Abstract

This book presents research on the learning of foreign languages by children aged 6-12 years old in primary school settings. The collection provides a significant and important contribution to this often overlooked domain and aims to provide research-based evidence that might help to inform and develop pedagogical practice. Topics covered in the chapters include the influence of learner characteristics on word retrieval; explicit second language learning and language awareness; meaning construction; narrative oral development; conversational interaction and how it relates to individual variables; first language use; feedback on written production; intercultural awareness raising and feedback on diagnostic assessment. It will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, teachers and stakeholders who are interested in research on how children learn a second language at primary school.

This volume is packed with rich findings, revealing many new research directions for the reader to explore. This is surely a must-read for teachers and researchers in many parts of the world.

This fascinating collection provides a wealth of research focused on foreign language learners aged 6-12. An eye-opener on what children are capable of in linguistic, social and cognitive domains of learning, instructed and unassisted. This much needed work does indeed provide important insights for educators and researchers. I found my book of the year!

This volume responds to the need for evidence-based insights on the learning and teaching of foreign languages in school-based programs for young children. With contributions on linguistic, social, cognitive, and curricular dimensions of the foreign language experience, explored from a range of methodological orientations, it is a rich source of information for both language researchers and educators.

María del Pilar García Mayo is Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country, Spain. She is the convener of the research group Language and Speech (http://www.laslab.org) and the academic director of the MA in Language Acquisition in Multilingual Settings. Her research interests include the second/third language acquisition of English morphosyntax, the study of conversational interaction and task-based language learning.