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

"In all aspects of phonology, grammar and lexis, the existence of elements
perceived to be similar to previously acquired knowledge can be assumed to
have a facilitating effect on L2 comprehension." (Ringboem, 1987: 56)

Ringboem also suggested that the degree of 'difficulty' is not necessarily
determined by linguistic difficulty per se but also by 'how naturally the Ieamer
can and will establish equivalence between the languages at the initial stage of
learning'. Similar does therefore not always necessarily mean easy while
different does not always necessarily mean difficult. Some language pairs
might only display similarities in one language area and not in others and each
language pair thus creates its own context and brings its own challenges in
terms of universals and individual learner differences.

Studies on the age factor in language learning deal with a wide range of
subjects and like cannot always be compared with like. Some studies are
based on individuals while others are based on groups of various sizes. There
is often little information on the background of individuals, for example their
general learning ability, their first language skills and competence, their
previous learning experiences, their attitudes and motivation, gender or
socio-economic background. Age, as a learner variable, can therefore not
easily be isolated from other variables and could easily be adduced as a reason
for success orfailure when in fact Otherfactors could be the real indicators.

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