Teaching English to Young Learners

This volume presents a fascinating and important collection of chapters which lay a valuable foundation for anyone interested in learning more about the unique and growing context of language learning and teaching in young learners. While the specific focus of the volume is on the learning of English, many of the chapters are relevant to the learning of any foreign language in children between the ages of three and twelve. The volume provides a much needed international perspective, including different contexts of learning and different types of teaching approaches and tasks. Each chapter presents current thinking and research on central themes within English as a foreign language for young learners and consequently provides a rich resource for anyone involved in foreign language education. I will be recommending it to my students.

This is an excellent collection of research on teaching English to young learners. The studies presented herein cover a wide range of critical issues - both theoretical and practical - in a highly comprehensive and accessible manner. I strongly recommend this book to educators, researchers, and students who are interested in working with young English learners.

In her introduction to this volume, Janice Bland, defines language learning as a major opportunity for the widening of children's horizons. The rich collection of informative chapters also provides a major opportunity for the widening of the reader's horizons by reflecting a diversity of teaching contexts and drawing on research which addresses key themes and issues in language teaching to children in the 3 - 12 years age range. An important focus throughout the book is on the holistic development of the child and that, in addition to linguistic outcomes; language learning brings important emotional, cognitive, social, affective and social gains as well as the development of intercultural understanding. Another focus is the importance of the multifaceted role the teacher plays and the linguistic and methodological competencies they require to create optimum conditions for language learning. A third focus is how different modes of input - oral storytelling, poetry, picturebooks, technology, drama and play, can engage and motivate children in their ever-longer language learning journeys at school. This volume adds to the substantial body of authoritative literature on language teaching to children, and raises the professional status of an increasingly growing and important field to which, previously, little attention was given. I highly recommend this title to all involved in language teaching with children who want to widen their own horizons.

As the need for research-based publications in teaching English to young learners (EYL) becomes ever stronger, this book could not be more timely. With its focus on school settings and its multi-disciplinary approach, it offers insights into aspects of EYL that are fundamental but often neglected such as intercultural learning, pre-primary English, the role of formulaic language and holistic learning. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in EYL in Europe and beyond.

Teaching English to Young Learners is a very well-researched and highly readable book. This comprehensive collection of articles fosters international collaboration among leading academics and researchers involved in key fields of teaching English as a foreign language to young learners, which makes the publication attractive to a large readership worldwide. On the basis of current theories and empirical research, the authors discuss purposes, practices, competences, participants and contexts of foreign language teaching, learning and use. Key scholars with different areas of expertise provide latest ideas and innovative concepts on the topics. The focus is on linking theory and practice to transmit profound knowledge and introduce important teaching approaches to university students, university lecturers, experienced teachers and career starters. It is extraordinary useful for exam preparation on central young-learner topics such as task-based learning in the primary school, storytelling, vocabulary development, intercultural understanding in the primary school, CLIL scenarios with young learners, drama with children in the English language classroom and assessment.