Considerations for Teaching and Assessing Young Learners

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Considerations for Teaching and Assessing Young Learners Learning English as a Foreign Language Yael Bejarano – The Open University of Israel Claire Gordon - The Open University of Israel Yael_mb@netvision.net.il clairgo@openu.ac.il World globalization has sparked a growing interest in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to young learners all over the world. In the last few years there has been an explosion of English classes for young learners both in state systems- as part of the school curriculum- and in private language schools all over the world. This surge of interest in the area has led to the publication of methodology books and theoretical research as well as teaching programs. Many of these programs emphasize the importance of using authentic, experiential, motivating and cognitively appropriate language activities. According to Wright (2002), using storybooks are the most appropriate content for young learner language teaching programs in that stories are motivating to young learners and are appropriate to their cognitive level. Stories serve as an authentic contextual framework through which children are introduced to vocabulary and language structures and through stories children develop literacy skills which help them later in reading and writing. Since assessment is an integral part of teaching, this paper will focus on both dimensions of teaching and assessing young learners. It will emphasize that the initial foreign language learning experience as well as assessment experience have a strong impact on children’s future learning – therefore assessment as well as learning should be enjoyable, confidence building and successful experiences for the learner. The paper also suggests that since programs for teaching a foreign language to young learners are relatively new, it is important to design an evaluation plan to accompany program
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