ESP; HOW DO WE TEACH YOUNG LEARNERS

ESP; HOW DO WE TEACH YOUNG LEARNERS?

A.  Who are young learners?

There are many statements about meaning of young learners, three of which will be stated here. the First, according to Purwaningsih “Young Learners are learners in Elementary School aging 9-10 years old who are learning English as foreign language.” Based on that statement, we can know that Young Learners are students of primary school. Second, Another statement which is taken from Myers and Burnett “by the age of three, children may use about a thousand words. This will increase to 2000-10 000 by the age of five” (2004: 24). Third, the last statement about the meaning of Young Learners, according to Etty Maryati Hoesein, “Young Learners are the students of Elementary School who are at grade four up to grade six. Their ages range from ten to twelve years of age. They have learned English for about one up to four years.”

From those three statements, we may conclude that Young Learners are students who are studying in Elementary or Senior High School aging 7-15 and they are studying English as second language for about one up to four years. In other words, we may say that Young Learners are English foreign language learners, aging 9- 17.

young learners are supposed to be children from the first year of formal schooling (five or six years old) to eleven or twelve years of age. However the age of children is not crucial for how are they mature.

B.     Characteristics of Young Learners

The children have their own characteristics, which are different from adults. The characteristics cover their ways of thinking, their attitude, their aptitude, et cetera. They also prevail to the children’s ways of learning language. This, of course, influences the ways of teaching them. To give the best quality of teaching English to the children, the teachers should know and understand them.

Most primary level learners will share these characteristics. Those opinions give the researcher some important notes about children’s special characteristics in learning the language. They are as the following:

1.      Children respond the language well through concrete things (visual things) rather than abstract things,

2.      Children need physical movements and real activities to stimulate their thinking,

3.      Children will be enthusiastic if they are taught using fun activities or being involved in activities,

4.      Children love to play, and learn best when they are enjoying themselves,

5.      Children learn well through something that is close to their culture,

6.      Children like to work together.

C.    How do we teaching of English to young learners?

In teaching English to young learners, in this case, the students of  elementary school. the teachers must comprehend the concept of acquisition and learning. Acquisition can be defined as a process of having language naturally or sub-consciously. On the other hand, learning is a process of having language consciously.  Krashen and Terrell, (1983: 18)

In line with children’s development and the two concepts above (acquisition and learning), the teaching of English to young learners at elementary school requires situations in which the students acquire language abilities by means of acquisition rather than learning. It means that the students acquire language naturally and communicatively.

In the teaching-learning process, the English teachers must know the kinds of language learning resources for young learners, as follows:

a.       Learning resources are not additional materials for pleasure but main materials which are ordered and learned as interesting activities which children usually do in their daily lives.

b.      Learning resources for children must be appropriate for children’s aptitude, will, world, and so forth. Therefore, ideal English teachers to young learners are those who are familiar with English songs and games in English. In addition, they are able to order those materials into becoming interesting ones.

c.       There must be a clear distinction between technique and resource. Songs, stories, poems, and games are resources. In teaching English to children (young learners) at elementary school, the English teachers need to comprehend language learning principles, which, according to some experts, are as follows.

In teaching English to children (young learners) at elementary school,the English teachers need to comprehend language learning principles, which, according to some experts, are as follows.

a)      Children learn through experiences by manipulating surrounding objects. Piaget in Hudelson (1991: 256) states that children in primary or elementary school are usually in what is called the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. This means that they learn through hands –on experiences and through manipulation of objects in the environment.  Accordingly, it is important that the English teachers use media or realia in delivering the materials in order that the students are able to understand easily.

b)      Children learn through social context, in groups in which they know with one another. Vygotsky in Hudelson (1991: 257) states that children learn in social contexts, in groups where some group members know more than others. Therefore, the English teachers should make their teaching situations similar to social contexts.  

c)      Acquisition takes place when learners comprehend how the language is used. Vygotsky in Hudelson (1991: 257) states that acquisition occurs through learners figuring out how the language works, through learners making and testing out hypotheses about the language.  In this case, the English teacher should use English correctly although they employ short sentences.

d)     Acquisition takes place in social interaction. Vygotsky in Hudelson (1991: 257) states that language acquisition  occurs through social interaction. It means that the teacher should use English in the class room naturally as if they were in their society.

To make situation of the teaching of English to children (young learners) communicative, the English teachers should comprehend the communicative principles which are proposed by John and Morrow (1983: 60-64) as follow:

a)      Know what you are doing.

b)      The whole is more than the sum of the parts.

c)      The processes are as important as the forms.

d)     To learn it, do it.

e)      Mistakes are not always a mistake.

In the process of teaching English  to young learners, or, students of elementary school, there are three points that must be considered and done. Those are as follows:

a)      Language chunks

In practicing speaking in English, the students need to use language chunks, i.e., phrases which have complete meaning. In this way, the students will be able to comprehend language function as a means of communication easily although at first they do not know the meaning of the phrases they use, such as, “Good morning”, “Good afternoon”, “Never mind”, “Thank you”, and so forth. Perhaps, at the beginning the students do not know the meaning of the intended phrases but they comprehend the usage of those expressions. For example, when they meet their friends in the morning  they will say, “Good morning”, at noon they will say, “Good afternoon”, when they are given something by their friends, they will say, “Thank you”, and so forth. This is in line with Abe (1991: 266) who the language teachers to treat language as a series of natural chunks.

b)      Using media

Using media as a means of teaching English to young learners helps the teachers create classroom situations to be more alive. The media also help the teachers render materials and help the students comprehend the given materials. In place of reading, we can use flash cards, pictures, and various objects and realia to make the classroom come alive and resemble more closely the outside world. Use of these tools can free the teacher to be more the observer and facilitator and free the children to learn to use the language and learn to love the potentially fabulous experience of  being able to communicate in another language to other people from around our vast word (Abe, 1991: 266-267)

c)      Topic-based activities

Topic-based activities are usually called The Topic Approach (Hudelson, 1991: 258) or Topic-Based Work (Krashen, 1983: 84). The topic-based activities begin with a subject appropriate for the students and then that subject is designed to involve the students in investigating the topic and using the language as an integral part and the core of investigation. The topic approach begins with a subject that is of relevance and/or interest to the learners and then designs activities for learners that will involve them in investigating that topic and using language as an integral and central part of that investigation. Advocates of the topic approach suggest that learners will be more likely to be motivated to use the new language if their attention is focused on a topic or subject that they have an interest in or care about. (Hudelson, 199: 258).

The use of this topic supports the success of the teaching of English to young learners because the materials are based on students’ experiences and interest on the topic. They can associate any word, function, and situation involved to the specific topic. The association helps the students in memorization so that learning language through context helps them in comprehension.

When you are concentrating on a particular topic, the content of the lessons automatically becomes more important than the language itself. This means that it is easier to relate the lessons to the experiences and interests of your pupils (Scott and Ytreberg, 1993: 84).

Working on topics can help the learning process. The children can associate words, functions, structures, and situations with a particular topic. Association helps memory, and learning language in context clearly helps both understanding and memory (Scott and Ytreberg, 1993: 84).