16. The status of the target language: Contemporary criteria influencing language choices for early learners in England

Enever, Janet

doi:10.1515/9783110218282.377

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The 3-year longitudinal ELLiE study (Enever, 2011 ) examined among other aspects the listening skills of roughly 1,400 children in seven European countries (Germany did not take part). Beginning in the second year of EFL learning pupils aged 7-8 years were tested in listening at the end of each school year from 2007 to 2010 (The ELLiE team, 2011 , pp.…”

Section: Prior Research Findings On Listening Competences In Early Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning EFL from Year 1 or Year 3? A Comparative Study on Children’s EFL Listening and Reading Comprehension at the End of Primary Education

Wilden

Porsch²

2016

Educational Linguistics

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Do primary school children achieve better listening and reading skills when they start learning EFL in year 1 instead of year 3? Addressing this question this chapter sums up an empirical study investigating the EFL achievements of more than 6,500 primary school children in Germany. Data was collected in 2010 and 2012 as part of the interdisciplinary longitudinal research study Ganz In allowing for the comparison of two cohorts who differ in the length and quantity of early EFL instruction due to curricular changes: Whereas the 2010 cohort learned EFL for 2 lessons per week over 2 years (beginning at the age of ~8) the 2012 cohort learned EFL for two hours per week over 3.5 years (beginning at the age of ~6). In summary the fi ndings show that children with three and a half years of early EFL education demonstrated higher receptive achievements than children with 2 years of early EFL education. Independent of their mono-or multilingual backgrounds all learners seemed to benefi t from extending EFL education. The results of a multilevel regression analysis indicate that the language background of young learners cannot explain any variance in their receptive EFL achievements. Instead, their reading skills in German (the language of schooling) in addition to their socio-economic status and gender were identifi ed as factors.

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Section: Prior Research Findings On Listening Competences In Early Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning EFL from Year 1 or Year 3? A Comparative Study on Children’s EFL Listening and Reading Comprehension at the End of Primary Education

Wilden

Porsch²

2016

Educational Linguistics

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“…It was found that parental educational levels were significantly correlated with young learners' comprehension in the target foreign language, including English. In addition, the amount of exposure to the target language outside of school and the parental use of the target language at work were also found to be influential (Enever 2011). Zou and Zhang (2011), a study conducted among secondary school students in Shanghai rather than elementary school students, also found that students' English performance (as measured by a locally administered written test) showed differences that varied by their parents' educational levels.…”

Section: Parental Factors and Early English Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental factors and early English education as a foreign language: a case study in Mainland China

Butler

2013

Research Papers in Education

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As English has increasingly become associated with social and economic power in the context of globalization, there has been a growing concern regarding achievement gaps in English that appear to be correlated to learners' socio-economic status (SES). The present study aims to examine how parents' SES and their behaviors and beliefs about English education relate to their children's English language learning, and how such relationships may differ across different grade levels. The participants were fourth, sixth and eighth grade students who had learned English from the third grade level (572 students in total) together with their parents in a medium-sized city in China. An extensive parental survey revealed that while parental beliefs about English education and their beliefs about their children's success in acquiring English did not differ between different SES groups, their direct behaviors (such as providing direct assistance for their children to learn English) and their indirect behaviors (such as the home literacy environment and indirect modeling they provided) showed significant differences by the fourth grade level. Combined with the students' learning outcome data, it was found that while the parents' SES did not show much effect on their children's listening and reading/writing performance during their elementary school years, it did indicate an effect on their speaking abilities at the fourth grade level, if not earlier. This paper suggests the importance of incorporating socio-economic dimensions in theorizing second and foreign language acquisition (SLA), which are largely missing in current major approaches in SLA.

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“…Recently, many European countries have started to lower the starting age for foreign language instruction (Enever, 2011). As part of the 2014 school reform, Denmark as well lowered the onset age for English classes from 3 rd to 1 st grade.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Category-Bound Rights and Obligations of Young EFL Learners in Denmark: The Case of (Extreme) Differentiation

Wieschen¹

2018

HUJE

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This study investigates if and how primary school teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) to young learners in Denmark interact in everyday classroom interaction with students who -according to a receptive vocabulary test -differ vastly in their English skills. Using Conversation Analysis, the study looks at how students present themselves in terms of claimed and demonstrated proficiency, epistemic displays, and willingness to participate, and at teachers' methods to engage in interactions with these children, for example when they select them as next speakers. The analysis focuses on how the categories "strong" and "weak student" are co-constructed by both the teacher, the student in question, and their classmates. It seems that membership in one of these groups is written in stone, as students are not given many opportunities to be reassessed, even though continuous assessment is a prerequisite for successful differentiation. The analysis of EFL teachers' practices of doing differentiation in teaching-in-interaction of Young Learners of EFL in Denmark contributes to our understanding of differentiation in language classrooms.

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16. The status of the target language: Contemporary criteria influencing language choices for early learners in England

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Learning EFL from Year 1 or Year 3? A Comparative Study on Children’s EFL Listening and Reading Comprehension at the End of Primary Education

Learning EFL from Year 1 or Year 3? A Comparative Study on Children’s EFL Listening and Reading Comprehension at the End of Primary Education

Parental factors and early English education as a foreign language: a case study in Mainland China

Category-Bound Rights and Obligations of Young EFL Learners in Denmark: The Case of (Extreme) Differentiation

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