Plenary presentation by Professor Emeritus Richard Johnstone
About the speaker
Professor Emeritus Richard Johnstone was for many years Director of Scottish CILT (Centre for Information on Language Teaching & Research), based at the University of Stirling, which is the national government-funded centre of language-learning expertise in Scotland. He has conducted a large number of research projects on various aspects of ELL, including a foreign language at primary school and also early total and early partial immersion. He writes an annual review of international research on languages teaching, learning, policy and use which is published by the Cambridge University Press and has authored many research reports and other texts for public policy bodies such as the government in Scotland, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the British Council and the Spanish Ministry of Education. In recent months he has given talks on ELL in many countries, including Ireland, Japan and India (where he gave the opening talk at the IATEFL Young Learners SIG conference in Bangalore, January 2008). Although retired from full-time employment, he is still actively engaged in conducting research projects, supervising PhD students, writing articles while (most importantly for him) remaining an active OLL (‘old language learner’ wishing he were an ELL!) while trying to come to terms with the tones, written characters and cultural nuances of both Mandarin and Cantonese.
Title of talk: Teaching young learners an additional language: a consideration of four key questions relating theory to practice
Summary of talk: ELL (Early Languages Learning) is now a global phenomenon and has become a major component of international and national policies for education at school. It is a topic on which many different groups hold a diverse range of views – for example, teachers, parents, senior school management, national and regional administrators, politicians, the business community and the media. As such, it can sometimes be difficult to separate what is true and valid about ELL from what is partly but not wholly true and from what is nothing but myth. The talk will seek to identify a basis of systematically collected international research evidence which adds to our understanding of underlying theory and which can underpin the further development of ELL practice. It will attempt to do so by addressing four key questions. First: What are the key characteristics of young learners which it is desirable to take into account when teaching them an additional language? Second: How does their additional language develop – for example, does it take place in describable stages, are these the same for everybody or not, and how might we describe them? Third: What do good teachers do in order to help their young pupils achieve success, and what do we mean by ‘success’? Do they make any use of the mother tongue? When and how do they introduce reading, writing and grammar? Is ‘good practice’ in ELL teaching one thing or several? Fourth: What might parents, schools, networks and international, national or regional bodies do in order to help young ELL learners feel part of a wider community of those who learn and use the particular language?
