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

The claim that greater ∞gnitive maturity allows olcter learners to learn a foreign
language more efficiently has also been made by Burstal et al. (1974),
Ervin-Tripp (1974) and Taylor (1974) who suggested that it seems logical to
assume:

"...that the adult's more advanced cognitive maturity would allow him to deal
with the abstract nature of language even better than children.”
(Taylor 1974: 33)

Ervin-Tripp (1974) attributed the advantages of the dder children in her study
over the younger ones to their 'improved capacity to solve problems, to make
sub-rules and to carry in mind several principles'.

Information processing capacity improves during the school years and systems
for perceving, analysing, representing and retrieving language information
generally develop with age (Harris, 1993: 533). As children mature cognitively
and conceptually their capacity for analytical thinking and cognitive processing
improves. They become more efficient in ignoring detracting and ιrreevant
information, they can analyse and process anguage material more efficiently
than younger children, their abiΓty to solve problems and tasks increases and
they can start takng those shortcuts which are important in a learning context
where time is a precious commodity. The ^,formal thinker* is able to acquire
concepts from verbal rather than ∞ncrete expenenoes, he has a meta-
awareness Cflanguage and ideas, he can see relationships between deas, he
can manipulate ideasand he can use abstract rules to solve problems.

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