Parent questions about language learning

This page has answers to questions from parents about learning a second language.

The information and advice given here is based on my long experience as an ESL teacher in an international school. It is also based on my understanding of current research into second language learning.

Although I am now retired, I am happy to continue to respond to similar requests for information and advice. Send your question or comments via the Contact page.

Note: If you click the Expand All button top right, you can view all the answers at once without having to click the questions one-by-one.

Note: This request for advice centers on a six-year old girl with Spanish as a mother tongue and very little English. Her mother will soon be getting married to an American and the family is planning to live in a city in the USA. The stepfather-to-be wrote to ask how to facilitate the daughter's learning of English.

First the good news! Your stepdaughter will be starting to learn English under very favourable circumstances. She already has a strongly established first language with developing literacy skills, and she will be exposed to a second language at an age that will allow her to become fully bilingual with no trace of an accent in English.

If you are expecting bad news, well I can't think of any. Of course, you still need to know how best to promote your daughter's English language learning. This is what I recommend:

• Be consistent in your use of the two languages. In your situation it seems best that your wife always speak Spanish with her daughter and you always speak English, even if at first she doesn't fully understand.
  
  When your daughter is together with both of you, it is probably best for you and your wife to talk English with each other but your respective languages with her - but see what works best in your case.
  
  Basically, however, I don't think it is necessary or desirable for your wife to try and teach her daughter English in their time together. This would not be a natural situation for either of them and may introduce an element of resistance on the daughter's part.

• Extremely important is that your daughter makes friends with English native-speakers in your community. If this happens, she will be comprehending everyday English and speaking it confidently and fluently by the end of one year. Be aware, however, that she will still make grammar mistakes and will lack a great deal of the vocabulary of a native English speaker of her age. This is absolutely normal.

• Make your home a language-rich environment with plenty of English books, computer games, DVDs. Good children's television is an excellent way for her to develop her understanding of English because the pictures complement and explain what is being heard.

• I don't think it's a good idea for you to explicitly teach her English or directly correct any of her mistakes. Just do what you would do with a younger child learning their own language. In other words, point out language that is factually incorrect rather than grammatically incorrect. She can be made implicitly aware of grammar mistakes if you repeat her faulty utterances in the correct form. E.g. If she says: "It not work!", you can confirm: "Yes, you're right, it doesn't work, does it?"

• Some people in your situation post stickers on objects around the house identifying them with their name, e.g refrigerator, door, etc. I personally don't think this is necessary, and I would be wary of conveying to your daughter any concern about the speed or efficiency with which she is learning English.
  
  If you and your wife exude confidence that she will make it, do not put any direct pressure on her to learn English, do not give excessive praise when she gets something right - in other words, if you just give her the impression that learning English is the most natural thing in the world for her in her new situation, she will do fine!

• Talk with her new teacher, explain your daughter's family situation and how you have decided to help her with English at home. If the teacher can speak Spanish, so much the better. This will ease the first few weeks of your daughter's time at school.
  
  Otherwise she could be paired up with another Spanish-speaking student at first. Don't worry that this might delay a little her learning of English. Feeling comfortable and welcomed in a new school environment is a necessary condition of making linguistic and cognitive progress in language.

• Finally, I would do everything to ensure that her English does not replace her Spanish. She should not feel that Spanish is in any way inferior to English. And of course, the best way for this to happen is for her to continue to talk and read Spanish with her mother. Later she may have the chance of entering a bilingual educational program.

• Raising Bilingual Children

PS. My own daughter is 6 years old and is doing very well in German despite not having the same advantage that your stepdaughter will have; i.e. both my wife and I are native English speakers.

Note: This question was from the parent of a grade 7 student joining the school with little English.

This is a little like trying to answer the proverbial English question: How long is a piece of string? Or the more similar question: How long does it take to learn how to play the piano?

The answer clearly depends on what you mean by 'learning a language' or 'learning to play the piano', and the point at which you decide that your learning is at an end. A sensible answer to the question requires that you first define your learning purpose.

