See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/42793046

Teaching Languages to Young Learners

Article September 2003
DOI: 10.1016/S0346-251X(03)00040-X Source: OAI

CITATIONS

READS

242

2,334

1 author:
Lynne Cameron
The Open University (UK)
40 PUBLICATIONS 1,492 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE

Available from: Lynne Cameron

Retrieved on: 07 November 2016

Reviews

Teaching Languages to Young Learners

L. Cameron
Cambridge University Press 2001, 288pp., 13.95
isbn 0 521 77434 9
Teaching Languages to Young Learners is very
welcome, in that it extends the still-limited range of
publications which focus on the theory and practice
of teaching of languages to young learners between
the ages of ve and twelve. As the author herself
says in the Preface (p. xi):
This book aims to provide teachers, and the
trainers of teachers of foreign languages to
young learners, with a useful and workable
theoretical framework and set of principles in
which they can embed and develop their
practice. In that it can be said to be initiating a
much needed process of developing an applied
linguistics for teaching foreign languages to
young learners.
This review will explore the extent to which this
book fulls the stated aims, in the context that
hitherto an accompanying debate about
theoretical and research issues has been largely
absent (ibid.).
The author stresses at the outset that learning is in
the centre of the frame (ibid.), and that the book
adopts an approach that is learning-centred as
opposed to child-centred (p. xiii). This latter
distinction is clearly relevant in the context of
young learners, where it is essential for the right
conditions to be created in order for learning to
occur, and where learning is an active, cognitive
process.
I will begin by giving an overview of the
organization and content of the book. Following the
preface, there are ten chapters that focus on
principles, theories, and practice, a nal review
chapter, references, and an index. The preface
usefully denes terms, and as is evident from the
above quote, it sets out the authors underlying

beliefs about how children learn languages. It then

goes on to discuss the organization of the book,
and how the chapters relate one to another. A nal
note denes the term foreign language, which
though not in the title, is the main focus of the
book. The author claries that while the data and
examples used in the book relate to English as the
foreign language in question, the general principles
will also be applicable to the teaching of other
languages to children.
Chapter 1, Children learning a foreign language,
provides the foundation for the book, reviewing
theories of child development and language
learning, and discussing aective factors in the
learning of a foreign and second language. The
division of language into written language and oral
language (p.19), the latter with its own
subdivisions, seems to reect the ways in which
children learn and use language, and is a move
towards developing an applied linguistics in this
context.
Chapter 2, Language learning through tasks and
activities, explores task demands on young
learners and how task support can be given in the
classroom. The teacher explains that, for the child,
a classroom task should have a clear purpose and
meaning, whicle, for the teacher, the task should
have clear language learning goals (p. 31). The
task itself is made up of preparation activities, a
core activity, and follow-up activities. An activity
from a current coursebook is used to exemplify how
this can be applied in the classroom, and there is a
chart which sets this task sequence out in terms of
goals.
Chapter 3, Learning the spoken language, draws
extensively on classroom data to explore how
learners grow to understand and share meanings in
a foreign language classroom context. There is a
discussion of listening as providing input for
speaking, as well as of the spoken language, with
examples of short activities for developing specic
listening skills.

ELT Journal Volume 56/2 April 2002 Oxford University Press

reviews

201

welcome

Chapter 4, Learning words, draws on the authors

own research into vocabulary development. There
is discussion of what knowing a word actually
means, the dierent types and functions of words,
and how vocabulary can be taught and learnt. At
the end of the chapter there is a useful overview of
vocabulary learning strategies.
Chapter 5, Learning grammar, explores the
question of what grammar is, with relevant
discussion of the childs emergent grammar, and
how there seems to be a progression from learning
words and chunks to learning grammar. A set of
principles for learning-centred grammar teaching is
rst discussed, and then applied to practice in the
form of techniques for the classroom.
Chapter 6, Learning literacy skills, reviews what
the learning of reading entails, in both L1 and L2,
and how this feeds into and supports the learning
of writing. This chapter explores approaches to
teaching and developing reading skills, including
the use of phonics and the whole word approach,
and the changing role of reading and writing in our
fast-moving technological world.
Chapter 7, Learning through stories, rst
considers stories as discoursea very relevant
commentand then explores the features that
naturally occur within stories which can support
language development. A particular story is used to
highlight criteria for selection and evaluation, and
to exemplify ways in which stories can be used in
the classroom. This particular picture book appears
to be aimed at English mother-tongue children of
about 8 or 9 years old, a discussion of the possible
cognitive/linguistic implications of using mothertongue books in an L2 context might have been
interesting here.
Chapter 8 discusses techniques for planning
theme-based teaching and learning, as well as the
challenges of planning not only the whole topic but
also the individual tasks. One topic, on potatoes, is
used to exemplify underlying principles discussed
earlier in the chapter. The chapter ends with a
bullet-point list of reminders to ensure that the
theme-based teaching is successfula very helpful
list!
Chapter 9, Language choice and language
learning, focuses on the mother tongue and the
use of the foreign or second language. The
dynamics and tensions which often emerge
between these for the teacher and the learners are
considered, and there is discussion of these with
reference to classroom data. The use of

