Teaching Languages to Young Learners Summary

By: Silvana Restrepo Alonso ID. 201785590

Throughout the history, scholars of language learning have been gathering more
information and looking for premises to portray this field, for future generations to have a better
appreciation of this area. However, in order to do so, it is fundamental that the learning theories in
general be understood. For this, two very renowned theorists have been selected to broaden our
realization on how these principles can be applied not also in our daily basis, but also in L2
contexts; they are Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. All along the text, the postulates from these
authors will be explained considering both contexts aforementioned. Additionally, this summary
will be supported by other intellectuals that have developed similar hypotheses. Although this text
will be mainly focused on Teaching Languages to Young Learners, the Role of Interaction will work
as an aid for deepening and introducing new terminology.

To begin with, when it comes to outlining learning theories during early stages of human
beings, one of the academics that is bounded to this is Piaget. In accordance to his statements,
young children learn through interaction, when actions take place in activities. Therefore, kids, in
this theory, are considered as active learners. For Piaget, childrens cognitive development is not
relied on social processes, instead, it is more of an individual process that occurs when thoughts
deriving from actions are internalized by the child. Solving problems is one of the multiple
activities that help with that mental development since it helps with the construction of knowledge
that is not natural for us. This way of cognitive development in children, as established by Piaget,
can be explained in two adaptive processes of behavior, which happen at the same time:
assimilation and accommodation. The former eventuates when the action does not mean any
changes to the child; it can rather be executed with existing skills and knowledge. (In my opinion,
this one process is related to the theory of prior knowledge, in which learners make use of the
information already available in their brains, as a support on the upcoming learning.). The latter
refers to the adjustments the child is required for getting adapted to new situations. This process
also happens in L2 contexts. It is called restructuring, which is the re-organization of mental
representations of a language. (McLaughlin, 1992). These adaptive processes of behavior are
followed by processes of thinking, that are steps for reaching to the final stage that Piaget calls
logical thinking, in which children have acquired more experience from their environment, by
trying to understand other peoples actions and language, in other words, by making sense of what
surrounds them. From the previous statement, the importance of this theory in language learning

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can be notorious since it can help us dealing with what is most suitable for children, in order to have
an effective response from them in language classes.

On the other hand, contrary to what Piaget believed, for Vygotsky, another outstanding
theorist of learning evolution, children produce their knowledge mainly by being social entities, but
also with their individuality and own cognition. He conceives language as a crucial element in
cognitive development, which allows children to organize their mental structures. He declares that
along growth, every child undergoes through two types of speech that optimize their cognition. The
first one is called private speech. It refers to the out-loud talk kids implement when carrying out
activities, as a conductive mechanism for self-organization. The second one is inner speech. This
type of monologue is more controlled by the kid, as he/she gets older; it is used to regulate and
control behavior. However, Vygotsky makes a distinction between mind and speech, without
separating them in the developmental process. He believes that even though what children express
may not be complex, in their minds, it may convey in a more elaborated structure. Therefore, in
order to strengthen their cognitive skills, they also need to ameliorate their use of the language.
How? By interreacting in social contexts, in which mostly adults moderate their apprenticeship
through instruction and mediation. This is what Vygotsky calls zone of proximal development
(ZVP). ZVP is a term that alludes to the time kids are provided with the appropriate guidance
during a task, leading to a satisfactory completion of it, and resulting in a new learning. This
concept can be applied in teaching contexts, where the teacher is the guide for children to achieve
the activities in the class. Done in the right way, it can culminate in an effective way of developing
skills and strategies for the kids. Vygotskys theory can be related to other authors. For example,
according to Wells, children need a communal zone of proximal development. It means that the
development will not only be within the student but also all the class. This statement matches the
fact that children need interactional environments to improve their cognition.

Now, following Vygotskys notion on the importance of social nature of learning, Bruner
proposes language as the most important resource for cognitive growth taking place during
interaction with others. For this to happen, he suggests the term scaffolding, which makes reference
to the talk adults do in order to aid children completing a task. Teachers can make use of it
throughout classes in various ways such as suggesting, praising kids, providing engaging activities,
encouraging, recalling, etc. The propitious scenario for scaffolding would be in routines and
formats, as the language employed in these type of activities is suitable for children to predict what
is coming and this facilitates the output. However, with the passage of time, the teachers will be
able to incorporate more structures to the scaffolding, and so improve the internalization of the new

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students knowledge. Indeed, it is hard for me to tell how beneficial this repetitive language used in
these activities can be, as it may reinforce behaviorism in childrens cognitive development with a
subtle nuance which is the active leaning they get.

In a nutshell, although the authors presented throughout the text belong to the same fluency,
constructivism, they all have certain points in which thy differ. In the case of Piaget, social
environment is not a must when it comes to the development of cognition in children. For him, what
is more important is to provide an ideal learning environment, where children should be allowed to
construct knowledge that is meaningful for them, followed by processes of internalization of that
information, that can happen at the same time in two stages: assimilation and accommodation. The
first one has to do with the act of the incorporation of new knowledge without any changes for the
kid. The second one relates to the adaptation of the kid to the new information that is presented to
him. As previously mentioned, for Piaget learning is done by steps where children learn through
experiences and objects in their environment, as individuals. Now, for Vygotsky, learning is both a
social and individual, taking language as a key for that cognitive development. His theory states that
language works as an organizer of information, that goes through two moments with private and
inner speech. the former is about the individual talk children do when carrying out and activity. The
latter refers to a less frequent chat kids have with themselves, which work as a regulator and a
control of behavior. This leaning, of course, takes place in a social context, that for Piaget is mostly
regulated by adults, who mediate children in the development of the activities. This is what he calls
zone of proximal development. Throughout this process, children will be able to internalize the
meaningful language that is being used, for the development of their cognition. Finally, Bruner,
whose postulate is similar to the previous author, alludes to the aid of adults in social contexts, and
that is wat he denominates scaffolding. It is a repetitive talk that is carried out in activities. The
context and the familiarity of these tasks give an opportunity for children to easily understand the
meaning and intention of the actions along the tasks, making it a simple way for children to
internalize the linguistic structures of them. In my opinion, the theory that would fit my beliefs is
Vygotskys, because for me, we need to see children as a whole. We cannot pretend to classify
ourselves as individuals, because we live in a social context. Therefore, we need to consider those
aspects in order to develop a suitable environment, to propitiate and assure an effective learning for
our students.

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References
L, Cameron. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge University Press