Early language learning in instructed contexts – Editorial introduction

Teaching English to young learners in private sector of Iranian ELT: Challenges and local realities

“…According to Shamsaee and Shams (2022), and as confirmed by the findings, when it comes to TEYL, the need for established and effective EYL teacher preparation is felt the most. The supply of qualified and competent teachers with appropriate skills (Cameron, 2003) and provision of quality pre‐service and in‐service teacher education/training courses for early language learning teachers is repeatedly mentioned as a major challenge in many contexts worldwide (Enever & Lindgren, 2016; Rixon, 2017).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue: Learners’ outcomes and effective strategies in early second language learning

“…Older children in the upper stages of primary school are more analytic, have well--developed literacy skills, are aware of others' viewpoints, and have knowledge of the world and an interest in real--life issues. Two of the earliest research reports on early second language learning outlined a number of conditions for success (Blondin et al 1998;Edelenbos, Johnstone, & Kubanek, 2006), and subsequent research reviews contributed to an understanding of factors fostering early language learning (Enever, 2011;Enever & Lindgren, 2016;Garcia Mayo, 2017;Nikolov & Djigunovic, 2011). As these researchers noted, the amount of exposure inside and outside school should be increased, parental involvement should be guaranteed, class size should ideally be reduced, teachers should possess an advanced linguistic proficiency level, methodologically appropriate training should be provided, and continuity should be ensured from one educational level to the next.…”

“…The growing number of early second and foreign language teaching programmes has been paralleled by an increase in research contributions, particularly over the past ten years. Edited volumes on research-informed practice (Bland, 2015;García Mayo, 2017;Moon & Nikolov, 2000;Mourão & Lourenço, 2015;Murphy & Evangelou, 2016;Nikolov, 2009;Philp, Oliver, & Mackey, 2008;Rokita--Jaśkow & Ellis, 2019; among others), research methods (Enever & Lindgren, 2017;Pinter & Zandian, 2014), assessment (Nikolov, 2017;Prosic--Santovac & Rixon, 2019), teacher education (Zein & Garton, 2017) and global policies (Enever & Moon, 2009), special issues on young learners (Enever & Lindgren, 2016;Copland & Garton, 2014), monographs (Murphy, 2014;Pinter, 2011) and handbooks (Garton & Copland, 2019) all contribute to expanding research on instructed early language learning. However, the teaching and learning strategies and the outcomes of early language teaching policies in pre--primary and primary school settings remain under--researched in comparison to other age groups (i.e., university learners or adolescent learners) and same age groups in second language or immersion settings (Collins & Muñoz, 2016) and their findings from studies on the latter groups cannot be extended to YLs on account of age and/or context--related differences.…”

Construyendo puentes entre Educación Infantil y Primaria para la enseñanza bilingüe en inglés

“…En definitiva, parece que las autoridades educativas de la Comunidad de Madrid son sensibles a la importancia que tiene incrementar la docencia del inglés en Infantil para garantizar un tránsito óptimo de Infantil a la educación bilingüe en Primaria, y así asegurar el éxito en esta fase de la educación. Este período de transición a la enseñanza bilingüe supone un desafío y un cambio significativo en la docencia que conlleva tiempo y especialización porque los cambios en políticas educativas no siempre van acompañados de cambios comparables en la promoción de cursos de formación inicial y continua del profesorado (Enever & Lindgren, 2016).…”