Development of Children’s Language Awareness in English Teaching Materials
Development of children’s language awareness in English teaching materials
Abstract
The paper will focus on the concept of language awareness in the context of young learners. The whole language approach, inductive approach and implicit grammar teaching are advocated in early language education as children by the age of 10 are not able to understand abstract rules and principles. However, for languages to develop naturally grammatical categories have to be present in the instructions. Namely, YL encounter chunks, phrases and sentences, which are learnt in chants, rhymes, songs and stories, to express functions. Then, early foreign language education, including grammar teaching, can be viewed as consciousness raising process or discovery learning through particular activities. What are the ways in which language awareness is being interpreted in English materials for YL? The idea is to analyse syllabuses and course books to identify the latest approaches to teaching grammatical categories in primary schools. The project will involve the analysis of activities that support children’s development of language awareness at their level of cognition.
1. Introduction: teaching grammar to YL Young learners (YL) develop meta-cognitive awareness, which according to Ellis, is an umbrella term involving language awareness, cognitive awareness, social awareness and cultural awareness. Teachers help YL to understand how they can learn a foreign language with the help of observation, analysis and comparison. Still, they do not benefit from this process of reflection as children by the age of 10[1] are not able to understand abstract rules and principles (cf. Brewster, Ellis, Girard, 1992:7). A period of learning in primary school can be divided into two stages: early grades and subsequent grades as learners differ in terms of their holistic development, their intellectual and social maturity, ability to read and write, ability to reason logically and develop
Abstract
The paper will focus on the concept of language awareness in the context of young learners. The whole language approach, inductive approach and implicit grammar teaching are advocated in early language education as children by the age of 10 are not able to understand abstract rules and principles. However, for languages to develop naturally grammatical categories have to be present in the instructions. Namely, YL encounter chunks, phrases and sentences, which are learnt in chants, rhymes, songs and stories, to express functions. Then, early foreign language education, including grammar teaching, can be viewed as consciousness raising process or discovery learning through particular activities. What are the ways in which language awareness is being interpreted in English materials for YL? The idea is to analyse syllabuses and course books to identify the latest approaches to teaching grammatical categories in primary schools. The project will involve the analysis of activities that support children’s development of language awareness at their level of cognition.
1. Introduction: teaching grammar to YL Young learners (YL) develop meta-cognitive awareness, which according to Ellis, is an umbrella term involving language awareness, cognitive awareness, social awareness and cultural awareness. Teachers help YL to understand how they can learn a foreign language with the help of observation, analysis and comparison. Still, they do not benefit from this process of reflection as children by the age of 10[1] are not able to understand abstract rules and principles (cf. Brewster, Ellis, Girard, 1992:7). A period of learning in primary school can be divided into two stages: early grades and subsequent grades as learners differ in terms of their holistic development, their intellectual and social maturity, ability to read and write, ability to reason logically and develop
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