, 2003, p.178). A study specifically focussed on recast of conversational interaction in English indicated that

Adults may be more likely than children to take advantage of uptake opportunities as they arise. This maybe because adults’ cognitive and linguistic maturity allows them to switch their focus from language as communication to language as object when feedback in the form of a recast is provided to them. It does highlight once again the potential contribution of age. (Oliver & Grote, 2010,26.18).

In conclusion, Nikolov (2009) summarised that:

The widely accepted findings state that (1) adults progress at early stages of morphology and syntax faster than children do; (2) older children acquire faster than younger children do; and (3) child starters outper-form adult starters in the long run. Most parents and decision makers in foreign language contexts seem to be aware of the third point, but they mistakenly assume that young learners develop fast. (Nikolov, 2009, p. 4).

All the aforementioned studies seem to indicate that the later starters of foreign language learning benefit more than the earlier group. However, the advantages of early start in foreign language learning are also obvious. Akin and Gursoy (2013) researched the relationship between age and foreign language learning anxiety in Turkey. They found that the anxiety of learning English (failing exam, making mistake, peer pres-sure, etc.) increased from younger group to older group. The youngest group students (4^th grade) bear least pressure while the older groups (7^th,8^th grade) had higher pressure. In other words, the younger group stu-dents had the most positive belief in learning English. Lefever (2006) has summarized the characteristics of young learners in learning foreign language:

Young learners at the transition level (aged 5-8) generally have the following characteristics. They are:

keen and enthusiastic; curious and inquisitive; outspoken; imaginative and creative; active and like to move around; interested in exploration; learn by doing/hands-on experience; holistic, natural learners searching for meaningful messages. (Lefever, 2006, pp27-28).

Brown (2007) also analysed the characteristics of young children in learning foreign languages from dif-ferent perspectives (intellectual development, attention span, sensory input, affective factors, and authentic, meaningful language). He claimed that the young children were still in the process of intellectual develop-ment so that abstract grammar rules and difficult concepts would make them more confused. In terms of attention span, a mistaken belief might be that children have less attention span than adult has. However,

Brown (2007) argued that only when the language tasks were too boring or difficult children had short atten-tion span. When children started watching their favourite cartoon they would sit there and enjoyed it the whole day if no one called them to stop. There are also affective factors which children really care. They might get pressure from the peers when they make mistakes or get from the way of adult talking to them.

Adults should help children overcome barriers and be patient and supportive. Children tend to choose lan-guages which are authentic and meaningful to learn. They learn language which are useful to them immedi-ately and in context. Therefore, a whole language teaching is important and obviously better than fragile language (Brown, 1994).

To sum up, there are challenges for children learning foreign languages as compared to the adult learners due to the immature both cognitively and linguistically. Meanwhile children’s age-related benefits are also apparent. They bear less anxiety in foreign language learning (Akin & Gursoy, 2013). The characteristics of children learning foreign languages are very important for teachers in classroom activities arrangement. It is also important for parents to consider helping their children in learning foreign language learning. If par-ents are aware of these characteristics and support their children in more appropriate ways, the outcomes could be more effective. At the same time if age factor is considered when parent school cooperate the chil-dren can have a better learning both physically and emotionally.