The Theme of Slavery in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Children as foreign language learners

Age is a very important factor that influences learning. In the case of young learners, the process of acquiring knowledge differs from adolescents or adults. The idea of children as foreign language learners is discussed below. Children are believed to be fast and very effective learners, but it does not have to be always true. It cannot be denied that children are good at acquiring proper pronunciation. They are more eager to imitate various sounds than older learners and they are able to do it perfectly, so, in this respect, they are definitely superior to adolescents and adults. As far as other skills are concerned, young learners are not better than older ones, and, as Jeremy Harmer claims, they can turn out to be even worse, particularly in terms of formal education (81).

If so, teaching children is not only to relay knowledge to them, but also to evoke good associations with the language that they learn. Then, young learners gain a positive attitude to it, which is “perhaps one of the most valuable things that primary teachers can transmit to children” (Phillips 8). A teacher’s responsibility is to encourage pupils to learn a foreign Kuta 7

language, thanks to which they are more motivated to continue learning when they get older and can achieve a high level of language fluency. When young students feel comfortable in their learning environment and when tasks provided by the teacher evoke their interest, they will be more eager to learn. Jayne Moon provides a few tips on how to make a lesson appealing for children. She claims that the classroom where students learn should be vibrant. What is more, a good relationship between the teacher and the class is essential. They should enjoy the time spent together because it helps to create an atmosphere of joy in the classroom. Moreover, students have to see the point of learning to do it willingly and the teacher’s task is to encourage pupils to use the foreign language...