The role of age in learning

Here you will find summaries of research papers that relate to the role of age, and how it affects children’s learning in primary school. Each summary is worded to be reader-friendly, and covers no more than one side of A4. If you have any questions about the research, or would like to know more, please contact us, or the theme leader, Florence, at this address: fmyles@essex.ac.uk

Is it a case of 'the younger, the better' when it comes to learning a new language?

Yes and no – it all depends on context!

There is a difference between young children picking up a new language in an immersion situation, such as usually happens when children arrive at a young age into a new country and hear the words and structures of the new language all around them, day in, day out, and children exposed to a foreign language in the classroom for a limited period of time, say for only one or two hours a week, at best, which tends to be the case at the moment in the majority of our primary schools.

Immersion: younger children learn better with lots of input and lots of time

In the case of immigrant children, research has shown that adolescents and young adults are faster learners than young children, although younger learners do eventually catch up with, and often overtake, older learners to typically become indistinguishable from L1 speakers. This is not generally the case for adult learners. So in this context, earlier does appear to be better, but it comes with conditions:  children need plenty of time and opportunity to make the most of being immersed in their new language.

Classroom: older children learn faster from limited input and limited exposure

What about learning a language in the classroom? Here the context is different, with children exposed to a limited amount of language for only a very short time, perhaps an hour or two a week. Young children are enthusiastic learners, who love learning languages and discovering new ways of saying things, but they are slower at learning languages when input is limited. In a classroom context, it appears as if older children learn faster.

At what age should children start learning a foreign language in school?

This question has implications for curriculum models and curriculum policy, pedagogy and teacher expertise.

Projects which have looked at the role of age and the optimal age for language acquisition in school contexts include Learning French from ages 5, 7 and 11 and the Barcelona Age Factor Project.

Making the most of an early start to L2 instruction

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Author(s)

 Pfenninger & Singleton (2019)

Keywords

  • maintenance of linguistic advantage
  • literacy, motivation, transitioning, intensity of L2 instruction

A synthesis of empirical research on the linguistics outcomes of early foreign language instruction

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Author(s)

 Huang (2016)

Keywords

  • meta-analysis of 42 studies
  • re-evaluating ‘earlier is better’
  • classroom setting

Learning French in the UK setting: Policy, classroom engagement and attainable learning outcomes

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Author(s)

 Mitchell, R. & Myles, F. (2019)

Keywords

  • ages 7 to 8
  • attitudes, motivation, working memory, L1 literacy, L2 attainment
  • classroom engagement

Learning French from ages 5, 7 & 11

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Author(s)

Myles, F, & Mitchell, R (2012)

Keywords

  • ages 5, 7 & 11
  • early & late starters
  • rate of learning
  • vocabulary
  • attitudes
  • strategies

How internal and external factors influence the development of children’s second language

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Author(s)

Hopp, H. (2011)

Keywords

  • ages 3 1/2 to 7
  • German as L1 & L2
  • early & late starters
  • acquiring gender
  • gender agreement

A long-term study of early foreign language learning in school

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Author(s)

Jaekel, N., Schurig, M., Florian, M. and Ritter, M. (2017)

Keywords

  • ages 6 to 9 & 10 to 13
  • early & late starters
  • individual differences

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