1. Characteristics of Young Learners

2. 1. Involuntary attention
not pay attention to language system but to task, topic & situation
form is acquired indirectly through peripheral learning
language is a means for expressing meaning
Peripheral learning  subconscious learning

3. 2. Limited attention short attention & concentration span
tend to focus on the end of words & add suffixes & postpositions before noticing the existence of & begin using prefixes & prepositions (e.g. goed, eated, whom with)

4. 3. Holistic skills
approach language holistically  not analyzing it or breaking phrases into chunks but treating & learning it formulaically & integrated with other skills
language production does not depend on explicit knowledge, but must be developed implicitly

5. 4. Inability to observe regularities & causal relations
are neither cognitively nor psychologically mature to make comparisons between the L1 & the TL
require constant repetition to infer & generate grammar rules & to identify causal relations between various occurrences

6. 5. Undeveloped problem-solving skills
can’t yet diagnose problems & generate solutions based on the information available

7. 6. Weak memory cannot control what they are taught
the younger the learner, the patchier the storage & recall
need recycling activities

8. 7. Limited experience have limited life & learning experience
do not bring in background knowledge
they are in the process of learning their L1

9. 8.  Here & now reasoning
concrete reasoning  concerned with physical here & now realia & observable situations in the immediate environment
abstract reasoning is tied to biological growth & does not develop until between years old  abstract grammatical patterns are beyond children grasp

10. 9. Undeveloped LL aptitude
influence the rate of development where formal classroom learning is concerned
4 major components of LL aptitude:
(1) phonetic coding ability: an ability to identify distinct sounds, and to form associations between them and representative symbols
(2) grammatical sensitivity: the ability to recognize the grammatical functions of words (or other linguistic entities) in sentence structures
(3) rote learning ability: a memorization technique based on repetition
(4) inductive (language learning) ability: the ability to infer or induce the rules governing a set of language materials

11. 10. Mechanical memory 2 kinds of memories:
mechanical memory (short-term memory)  predominant in children
logical memory (long-term memory)
develops very slowly between years of age,
is related to abstract thinking
children under can repeat & memorize long words & expressions, but are not able to analyze them because logical memory is not well developed yet

12. 11. Lower-order functioning
2 broad types of functioning:
lower-order functioning
responsible for the understanding & production of speech
involves basic syntactic processing & the motor operations employed in speaking & writing
a function of early maturing
higher-order functioning
involves semantic processing & verbal recognition
dependent upon late developing neural circuitry
available for use only in older learners

13. 12. Undeveloped interactional skills
young learners are prone to be less involved in sustaining a conversation
progress less rapidly than older learners

14. 13. Motivation rarely have clear motivation be less able to:
assume responsibility for their learning
use the metacognitive strategies of focusing, arranging, planning, monitoring & evaluation
rule out any serious attempt at large-scale comparative assessment of their progress

15. 14. Literacy (& numeracy)
children are far behind taking their first steps with the alphabet & numbers
a whole new code must be taught alongside the introduction of literacy & numeracy

16. 15. Ongoing categorization
children still acquire L1
establish the range of reference of the lexical items
find out the boundaries of the relevant classes