Dolean D.D. How early can we efficiently start teaching a foreign language?
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Dolean D.D. How early can we efficiently start teaching a foreign language? // Preschool Education Today. 2016, Issue 9 -
p. 68–79.
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Abstract
The appropriateness of early childhood foreign language education is occasionally a debatable subject among parents, educators, public education administrators and policymakers. A large body of research has been done on this subject and conclusions sometimes appear contradictory. This article first reviews briefly the importance of learning a foreign language, and the advantages of bilingualism. Second, it compiles empirical evidence that concerns early foreign language education of children living in a native language speaking environment and suggests answers to questions regarding the developmentally appropriate timing to start providing foreign language education services.
References
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26. Hermanto, N., S. Moreno, and E. Bialystok. 2012. «Linguistic and Metalinguistic Outcomes of Intense Immersion Education: how Bilingual?» International Journal of Billingual Education and Billingualism 15 (2): 131–145.
27. Hickey, T. 1999. «Parents and Early Immersion: Reciprocity Between Home and Immersion Pre-School.» International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 2 (2): 94–113.
28. Howell, P., S. Davis, and R. Williams. 2009. «The Effects of Bilingualism on Stuttering During Late Childhood.» Archives of Disease in Childhood 94: 42–46.
29. Jared, D., P. Cormier, B. A. Levy, and L. Wade-Wolley. 2011. «Early Predictors of Biliteracy Development in Children in French Immersion.» Journal of Educational Psychology 103(1): 119–139.
30. Johnson, J. S., and E. L. Newport. 1989. «Critical Period Effects in Second Language Learning: The Influence of Maturational State on the Acquisition of English as A Second Language.» Cognitive Psychology 21: 60–99.
31. Johnstone, R. 2002. Addressing ‘The Age Factor’: Some implications for language policy. Guide for the development of Language Education Policies in Europe From Linguistic Diversity to Plurilingual Education. Language Policy Division.
32. Kaushanskaya, M., and V. Marian. 2009. «The Bilingual Advantage in Novel Word Learning.» Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 16 (4): 705–710.
33. Kovelman, I., M. Shalinsky, M. Berens, and L. Petitto. 2008. «Shining new Light on the Brain’s «Bilingual Signature:» A Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Investigation of Semantic Processing.» Neuroimage 39 (3): 1457–1471.
34. Krashen, S. D. and T. D. Terrell. 1983. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon.
35. Lambert, W. E. 1992. «Challenging Established Views on Social Issues.» American Psychologist 47: 533–542.
36. Lenneberg, E. 1967. Biological Foundations of Language. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
37. Levy, B., N. McVeigh, A. Marful, and M. Anderson. 2007. «Inhibiting Your Native Language. The Role of Retrieval-Induced Forgetting During Second-Language Acquisition.» Psychological Science 18 (1): 29–34.
38. Long, M. 1990. «Maturational Constraints on Language Development.» Studies of Second Language Acquisition 12: 251–285.
39. Marinova-Todd, S. F., D. B. Marshall, and C. Snow. 2000. «Three Misconceptions About Ageand L2 Learning.» TESOL Quarterly 34 (1): 9–31.
40. Mechelli, A., J. Crinion, U. Noppeney, J. O’Doherty, J. Ashburner, R. Frackowiak, and C. Price.2004. «Neurolinguistics: Structural Plasticity in the Bilingual Brain.» Nature 431: 757–757.
41. Meier, G. S. 2010. «Two-way Immersion Education in Germany: Bridging the Linguistic gap.» International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 13 (4): 419–437.
42. Munoz, C. 2006. «The Effects of Age on Foreign Language Learning: The BAF Project.» In Ageand the Rate of Foreign Language Learning, edited by C. Munoz, 1–40. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
43. Muсoz, C., and D. Singleton. 2011. «A Critical Review of age-Related Research on L2 Ultimate Attainment.» Language Teaching 44: 1–35.
44. Newport, E. L. 1991. «Contrasting Conceptions of the Critical Period for Language.» In The Epigenesis of Mind, edited by S. Carey and R. Gelman, 111–130. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
45. Peal, E., and W. E. Lambert. 1962. «The Relation of Bilingualism to Intelligence.» Psychological Monographs 76 (546): 1–23.
