Stages of Learning EFL for Youngster

Mohammed S. Alkhamali
2013
Twitter: @Alkhamali_M

Young learners of a foreign language pass by different stages in their way of mastering the language. Although there are different views about these stages, they have something in common. i.e. the differentiation of the number of the stages does not change the fact that the represented ideas are the same. The period of each stage is determined by the level of the provided language and by the learners' age. In the following, I will discuss some of the views about such stages that are related to our context in terms of learners' age and level of the language.

Piaget divided the stages into two stages. The first one is called assimilation. It describes the state when the action happens without any change in the learner's behavior. An example from our context, as EFL, the use of an adjective to describe a noun, the learner may use the same structure of his mother tongue that is N+adj. The second stage is called accommodation. Where the learner in the same previous context learnt the use of such function and use it in an appropriate way. (Cameron, L. 2001. P3)

In contrast with Piaget view, Vygotsky considers learning as a social interaction. He divided stages into two. The first where the learner of a foreign language produces the language with a help of others, usually teachers, this stage is called interpersonal. The other stage is called intrapersonal where the learner becomes more independent and beings able to produce the language by himself. (Grow, G. n d)

Tabors and Snow (as cited in Phillip C. n d) identify four stages of acquiring a second language as follows:

1-     Home language use, where the learner shows resistance for the new language by using his first language.

2-     Nonverbal period. In this stage the learner realizes that his first language is not appropriate to this context. He becomes silent and communicate using nonverbal means.

3-     Telegraphic and formulaic stage. In this stage the learner starts using the new language but in ungrammatical / incomplete form.

4-     Productive language. In this stage learner starts to speak language relatively well with producing new phrases as he learnt more vocabulary.

Krashen and Terrell ( as cited in http://www.ascd.org) divided the second language acquisition stages into five however, the stages start from age of 0 month. We can adapt these stages to our context by starting the first stage in the fourth primary grade as follows:

1-     Preproduction. In this stage the learner has no or minimal understanding of the new language. He also nods by yes / no as a response. Instead of writing and speaking, he draws and points.

2-     Early production. Here the learner starts responding using one or two words. He has a limited understanding to the new language. He also uses the present form of verbs.

3-     Speech emergence. In this stage the learner shows a good understanding and can produce simple sentences however, he still makes errors in grammar and pronunciation.

4-     Intermediate fluency. The understanding of the second/foreign language increases and the produced errors decreases.

5-     Advanced fluency. When the learner masters the language and become a native-like speaker.

The aforementioned views describe the same stages in a way or another. In the following I will try to gather these views in three stages, with taking into account the context of our situation where English is the foreign language and the target group are the learners from the fourth primary grade to the third intermediate grade. Different variables should also be taken into consideration such as  motivation towards learning a new language,  ability of pronouncing sounds, their age …, as internal factors; curriculum level, teacher, the linguistic background of the parents… , as external factors.

The first stage is the pre-production. This stage shows a demonstration of the first language use. Learners still use the first language due to the difficulty in producing the new sounds and words, shyness of committing mistakes or the stereotype about the foreign language in the society. Teachers in this stage have to encourage learners by explaining ,in Arabic, the benefits of learning English. Teachers also should be aware to the importance of positive reinforcement as a way of increasing learners' motivation. Exposing learners to the English is the best way to make them familiar with the new language and its sound system. The learning in this stage focuses on sounds and simple vocabulary. This stage, in my opinion, will not last for a long time as learners in this age are eager to learn, less shy of committing errors and also competitive.

The early production stage is the second one. In this stage, learners start to use their previous acquired knowledge in learning the new ones. Arabic still affect learning and producing English. This can be seen in form of translating ideas from Arabic to English. As the level of the language increases in terms of the difficulty and the covered aspects and areas as well. This might inhabit some learners from mastering these aspects especially grammar. As English being considered as a foreign language in our context, lots of in-class practice is needed to fulfill the communication need. Teachers in this stage should be more tolerant with learners' mistakes to keep them on track of willingness to learn the language. This tolerance can be seen as teachers emphasis on fluency rather than accuracy.  This stage will last for a long period of time.

The third stage is the fluent production. Reaching this stage in this short time with such little exposing can be so difficult. We need well qualified teachers, in terms of language and teaching, to teach the learners during the whole grades. Also we need well planned and designed curriculum that is taking learners needs and interests into account. We also need authentic communicative situations that ensure language use outside the class.

To sum up, stages of mastering English for young learners are differ is terms of number and length depending on different factors. However, these stages follow the same processes in a way or another. Learners start with fully use of their native language instead of the target one. They then move to use the new language with help of their teachers or parents. After that, they become fully independent in producing the new language.

 References

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/106009/chapters/The-Stages-of-Second-Language-Acquisition.aspx

Cameron, L. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge university press.

Grow, G. n d. Writing and Multiple Intelligences. Can be found on http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/7In/Personal.html#sthash.6n7NaVzd.dpuf

Phillip C. n d. BECOMING BILINGUAL:FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. Can be found on http://216.31.235.229/public/Education%20Binder%202012-2013/01%20Education/Dual%20langauge%20Learners/BECOMING%20BILINGUAL%20article.pdf