Module 5 :

Children and Foreign Languages - some experiments

If language is a specific, inborn instinct, as Pinker maintains, and if it is subject to a critical period effect, then we might expect that, at least for young children, a second language could be acquired more successfully through some kind of 'naturalistic' process than through the methods usually adopted by school systems. For older children, adolescents and adults, however, it may be that, once the critical period has gone by, a second language may only be learned in the same way that we learn other skills.

We will need to look, then, at approaches that put learners into similar circumstances to those of the first-language learner, and see whether they work well for children, for adolescents and for adults. Of course, it is virtually impossible to fulfill all the necessary conditions - as we have seen, a baby has already begun reacting to language before it is born, and when it first enters into conversation with other people, it does so within a circle of relationships which no school can ever hope to reproduce. Moreover, the baby has a far more pressing need to acquire the language of those with whom it shares its life than the schoolboy or girl has to learn the language spoken by teachers. But can we hope to discover some way of teaching a language that is in some ways similar to the way a child acquires the mother-tongue?

It was in the hope of using children's innate abilities as language-learners that educators developed what are known as 'immersion programmes'. (This link will take you to the CARLA (Centre for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition) site on Immersion, where you will find information on what immersion is, and a number of leads for further research). Immersion programmes were first developed in Canada, where English-speaking parents in those areas where French became the official language, disappointed with the results of ordinary schooling, pushed for a more efficient approach to language teaching. The results were impressive, and the model has spread to other countries - particularly to countries where two language communities exist side by side - see this outline of immersion programmes in Finland..

This is not to say that no problems have been encountered ; one researcher at least is highly critical of such programmes, and holds that even pupils who have had many hours of immersion are incapable of expressing themselves fluently. For a round-up of the various criticisms, have a look at this essay by a student in linguistics at the University of Victoria who has herself been through the process. If we then look at the essay by Fred Genesee, one of the researchers who has been most heavily involved in evaluating immersion programmes, we can then see some of the reasons why pupils may not have done as well as might have been expected.

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