46. Ricciardelli, L. A. 1992. «Creativity and Bilingualism.» Journal of Creative Behavior 26: 242–259.718 D. D. Dolean Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 04:39 15 July 2016
47. Rivas, S., A. Sobrino, and F. Peralta. 2010. «Weaknesses and Strengths in Assessing Early Childhood Programmes: An Assessment of an Early Childhood Spanish Trilingual Programme in two– to Three-Year-old Children.» Early Child Development and Care 180(5): 685–701.
48. Ruben, R. J. 1997. «A Time Frame of Critical/Sensitive Periods of Language Development.»Acta Otolaryngologica 117 (2): 202–205.
49. Rui-qiang, S. 2012. «A Strategic Study on Classroom Monitoring of English Language Teaching.» Education and Educational Technology. Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing 108: 307–312.
50. Safty, A. 1988. «French Immersion and the Making of A Bilingual Society: A Critical Reviewand Discussion.» Canadian Journal of Education 13: 243–62.
51. Singleton, D.. 2000. «Age and Second Language Acquisition.» Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 21: 77–89.
52. Singleton, D., and L. Ryan. 2004. Language Acquisition: The Age Factor. 2nd ed. Clevedon: Multilingual Matter.
53. Snow, C. E., and M. Hoefnagel-Hohle. 1978. «The Critical Period for Language Acquisition: Evidence From Second Language Learning.» Child Development 49: 1114–1128.
54. Special Eurobarometer 243. 2006. Europeans and their languages. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf on January 9, 2013 Luxembourg: European Commission.
55. Turnbull, M., D. Hart, and S. Lapkin. 2003. «Grade 6 French Immersion Students’ Performanceon Large-Scale Reading, Writing, and Mathematics Tests: Building Explanations.» Alberta Journal of Educational Research 49 (1): 6–23.
56. Wiley, E., E. Bialystok, and K. Hakuta. 2005. «New Approaches to Using Census Data to Testthe Critical –Period Hypothesis for Second Language Acquisition.» Psychological Science16 (4): 341–343.
57. Yan, S., and E. Nicoladis. 2009. «Finding le mot Juste: Differences Between Bilingual and Monolingual Children’s Lexical Access in Comprehension and Production.» Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12 (3): 323–335.European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 719Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 04:39 15 July 2016.
2. Barac, R., and E. Bialystok. 2012. «Bilingual Effects on Cognitive and Linguistic Development: Role of Language, Cultural Background, and Education.» Child Development 83: 413–422.
3. Berk, L. E. 2001. Development Through Life Span, 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
4. Bialystok, E. 2008. «Second-Language Acquisition and Bilingualism at an Early Age and the Impact on Early Cognitive Development.» Rev. Ed. In Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development (Online), edited by. R. E. Trembley, R. G. Barr and R. D. Peters, 1–4.Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development.
5. Bialystok, E., F. I. M. Craik, and M. Freedman. 2007. «Bilingualism as A Protection Against the Onset of Symptoms of Dementia.»Neuropsychologia 45: 459–464.
6. Bialystok, E., and M. M. Martin. 2004. «Attention and Inhibition in Bilingual Children: Evidence From the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task.» Developmental Science 7:325–339.
7. Birdsong, D. 1999. Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Mahwah, New Jersey.
8. Byers-Heinlein, K., T. Burns, and J. Werker. 2010. «The Roots of Bilingualism in Newborns.» Psychological Science 21 (3): 343–348.
9. Cenoz, J. 2003. «The Influence of Age on the Acquisition of English: General Proficiency, Attitudes and Code Mixing.» In Age and the Acquisition of English as A Foreign Language, edited by M. P. Garcia Mayo and M. L. Garcia Lecumberri, 77–93. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
10. Cummins, J. 1979. «Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency, Linguistic Interdependence, the Optimum age Question and Some Other Matters.» Working Papers on Bilingualism19: 121–129.
11. Day, E. M., and S. Shapson. 1988. «A Comparison Study of Early and Late French Immersion Programs in British Columbia.» Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne del’йducation 13 (2): 290–305.
