Offers readers chapters on the age factor in different educational contexts across three continents. The book documents the development in research methods into early language learning and teaching. It includes papers that discuss curriculum and assessment, individual differences, innovation in teacher education, and the role of target language.

The authors examine the evidence relative to the idea that there is an age factor in first & second language acquisition & goes on to explore the various explanations that have been advanced to account for such evidence. Finally, it looks at educational ramifications of the age question.

This volume is the result of the presentations and discussions carried out at the Conference on “Early Foreign Language Learning in Educational Contexts. Bridging Good Practices and Research” organized by the University Ramon Lull, the University of Bari and LEND (Lingua e Nuova Didattica) in March 2010. At the Conference, both teachers and researchers met to examine recent language teaching theories and practices from a transnational and intercultural perspective, on the one hand, and on the other, to fill the gap in the field of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in schools and to pave the way for a wider platform of discussion between School and University. Since these two institutions have often had little contact and, as there is excellent work carried out in both, our attempt was to build more solid bridges across their contexts, engaging school teachers in ongoing research and bringing everyday classroom practice nearer to university theoreticians in an open exchange forum so that the reflection on teaching and learning becomes relevant and rewarding for the participants involved in Early Foreign Language Learning in 21st century contexts. Drawing on the main topics presented throughout the Conference, this book has been structured around three main thematic areas: 1) the Age Factor, 2) CLIL and Content-based research and practices, and 3) developing intercultural competence: use of the L1 and translation as mediation skills. Each of these sections encompasses high quality contributions, all informed by salient and recent research, clear and justified theoretical standpoints and good practices which are appealing to an international audience and setting. The editors sincerely hope that this volume contributes to widen the field of foreign language teaching and learning to include studies on young learners’ perceptions and performance. At the same time, they would like to highlight the decisive new focus on language learning adopted in the 21st century: the inclusion of a wider vision of language acquisition, one that highlights the relevance of using languages not only to communicate but, more relevantly, to mediate between cultures, as a means to bring together the plurilingual and pluricultural citizens of our future.

This book takes a hard look at some of the assumptions that are customarily made concerning the role of age in second language acquisition. The evidence and arguments the contributors present run counter to the notion that an early start in second language learning is of itself either absolutely sufficient or necessary for the attainment of native-like mastery of a second language. Another theme of the book is a doubt that there is a particular stage of maturity beyond which language learning is no longer fully possible. In short, the book presents a challenge to those who take it as given that second language learning is inevitably different in its essential nature from language acquisition in the childhood years and that second language knowledge acquired beyond the critical period is in all circumstances and in all respects doomed to fossilize at a non-native-like level.

This book examines the various ways in which age affects the process and the product of foreign language learning in a school setting. It presents studies that cover a wide range of topics, from phonetics to learning strategies. It will be of interest to students and researchers working in SLA research, language planning and language teaching.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne (Englisch), course: Problems in Second Language Acquisition, language: English, abstract: This term paper will focus on the discussion of the putative maturational constraints for second language acquisition. The age factor is an aspect of first and second language acquisition research which has engendered very much controversy. In the discussion about age-related effects on language acquisition, one can find disagreements as to both the facts and to their possible explanations. The different points of view range from the notion that young learners are in all aspects of language learning more efficient and achieve better results, to the contrary position that older learners are the better learners. In this paper, four of the positions concerning the age factor, which have been listed by Singleton, will be presented because they provide a good overview of the different views on this topic and the respective evidence belonging to them. Many of the differences in the results of various studies are due to the differences in how the results are elicited. The experimental design plays an important role for the outcomes.

This book examines the various ways in which age affects the process and the product of foreign language learning in a school setting. It presents studies that cover a wide range of topics, from phonetics to learning strategies. It will be of interest to students and researchers working in SLA research, language planning and language teaching.