L2 learner age from a contextualised perspective
Loading...
Date
2014-10
Authors
Advisor
Editor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Zakład Filologii Angielskiej Wydział Pedagogiczno-Artystyczny Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Kaliszu
Title alternative
Abstract
In this qualitative study the author focuses on age effects on young learners’ L2
development by comparing the L2 learning processes of six young learners in an
instructed setting: three who had started learning English as L2 at age 6/7 and
three who had started at age 9/10. Both earlier and later young beginners were
followed for three years (during their second, third and fourth year of learning
English). The participants’ L2 development was measured through their oral out-
put elicited by a two-part speaking task administered each year. Results of the
analyses are interpreted taking into account each learners’ individual characteristics (learning ability, attitudes and motivation, self-concept) and the characteristics of the context in which they were learning their L2 (attitudes of school staff and parents to early L2 learning, home support, in-class and out-of-class exposure
to L2, socio-economic status). The findings show that earlier and later young beginners follow different trajectories in their L2 learning, which reflects different
interactions which age enters into with the other variables
Description
Sponsor
Keywords
age effects, young beginners, English as L2, individual differences, contaxtual factors
Citation
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2014, vol. 4, no. 3, pp.419-441