Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners:introduction to the Special issue

Despite being something of a ‘Cinderella’ area of study, research into and informed discussion of teaching young learners is on the increase, perhaps mirroring the increasing numbers of children learning English globally in primary schools. This introductory article reviews key themes and issues in the teaching of English to young learners, and explains how the articles in this Special Issue connect to and develop them. It also points forward to some of the areas we expect to be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the years to come.

Teacher use of personal narratives in the Japanese university english language classroom

While storytelling in conversation has been extensively investigated, much less is known about storytelling in the English language classroom, particularly teachers telling their personal experience stories, termed teacher personal narratives in this study. Teacher personal narratives, a combination of the ancient art of human storytelling and the current practices of teaching, offer an innovative approach to language teaching and learning. This thesis examines teacher personal narrative use in Japanese university English language classrooms and is of relevance to both practicing classroom teachers and teacher educators because it explores the role, significance, and effectiveness of personal stories told by teachers. The pedagogical implications which the findings may have for language teaching and learning as well as for teacher education programs are also discussed. Four research questions were posed: 1. What are the characteristics of teacher personal narratives? 2. When, how, and why do language teachers use personal narratives in the classroom? 3. What is the reaction of learners to teacher personal narratives? 4. How do teacher personal narratives provide opportunities for student learning? A mixed methods approach using the tradition of multiple case studies provided an in-depth exploration of the personal narratives of four teachers. Data collection consisted of classroom observations and audio recordings, teacher and student semi-structured interviews, student diaries, and Japan-wide teacher questionnaires. Ninety-seven teacher personal narratives were analyzed for their structural and linguistic features. The findings showed that the narrative elements of orientation, complication, and evaluation are almost always present in these stories, and that discourse and tense markers may aid in student noticing of the input which can lead to eventual student output. The data also demonstrated that reasons for telling narratives mainly fall into two categories: affectiveoriented and pedagogical-oriented purposes. This study has shown that there are significant differences between conversational storytelling and educational storytelling.

Teaching English to young learners in Europe:teachers' attitudes and perspectives

The introduction of languages into the primary curriculum has been the major development in language-in-education policy around the world over the last 20-25 years. In the vast majority of countries the language taught is English and it is being taught at an ever-earlier age. A relatively large amount of research has been carried out in Asia into teaching English to young learners (TEYL) from the point of view of language policy and planning and of policy implementation, especially in terms of the gap between policy and practice caused by the introduction of new methodologies such as communicative language teaching. However, to date far less research has been carried out into the situation in Europe, particularly concerning the attitudes of those most closely involved in policy implementation - the teachers themselves. This chapter examines the attitudes of teachers in six European countries (Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Spain and Ukraine), uncovering the challenges they face and the changes they would like to see enacted to improve English language learning and teaching in their countries. The implications for policy, planning and teacher education are also discussed.