202

metalanguage and the role of mother tongue within

learner training is also included.
Chapter 10, Assessment and language learning,
picks up on the authors statement (p. 214) that
the nature of childrens foreign language learning
might be expected to generate a range of
assessment issues in need of attention. These
assessment issues and concepts are discussed and
dened in this chapter, where assessment is seen
as consisting of tests, observation, and selfassessment. The importance of assessment being
congruent with teaching and learning is stressed,
with assessment needing to reect the languagelearning goals for activities.
Chapter 11, Issues around teaching children a
foreign language, reviews the constructs as set out
in the book, and identies areas ripe for further
research and investigation. The chapter concludes
with discussion of a selection of pedagogic issues
that demand attention.
One of the strong points of this book is the use of
classroom data to highlight and explore key
principles and concepts of language learning in the
classroom, in Chapters 3, 5, and 9, for example.
This allows the author to link theory to practice,
and to focus in on what is really happeningand
happensin a young learner classroom. The fact
that data is drawn from dierent young learner
foreign-language learning contexts is also
signicant, as there are still too many emergent
theories based on data from L1 classrooms.
Extracts from and analysis of classroom data for
each of the chapters would have been even more
welcome. It would seem to be this sort of approach
which will move us towards developing a pedagogy.
The focus throughout the book remains on the
learner, and on learning-centred teaching. The
learner is consistently in the frame, and the author
ensures that in each chapter this concept of
learning-centredness is paramount.
The table where the author presents her division of
language for child foreign language learning (p.19),
is instantly attractive, and is referred to throughout
the book. Traditional divisions, such as the four
skills, have never really sat comfortably with young
learners, and this approach seems to oer a new
and appropriate way of looking at language.
There are, however, a number of problems with this
book which I feel mainly arise precisely from it
being only one book! As the author mentions in the
preface, there is a dearth of material on theoretical
and research issues in the eld of young learners.

Reviews

reviews

welcome

Although she is right about this, it does seem that

she has tried to cover too many of these issues in a
single book, where perhaps three or four might
have been more realistic. This has resulted in some
issues, such as vocabulary and literacy, being
covered in depth, while others, such as the theory
of how children learn a foreign language, seem to
be given more of an overview. A more considered
analysis and review of the issues underlying child
development, and the learning of the mother
tongue and subsequent languages is needed in a
book with this stated readership. On the other
hand, while the discussion of practical classroom
activities and techniques are of interest, they may
be less relevant to the readership. Noticeable by
their absence are fuller discussions of cognitive
issues, including thinking skills and the principles
underlying criteria for the selection of tasks and
task sequencing with reference to cognitive
development, aective factors, such as multiple
intelligences and development of the brain, and
mention of the work and research of Gordon Wells,
Jean Aitchison, Joan Tough, Robert Fisher and
Marion Williams, and Bob Burden.
Despite the foregoing reservations, there is much
to recommend in this book, and it denitely
complements those already on the shelves. The
authors attempt to cover all the ground from
theory and principles right through to classroom
examples means that there are entry points for both
teachers and trainers. There is also a very full
reference section at the back of the book, which can
be used to further extend awareness of the eld. To
return to the quote from the Preface, given at the
beginning of this article, the book certainly provides
the beginnings of a theoretical framework and
principles, and initiates the process of developing a
pedagogy in this area which the research areas
identied on pp. 2436 will continue. Published
research, such as appears in Rixon (1999) and
Moon and Nikolov (2000), further informs this
process, and adds to the much needed debate (p.
xi) which Cameron has initiated.
References
Moon, J., and M. Nikolov (eds.). 2000. Research
into Teaching English to Young Learners. Pecs:
University Press Pecs.
Rixon, S. (ed.). 1999. Young Learners of English:
Some Research Perspectives. Harlow: Pearson
Education.

The reviewer
Melanie Williams is a freelance ELT consultant and
teacher trainer with extensive experience in the
Young Learner eld. She has worked in many parts
of the world and contributes regularly at
international conferences and to international
journals. Her current positions include Joint Chief
Assessor for Cambridge Young Learner Courses,
NILE Associate Trainer, specialist tutor on the MA
TEYL (by distance) for the University of York, and
Series Editor of Penguin Young Readers. Her main
areas of interest are training and development for
teachers and trainers, including the design and use
of distance education programmes, the use of
readers in the classroom, and assessment.
Email: mel.williams@paston.co.uk

Teachers in Action: Tasks for in-service language

teacher education and development
P. James
Cambridge University Press 2001, 299pp., 15.50
isbn 0 521 59689 0 paperback
I often lead workshops for in-service teachers. In a
typical group, of say 30, there are many hundreds of
years of experience in teaching. That experience has
been gained with particular age groups in particular
educational systems, yet, more often than not, I
have zero years of experience teaching in their
system. My role, therefore, as far as improving
teaching is concerned, can only be one of
supporting participants in sharing and learning
from their (and others) collective experience, and
encouraging them to develop their own action
plans for the next step in their professional-learning
journey, as well as the skills to carry them out. This
is a book for those in similar positions, and I was
delighted to be asked to review it.
In my reading, the book has four main and almost
equally weighted sections: the Introduction; the
rst ve chapters, which feature tasks; Chapter 6,
entitled Resources for the Trainer, and a nal
section of photocopiable worksheets. The book
also contains useful suggestions for further
reading, a bibliography, and an index. I will describe
and comment on each of these four main sections
before making some concluding remarks.
The introduction to the book starts by describing
the books main target audience as experienced
and inexperienced trainers working in the in-service

Reviews

203

reviews

welcome