engleski

Teaching English to young learners in Osijek

The question of an optimal age for foreign language learning has been in the focus of interest of both linguists and educationalists for a long time. The fact that young children when exposed to a language in a natural environment acquire it with al most no effort to a high degree of fluency influenced the spread of the view that an early start of foreign language learning in a c1assroom setting could also be advantageous. With the development of psychology and psycholinguistics many empirical studies were undertaken in all parts of the world, based on the hypothesis that young children are better language learners than older children and adults. In spite of systematic research the question of optimal age for foreign language learning has not yet been answered. However, in many countries the introduction of a foreign language in the early school years has been seriously considered. Early foreign language learning projects are still in progress. Very often they are obstructed by difficulties. Some of these projects and the problems related to them are discussed in this paper.

optional age for FL learning; listening comprehension; reading comprehension; grammatical competence; auditory perception; training of teachers for teaching young FL learners

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