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1.EarlyforeignlanguagelearninginEurope
chingtothischangingreality.Thirdly,andveryimportantly,younglearnerteachers
havetomasterthemethodsofteachingaforeignlanguagetochildrenandrecognizethe
vastdifferencebetweentheapproachesadoptedinteenageoradultclassesandinclasses
ofyounglearners.Cameron(2001)noticesthatinpracticeitmeansthatapartfroman
understandingofhowchildrenthinkandlearn,theteachershouldalsopossesssuch
micro-skillsastheabilitytoconductwholelessonsinaforeignlanguageandtoidentify
children,sinterestsandincludetheminlanguageteaching.Moreover,teachersneedto
beequippedwithskillstoteachinitialliteracyinthetargetlanguage.
Thus,theidealyounglearnerlanguageteacherissomeonewhoselanguageprofi-
ciencyisveryhigh,whounderstandschildren,sdevelopmentandwhoknowshowto
teachaforeignlanguagetothisagegroup.TherealityofmostEuropeanschoolsissuch
thatthereareusuallytwotypesofteachersprovidingforeignlanguageinstruction.They
areeitherspecialistforeignlanguageteacherswithorwithoutpreparationtoteachyoung
learners,ortheyareprimaryclassteacherswithsufficientorinsufficientlanguagequali-
ficationsandwithorwithouttheskillsofteachingaforeignlanguage.Amultinational
longitudinalstudyEarlyLanguageLearninginEurope(ELLiE),initiatedin2006,reve-
aledthatinmanyEuropeancountriespolicymakerswouldliketoseeearlylanguage
classestaughtbyclassteachers,andtheyareinvestinginin-serviceandpre-service
qualificationcoursestoachievethisgoal.However,theELLiEstudyalsoshowedthatin
thesevencountrieswhoseeducationalpolicieshadbeenscrutinizedthemajorityofclas-
sesunderresearchweretaughtbyspecialistteachers.
Theteacher,scrucialroleinguidingandsupportingthechildren,sgrowing
knowledgeofEnglishwasresearchedbyCoyleandVerdu(2000).Theyconcludedthat
intheEFLclassroomteachingandlearningEnglishisacollaborativeendeavour,andto
achievethissituationteachersshouldusevariousstrategiestosupportinitiallanguage
useandpromotelanguageretention.
Asfarastheobjectivesofteachingforeignlanguagesinprimaryschoolsareconcer-
ned,theyhavebeencomprehensivelylaidoutbyTostPlanet(1997:21).Hedividesthem
intothoseconcernedwithcommunicationskillsandthoserelatedtoothereducational
aspects,e.g.cognitive,emotional,socialandintercultural.Followingthis,teachingfore-
ignlanguagesatschoolshoulddevelopanumberofabilitiesinpupils,suchas:
understandingsimpleoralandwrittentextswhichdealwithfamiliarobjects,situ-
ationsandevents;
usingtheforeignlanguageorallytocommunicatewiththeteacherandotherpu-
pilsintypicalclassroomsituations,aswellasshowingrespectfortheothers,contribu-
tion;
producingshortandsimplewrittentextsonfamiliartopics,followingtheelemen-
taryrulesofthewrittencode;
readingandunderstandingshortandsimpletextswhicharerelatedtothechil-
dren,sclassroomexperience,theirinterestsandworldknowledgeandobtainingspecific
andgeneralinformationfromthesetexts;
becomingawareofthecommunicativevalueofforeignlanguagesanddemon-
stratinganattitudeofrespecttowardsotherlanguages,culturesandspeakersofthose
languages;