A Critical Examination of the Beliefs about Learning a Foreign Language at Primary School

constraints of the classroom, consciousness, greater cognitive and conceptual
maturity, a degree of analytical ability and an awareness of language as a
system are important substrates for successful learning. Whether presumed
affective advantages Ofchildren necessarily disappear with adolescence
remains questionable. The large and increasing number of adults signed up for
foreign language courses seems to suggest that this might not necessarily be
the case.

2.5.2 Empathy and Acculturation

A positive attitude towards the target culture and being able to empathise with
the speakers of the target language are considered vital ingredients in
successful second language learning:

"...the successful learner of a second language must be psychologically
prepared to adopt various aspects of behavior which characterize members of
another linguistic-cultural group." (Gardner & Lambert, 1972: 3)

Affective and social explanations why younger should be better than older in
this respect were put forward by Taylor (1974), Schumann (1975, 1978) and
Brown (1980).

"...Whereas child language acquisition seems to be a means toward an
end -socialization-...lack of such motivation in adults and the absence of a
positive attitude toward language learning and the target language and culture
may be responsible for the lack of success in most adult se∞nd anguage
learning." (Taylor, 1974: 33)

111

<<   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   >>

More intriguing information