Fenomén času v učení se cizím jazykům

• Authors: Petr Najvar , Světlana Hanušová

Title variants

EN

Time in Learning Foreign Languages

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

Time is often seen as an important factor in teaching English as a foreign language. In lay discussions (including those in the policy-making circles) the starting age is too often pinpointed as the decisive factor. Some classic experiments show that there might be a certain “time window” after the closure of which it is well-nigh impossible to acquire a language. Some other arguments include the fact that adults cannot dedicate much time to learning a language and therefore the free time that some children have too much of might be used. These arguments implicitly build on an assumption that the more time (years) one spends learning a language, the better user of the language one becomes; in other words, the sooner one starts learning a language in life, the more successful one will be at a given point in life (say at the school-leaving examination). However, empirical research shows that the issues behind language learning are far more complex than that and that it is essential to take into account many other factors like the nature of the processes of learning and acquisition, the environment in which learning takes place, and the learners’ motivation. The authors of the paper summarize recent developments in the discussion about the age as the factor in second language learning and discuss some of the decisions formulated on the policy-making level. It would seem that empirical research very often fails to be reflected in political documents

Keywords

EN

teaching English as a foreign language; early foreign language instruction; primary school

Discipline

• EDUCATION: EDUCATION

• Publisher: Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts
• Journal: Studia paedagogica
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 65-83

Dates

published

2010

Contributors

author

Petr Najvar

author

Světlana Hanušová

• Studia paedagogica Ústav pedagogických věd Filozofická fakulta Masarykovy univerzity Arna Nováka 1 602 00 Czech republic