Teaching Young Second Language Learners: Practices in Different Classroom Contexts

Adopting a learner-centred approach that places an emphasis on hands-on child SL methodology, this book illustrates the practices used to teach young second language learners in different classroom contexts:

(1) English-as-an-Additional-Language-or-Dialect (EAL/D) – both intensive EAL/D and EAL/D in the mainstream

(2) Language-Other-Than-English (LOTE)

(3) Content-and-Language-Integrated-Learning (CLIL),

(4) Indigenous

(5) Foreign-Language (FL). It will be particularly useful to undergraduate teachers to build upon the literacy unit they undertake in the first years of their course to explore factors that constitute an effective child SL classroom and, in practical terms, how to develop such a classroom.

The pedagogical strategies for teaching young language learners in the six chapters are firmly guided by research-based findings, enabling not only pre-service teachers but also experienced teachers to make informed choices of how to effectively facilitate the development of the target language, empowering them to assume an active and effective role of classroom practitioners.

Rhonda Oliver is a professor in the School of Education at Curtin University.

Bich Nguyen is a Curtin University research associate.