Abstract

This book provides a holistic overview of what leads to success in foreign language learning at an early age and deepens our understanding of early foreign language learning. The studies use an array of methodological approaches to research learners aged between three and ten, as well as their parents and teachers, in instructional, minimal-input settings. They describe various ways of organising and promoting very early foreign language learning, both through language policy and innovative pedagogy, and focus on ways of providing input for second language acquisition, which include oral classroom discourse strategies, as well as learner development of literacy skills. Special attention is given to the necessity to develop critical reading skills, the ability to handle multimodal texts, and attitudes, motivations and behaviours and how these may impact on the teaching and learning process. Chapters emphasise that ultimate outcomes depend on extra linguistic environmental factors, such as parental involvement and teacher competences. These include establishing control in the classroom, as well as using appropriate strategies for Negotiation of Meaning, and helping learners build positive self-concept. This book will be of interest to all professionals involved in the teaching of foreign languages to young learners, as well as to researchers, teacher educators and students working in this area.

This book enhances the growing body of work on young learners’ second language acquisition with a close examination of early foreign language learning, particularly in the European context. Its focus on the learners, their parents and the pedagogy of teachers makes this book a worthy addition to texts in this area.

This volume provides a timely focus on young learners at pre-primary and primary levels. It features useful information about how politics and policies affect educational contexts and outcomes and how early L2 oracy and literacy develop. It also considers the role of parental involvement and teacher-learner relationships at these early stages of the learning process. Teachers, teacher trainees and researchers will find the book very useful and relevant.

This volume truly extends our understanding of complex and dynamic pathways to competence in ELL. Besides presenting high-quality research from varied contexts, it introduces important but so far unexplored concepts like training the parents, parachute teachers, or SEN learners' self-concept. The book is an absolute must-read for all stakeholders in the ELL field.

Joanna Rokita-Jaśkow is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at the Pedagogical University of Cracow, Poland, where she is Head of the ELT section. She is author of over 40 papers and three books and her main research interests concern child foreign and second language acquisition and foreign language teacher education.

Melanie Ellis teaches at the Pedagogical University of Cracow, where she is Head of the Practical English section in the Department of English Language Education. Her research interests include foreign language learning assessment and supporting learners for whom foreign language learning presents a challenge.