Since April, all public elementary schools started using a new Course of Study authorized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which allowed the implementation of English teaching as an option to international understanding in the public school system in Japan. Therefore, it is about time that teachers and teacher trainers gained knowledge about language acquisition and learning, considering the developmental appropriateness of children, as well as the practical techniques for teaching children English. This will enable elementary school teachers to broaden their options to make efficient use of the Period for Integrated Study in order to motivate and interest their students to learn. This paper will provide some insights for teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to children in Japan and its issues. Included are three main parts; ) the view of teaching English in elementary schools under the Japanese educational reform of and its issues, ) the differences between English as a Second Language (ESL) and EFL, and ) language acquisition and learning in relation to learners age, based on the theoretical framework.
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English as a Foreign Language-EFL English as a Second Language - ESL :, IT Information Technology
Mar ALT Assistant Language Teacher ALT ALT ALT ALT ALT ALT ALT TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as a Second Language ESL ESL EFL ESL ESL EFL ESL Spolsky Penfield & Roberts Lenneberg Lenneberg
Mar Asher & Garcia Payne Lenneberg Critical Period Hypothesis Lamendella Larsen-Freeman & Long Hartnett Hartnett Curtain & Pesola Landry Krashen, Long & Scarcella Larsen-Freeman Long As revealed by long-term studies, younger is better in the most crucial area, ultimate attainment, with only quite young (child) starters being able to achieve accent-free, native-like performance in a SL. As revealed by short-term studies, older learners are at an advantage in rate of acquisition (adults faster than children, and older children faster than younger children). (Larsen-Freeman & Long, : )
Seliger Scovel J. Piaget Sensorimotor stage Preoperational stage Concrete operational stage Formal operational stage Sensorimotor stage Mommy House pretty. Preoperational stage
Mar Piaget Concrete operational stage Formal operational stage Curtain & Pesola, ; Fogel,, Curtain & PesolaPiaget Piaget Curtain & Pesola
Curtain & Pesola, Piaget Curtain & Pesola Piaget Richard-Amato Curtain & Pesola Guiora Guiora, et al., Guiora
Mar Guiora Brown, Brown Schumann Curran children acquire second languages more easily than adults because they are less threatened by the sounds of the new language and because they are willing to depend on others for support in learning. The adult, on the other hand, has acquired a basic security in his own language and is not ordinarily threatened by rejection when he speaks it. But when he attempts to communicate in the new language his normal linguistic securities are undermined, and he finds himself in a dependent state which he may resist. (Schumann, : ) GardnerSocio-educational Model Integrative Motivation Integrativeness Attitude toward the Learning Situation Motivation Gardner Gardner, Gardner Macnamara Brown Macnamara
Spolsky, EFL Spolsky, : Teaching is learning
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