From Early Starters to Late Finishers? A Longitudinal Study of Early Foreign Language Learning in School

Abstract

Foreign language education has now been implemented at the elementary school level across Europe, and early foreign language education has gained traction following language policies set by the European Commission. The long‐term effects of an early start, however, have not received ample scientific scrutiny. The present study assessed early receptive skills of two cohorts of English language learners in Year 5 (beginning of secondary education in Germany) and two years later in Year 7. The factors distinguishing between these two cohorts were onset of foreign language education and the amount of language exposure. The effects of the earlier start were found in the results for Year 5, when the early cohort outperformed peers with less and later exposure to English. However, in Year 7, the late starters surpassed their early starting peers.

Benefits of foreign language learning and bilingualism: An analysis of published empirical research 2012–2019

“…This suggests that prior language experience positively influences one's ability to process and reason in another language, or that previously acquired language knowledge affects how children weigh sociopragmatic and lexical cues, as in the Dutch‐English study by Verhagen, Grassmann, and Küntay (). Finally, the long‐term effects of early start second language study on the transfer of knowledge skills were examined by Jaekel, Schurig, Florian, and Ritter () as they investigated early receptive skills of two cohorts of English language learners in Germany. The factors distinguishing between the two cohorts were the onset of foreign language education and the amount of language exposure.…”

SLA and the Study of Equitable Multilingualism

“…Adults, too, are found to initially learn faster and more efficiently when directly compared to children (e.g., Kim, Clayards, & Goad, ; Oh et al., ). Finally, for children who learn in foreign language settings under drip‐feed conditions (e.g., 1 to 3 hours weekly), it has been found that an earlier start will not confer any advantage (Jaekel et al., ; Muñoz, ; Pfenninger & Singleton, ). Other factors predict L2 outcomes in these contexts, and a strong one is extramural engagement with the L2 (Huang et al., ; Muñoz, ; Pfenninger & Singleton, ).…”

Making the most of an early start to L2 instruction

“…Lightbown (2000, p. 249) observes that '[i]f the total amount of time of instruction is limited, it is likely to be more effective to begin instruction when learners have reached an age at which they can make use of a variety of learning strategies, including their L1 literacy skills, to make the most of that time. ' Jaekel, Schurig, Florian and Ritter (2017) suggest that metalanguage builds rather slowly during the elementary school years in relation to students' L1 for literacy, so that students cannot yet really benefit from a transfer from this process to the L2. The pedagogical implication of this would be to increase L1 instruction, introducing L2 instruction later since it is not crucial at the beginning of literacy development.…”

“…Motivation and the continuous development of language proficiency may depend on a successful transition from primary to secondary education (Jaekel et al, 2017). This transition has often been described as a fragile moment, as it features elements which may be difficult to understand or manage (Blondin et al, 1998;Jones, 2016).…”