Do you want to learn to play the piano sufficiently well that you can entertain yourself and your family at home. Or is your intention to become a concert pianist?

Do you want to learn English so that you can communicate effectively with business partners, or because you would like to be as proficient in English as you are in your own language?

Let us assume in this case that the goal is to learn sufficient English in middle school to be ready to exit from the ESL programme and join the full mainstream. How long will this take?

Now it is possible to give a sensible answer. Namely, that on average students need about three years in ESL classes before they have sufficient English to function independently in the mainstream.

But even here it is necessary to stress the words "on average". The actual time needed will depend on a number of learner variables, such as the native language of the learner, his language learning aptitude, how motivated he is, how many other languages he already knows and so on.

And it is important not to assume that exiting from the ESL programme means that the child is now able to function on the same level as a native-speaker. Researchers into second language acquisition have estimated that it takes between 5 to 7 years* for an ESL student to catch up with his native-speaking peers as far as academic English is concerned.

* See this article:

Collier, V. (1987) How long? A synthesis of research on academic achievement in a second language. TESOL Quarterly, 23

If you want to be able to speak the new language without an accent, then the younger the better. Otherwise, researchers think that early adolescence is the optimal time.

See my article about language learning myths on the Teachers site for more information.

The average ESL student joining Frankfurt International School with little English needs about three years in ESL classes before being ready to exit. But some students with the same starting English proficiency pass through the ESL program more quickly, while others need more time.

There are a number of reasons why this should be the case. These are the learner variables referred to in the answer to the previous question and summarized again below.

The first language is obviously a very important influence. It is easier for a Dutch or German child to learn English than a child from Japan or Korea because of the similarities in the German/Dutch and English languages.

Also, as children learn new languages they generally find each successive one easier to master because along the way they acquire a great deal of knowledge and skills in how to learn languages. So a Dutch child who has already learned some French and German will probably find learning English easier than a compatriot for whom English is the first foreign language.

Another factor influencing second language development is the child's attitude to the target language and culture. The situation at Frankfurt International School is a little complicated as the new ESL student is exposed to two new cultures at the same time: the culture of Germany, the host country, and the predominantly Anglo-American culture of our school.

A child who is unhappy about being in Germany or uncomfortable in the academic and social environment of FIS will probably learn English more slowly than a child for whom being here does not present a problem.

A related factor is the attitude of the child to his new teachers and the classroom environment. Learning will not take place very easily when the student does not feel that he or his own culture is valued by the teacher or the other students in the class.

A further influence on the speed at which a child learns a second language is related to personality. Confident students who are willing to take risks and are not afraid of being wrong have a language learning advantage over the nervous and timid.

And finally, it is clear that a motivated, hard-working student with an interest in and aptitude for learning languages will do better than someone with opposite characteristics.

If you have any questions about your own child's progress in learning English, the best thing you can do is to contact her ESL teacher.

Read more on what makes a good language learner.

The fact that there are dozens of different language learning methods, each with its own advocates, makes it clear that there is no simple answer to this question. It depends very much on the learner and why she wants to learn.

An extrovert will be probably learn better with a method that involves lots of role plays and participation in unstructured discussions, whereas a quieter, more reflective person may prefer written exercises with plenty of grammatical explanations.

Someone who is only interested in being able to communicate well enough on holiday in the foreign country will require a different method of learning than another person who wants to study at a foreign university. For the general language learner an eclectic mix of several different methods is often the best approach.

In fact, however, method is usually not the most important factor in whether someone will learn a foreign language or not. A key issue is motivation. If you have a good enough reason for learning; if you want or need to learn it badly enough, you will probably be successful.

The answer is in the difference between ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language). Your daughter was probably learning in an EFL context, in which a significant focus is on the learning of grammar in preparation for an certificated examination.

In an ESL context such as at Frankfurt International School there is much less time devoted to the teaching of grammar. Instead, students are taught the language content and skills that help them to settle quickly into the school and to be successful in their other school subjects such as science or geography.

You can read a more detailed comparison of ESL and EFL on the page English instruction methods.

There are more questions and answers about language learning on this page for learners and this page for teachers.