12. DeKeyser, R. 2003. «Implicit and Explicit Learning.» In The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, edited by Doughty & Long, 313–348. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
13. DeKeyser, R. 2006. «A Critique of Recent Arguments Against the Critical Period Hypothesis.» In Age in L2 Acquisition and Teaching, edited by C. Abello-Contesse, R. Chacon-Beltran, M. D. Lopez-Jimenez and M. M. Torreblanca-Lopez, 49–58. Bern: Peter Lang.
14. De Keyser, R., I. Alfi-Shabtay, and D. Ravid. 2010. «Cross-linguistic Evidence for the Nature of Age Effects in Second Language Acquisition.» Applied Psycholinguistics 31: 413–438.
15. De Knop, S., F. Boers, and T. De Rycker, eds. 2010. Fostering Language Teaching Efficiency Through Cognitive Linguistics. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
16. Djigunovich, J. M., and M. Vilke. 2000. In Eight Years After; Wishful Thinking or the Facts of Life, edited by J. Moon and M. Nikolov, 67–86. Pecs: University of Pecs Press.
17. Dornyei, Z. 2009. The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition. London: Oxford University Press.
18. Elvin, P., E. Maagerш, and B. Simonsen. 2007. «How do the Dinosaurs Speak in England? English in Kindergarten.» European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 15(1): 71–86.
19. Fledge, J. E., M. Munro, and I. MacKay. 1995. «Factors Affecting Degree of Perceived Foreign Accent in A Second Language.» Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 97: 3125–3134.
20. Fledge, J. E., G. Yeni-Komshian, and S. Liu. 1999. «Age Constraints on Second Language Learning.» Journal of Memory and Language 41: 78–104.
21. Gebauer, S. K., A. C. M. Zaunbauer, and J. Moler. 2013. «Cross-language Transfer in English Immersion Programs in Germany: Reading Comprehension and Reading Fluency.» Contemporary Educational Psychology 38: 64–74.European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 717Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 04:39 15 July 2016
22. Genesse, F. 1978. «A Longitudinal Evaluation of an Early Immersion School Program.» Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’йducation 3 (4): 31–50.
23. Genesee, F., and D. Jared. 2008. «Literacy Development in Early French Immersion Programs.» Canadian Psychology 49 (2): 140–147.
24. Genesse, F., R. Tucker, and W. E. Lambert. 1975. «Communication Skills of Bilingual Children.» Child Development 46: 1010–1014.
25. Harley, B., and D. Hart. 1997. «Language Aptitude and Second Language Proficiency in Classroom Learners of Different Starting Ages.» Studies in Second Language Acquisition19: 379–400.
26. Hermanto, N., S. Moreno, and E. Bialystok. 2012. «Linguistic and Metalinguistic Outcomes of Intense Immersion Education: how Bilingual?» International Journal of Billingual Education and Billingualism 15 (2): 131–145.
27. Hickey, T. 1999. «Parents and Early Immersion: Reciprocity Between Home and Immersion Pre-School.» International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 2 (2): 94–113.
28. Howell, P., S. Davis, and R. Williams. 2009. «The Effects of Bilingualism on Stuttering During Late Childhood.» Archives of Disease in Childhood 94: 42–46.
29. Jared, D., P. Cormier, B. A. Levy, and L. Wade-Wolley. 2011. «Early Predictors of Biliteracy Development in Children in French Immersion.» Journal of Educational Psychology 103(1): 119–139.
30. Johnson, J. S., and E. L. Newport. 1989. «Critical Period Effects in Second Language Learning: The Influence of Maturational State on the Acquisition of English as A Second Language.» Cognitive Psychology 21: 60–99.
31. Johnstone, R. 2002. Addressing ‘The Age Factor’: Some implications for language policy. Guide for the development of Language Education Policies in Europe From Linguistic Diversity to Plurilingual Education. Language Policy Division.
32. Kaushanskaya, M., and V. Marian. 2009. «The Bilingual Advantage in Novel Word Learning.» Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 16 (4): 705–710.
33. Kovelman, I., M. Shalinsky, M. Berens, and L. Petitto. 2008. «Shining new Light on the Brain’s «Bilingual Signature:» A Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Investigation of Semantic Processing.» Neuroimage 39 (3): 1457–1471.
