When it comes to define who young learners are, there is no exact words to describe them best. The definition of young learners varies in many ways; some refer to age as the point of categorization, some use characteristics, but it is not impossible either to give meaning by combining those two main aspects and perhaps others. Even different country, culture, and some institutions have their own definition for this term. Pinter (2011) mostly emphasizes that young learners are children who age 3 up to 13-14 and have basic capacities related to literacy, experience, and other skills.
On how to children to develop, some experts have different concern. Piaget (1896-1980), who did a research to his own children, believes that children experience some stages in their development. Piaget was famous for the ‘stage theory’, explaining that children development consists of mainly four stages: sensori-motor, pre-operational, concrete-operational, and formal operational stage. He insists on that children learn by acting. Piaget and Inhelder (1956) state that at first children learn through making a mental scheme (organisation). In the process of learning, children will match what they learn with what they encounter in real life, a process called adaptation. Later, when they find that the knowledge they have previously built is not the same with what they see, they will adjust their mental note and make a new one (accommodation).
Different from Piaget, Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) proposes a theory that children develop by actively learning in social environment. He later introduced the concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which explains that children would be in a phase where they would be able to solve a problem by the help of caretakers. This phase shows that children really need to interact with other people and encounter in a lively environment so that they would be able to develop well.
Cameron (2001) says that the main aspect of how children learn a language is by exposure. It means that children needs to be given a lot of input related to language so that they will directly immerse in language learning. Lots of exposure in listening to vocabulary is very essential, because they tend to imitate the words. Back to Piaget’s theory, it is true then that by knowing the word first, children will eventually learn the meaning; they learn by doing. One fact that supports this theory of exposure is when a child was found in an isolated place and out of reach from human beings. The child, however, was able to survive in a forest and being surrounded by wild animals. When people found the child, the child could not say a word. It really is a fact that exposure plays a very important part in engaging the children to learn a language.
As for learning a foreign language, some experts believe that giving children direct input of foreign language would be best in early childhood. From the Critical Period Hypothesis it is known that children learn best when they were young because the brain systems work best in relation to inputting second language at the very young age. However, other researchers found out that learning a second language does not necessarily matter with the age of the learners. Yet, it is still best if the children are exposed to second or foreign language to improve a good pronunciation. Even though children learn second or foreign language early, still they might encounter difficulties in implementing ‘parts’ such as grammar and morphology (Cameron, 2001).
As teacher, finding the correct way of teaching to young learners is crucial. Teachers have to know the child characteristics so that the learners can learn well. Harmer (2011) points out some tips that a teacher might implement to teach to young learners. They have to decorate the room in such a way that might attract the children. It includes the wide space and lovely design of the classroom. From Vygotsky’s theory of children as a social learner, giving them activities that allow them to interact with others is essential. Children can learn vocabularies from their peers when they play. While from Piaget’s belief, teacher can give the learners activities that encounter them directly with things such as puzzle, games, songs, or movement activities for children are active learners.
Still participating in the way children learn a language, Bruner gives a very interesting example. In his theory, Bruner mainly focuses on scaffolding and routines. Scaffolding refers to how the caretaker assists the children to learn a language. The assistance might come from routines. So for example, a parent, who has more capability in reading, tells his child a bedtime stories as a routine. At first, the child does not recognize the word and the meaning, but the parent just tells the stories anyway but still by explaining in such a simplest way. Later, when the child is already a little older, he or she would be able to answer parent’s questions related to the story from the pictures, for example. As the time goes by, the role as a teller might be given to the children so that they would be able to retell the story to their parents, indicating that the process of learning a language deals with scaffolding and routines that Bruner introduces.
References
Cameron, L. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harmer, J. 2011. How to Teach Writing. Malaysia: Pearson Education Limited.
Pinter, A. 2006. Teaching Young Language Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pinter, A. 2011. Children Learning Second Languages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.