Young Learner English Language Policy and Implementation: International Perspectives

Over the past three decades, there has been a huge expansion across the world in school programmes for the teaching of English to young learners. Much of this growth is due to global forces which currently demand ever-increasing levels of communication in English across continents.

This publication, resulting from the conference The Way Forward: Learning from International Experience of TEYL held in Bangalore, India, in 2008, seeks to address these issues, responding to concerns that there is often insufficient guidance available to decision-makers at ministry level regarding the policy and practical implications of an early start for English.

Young Learner English Language Policy and Implementation: International Perspectives is a collection of 28 papers which reflect the insights of a group of academics, policy makers, senior educationalists and practitioners who have been important contributors internationally, regionally or in their own countries, to debates about YL policy and implementation.

These papers represent a significant contribution to current thinking on effective YL language policy formulation, the design of appropriate programmes for implementation and the sustainable implementation of policy at local and national levels. Three themes were evident in many of the conference presentations and are also reflected in these papers: the specific impact of global factors on policy decisions and classroom practices; the challenges of policy and its implementation; broader and more local language issues and their impact on policy.

The first section of this book contains country-specific case studies which provide analyses of a range of policy issues in state school provision for TEYL, including some recommendations for policy makers in planning and shaping their future national provision.

The second section includes accounts of innovations, experiments or small-scale projects in the YL field from the state and private sectors, across a range of countries.

This volume will be of considerable interest to a wide range of policy makers in ministries and educational institutions, researchers, teacher educators and anyone concerned with YL English language policy and implementation.

Contents

Chapter 1: New global contexts for teaching Primary ELT: Change and challenge
Chapter 2: Teaching English to young learners: The influence of global and local factors
Chapter 3: An early start: What are the key conditions for generalized success?
Chapter 4: Teaching English to young learners: The promise and the threat
Chapter 5: Introduction of English from Grade 1 in Maharashtra, India
Chapter 6: English at Primary school level in Brazil: Challenges and perspectives
Chapter 7: Teaching English in Primary schools in Bangladesh: Competencies and achievements
Chapter 8: 'The early bird catches the worm': The Turkish case
Chapter 9: Teaching English at the Primary level in India: An overview
Chapter 10: Early bilingualism in Cameroon: Where politics and education meet
Chapter 11: Primary English Language Teaching (ELT) in Korea: Bold risks on the national foundation
Chapter 12: 'When I wanna be cool ...': English for young learners in Iceland
Chapter 13: Issues in the implementation of Teaching English for Young Learners (TEYL): A case study of two states in India
Chapter 14: The dream and the reality or early programmes in Hungary
Chapter 15: Primary EFL in China: From policy to classroom practice
Chapter 16: Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE): A multinational, longitudinal study
Chapter 17: Literacy development through the Integrated Curriculum Project: The Omani experience
Chapter 18: Trainer training innovation: The trainer training programs in Taiwan
Chapter 19: Beyond English: Primary plurilingual schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Chapter 20: Curricular innovation: The Karnataka experiment
Chapter 21: Teaching techniques: From listening to music to storytelling
Chapter 22: English Language Teaching in Turkish Primary education
Chapter 23: The Teacher Development by Radio project in Nigeria
Chapter 24: An EFL project for communication between Arab and Jewish children
Chapter 25: The EYL publishers panel: Supporting innovation and best practice in EYL: The role of publishing
Chapter 26: Applying multiple intelligences for teaching ESL to young learners
Chapter 27: An impact study of a TEYL innovation in Beijing, China
Chapter 28: Interactive teaching styles with CD-ROMs: Malaysian perspectives