34. Krashen, S. D. and T. D. Terrell. 1983. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon.
35. Lambert, W. E. 1992. «Challenging Established Views on Social Issues.» American Psychologist 47: 533–542.
36. Lenneberg, E. 1967. Biological Foundations of Language. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
37. Levy, B., N. McVeigh, A. Marful, and M. Anderson. 2007. «Inhibiting Your Native Language. The Role of Retrieval-Induced Forgetting During Second-Language Acquisition.» Psychological Science 18 (1): 29–34.
38. Long, M. 1990. «Maturational Constraints on Language Development.» Studies of Second Language Acquisition 12: 251–285.
39. Marinova-Todd, S. F., D. B. Marshall, and C. Snow. 2000. «Three Misconceptions About Ageand L2 Learning.» TESOL Quarterly 34 (1): 9–31.
40. Mechelli, A., J. Crinion, U. Noppeney, J. O’Doherty, J. Ashburner, R. Frackowiak, and C. Price.2004. «Neurolinguistics: Structural Plasticity in the Bilingual Brain.» Nature 431: 757–757.
41. Meier, G. S. 2010. «Two-way Immersion Education in Germany: Bridging the Linguistic gap.» International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 13 (4): 419–437.
42. Munoz, C. 2006. «The Effects of Age on Foreign Language Learning: The BAF Project.» In Ageand the Rate of Foreign Language Learning, edited by C. Munoz, 1–40. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
43. Muсoz, C., and D. Singleton. 2011. «A Critical Review of age-Related Research on L2 Ultimate Attainment.» Language Teaching 44: 1–35.
44. Newport, E. L. 1991. «Contrasting Conceptions of the Critical Period for Language.» In The Epigenesis of Mind, edited by S. Carey and R. Gelman, 111–130. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
45. Peal, E., and W. E. Lambert. 1962. «The Relation of Bilingualism to Intelligence.» Psychological Monographs 76 (546): 1–23.
46. Ricciardelli, L. A. 1992. «Creativity and Bilingualism.» Journal of Creative Behavior 26: 242–259.718 D. D. Dolean Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 04:39 15 July 2016
47. Rivas, S., A. Sobrino, and F. Peralta. 2010. «Weaknesses and Strengths in Assessing Early Childhood Programmes: An Assessment of an Early Childhood Spanish Trilingual Programme in two– to Three-Year-old Children.» Early Child Development and Care 180(5): 685–701.
48. Ruben, R. J. 1997. «A Time Frame of Critical/Sensitive Periods of Language Development.»Acta Otolaryngologica 117 (2): 202–205.
49. Rui-qiang, S. 2012. «A Strategic Study on Classroom Monitoring of English Language Teaching.» Education and Educational Technology. Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing 108: 307–312.
50. Safty, A. 1988. «French Immersion and the Making of A Bilingual Society: A Critical Reviewand Discussion.» Canadian Journal of Education 13: 243–62.
51. Singleton, D.. 2000. «Age and Second Language Acquisition.» Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 21: 77–89.
52. Singleton, D., and L. Ryan. 2004. Language Acquisition: The Age Factor. 2nd ed. Clevedon: Multilingual Matter.
53. Snow, C. E., and M. Hoefnagel-Hohle. 1978. «The Critical Period for Language Acquisition: Evidence From Second Language Learning.» Child Development 49: 1114–1128.
54. Special Eurobarometer 243. 2006. Europeans and their languages. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf on January 9, 2013 Luxembourg: European Commission.
55. Turnbull, M., D. Hart, and S. Lapkin. 2003. «Grade 6 French Immersion Students’ Performanceon Large-Scale Reading, Writing, and Mathematics Tests: Building Explanations.» Alberta Journal of Educational Research 49 (1): 6–23.
56. Wiley, E., E. Bialystok, and K. Hakuta. 2005. «New Approaches to Using Census Data to Testthe Critical –Period Hypothesis for Second Language Acquisition.» Psychological Science16 (4): 341–343.
57. Yan, S., and E. Nicoladis. 2009. «Finding le mot Juste: Differences Between Bilingual and Monolingual Children’s Lexical Access in Comprehension and Production.» Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12 (3): 323–335.European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 719Downloaded by [Moskow State Univ Bibliote] at 04:39 15 July 2016.