Early versus Late Start in Foreign Language Education: Documenting Achievements.

Abstract: This study compares 27 sixth grade students who have been learning Spanish since kindergarten with 5 who have had Spanish for only 1 year using a battery of Spanish oral and written tests. The students who started early outperformed the new students in listening, speaking, and writing Spanish. Those who started early also displayed a positive attitude toward speaking Spanish in the classroom, a high level of confidence in their Spanish oral and literacy skills, and the use of sophisticated language structures in writing. These findings provide additional evidence supporting the case for early foreign language learning. Key words: content-based instruction, early versus late second language learning, foreign language in the elementary schools (FLES) Language: Spanish Early Versus Late Foreign Language Education: Why Start Early? Even though Krashen, Long, and Scarcella (1979) concluded that early foreign language learners show better results than older ones in the long run, later studies of the early-late distinction have provided conflicting findings. In many cases, these studies focused on a particular skill or task (e.g., reading comprehension), thus making it difficult to conclude anything substantial about an early start. The present study presents findings that support foreign language learning for early learners based on results from a battery of oral and written tests comparing the academic and nonacademic language skills of two groups of children. In addition, this study includes students' perceptions of their language learning skills. Singleton (2001) provided a recent review of research on the impact of age on second language acquisition (SLA) and discussed various trends in this area. Harley (1986) concluded that an early start may lead to greater oral proficiency and confidence in using the target language. Furthermore, Harley and Wang (1997) found that early learners outperformed older ones not only in pronunciation, but also in morphology and syntax. Regarding the achievements of late beginners, studies show that some learners whose exposure to a second language (L2) begins after age 12 can nevertheless acquire nativelike pronunciation (Bongaerts, Mennen, & Van der Slik, 2000; Bongaerts, van Summeren, Planken, & Schils, 1997; Palmen, Bongaerts, & Schils, 1997). These studies are consistent with the results of Scovel (1988) and Flege (1999), who found that children can attain nativelike pronunciation in their L2. Researchers have begun to identify other factors that are intrinsically related to age of learning and that may affect SLA. For example, DeKeyser (2000) found that the few adult beginners in his study whose scores were identical to those of child beginners had high levels of verbal analytical ability. According to DeKeyser, these results suggest that maturational constraints apply only to implicit language learning mechanisms. Harley and Hart (1997) indicated that differences of instructional styles associated with primary and secondary-level education may be a factor related to L2 age of learning and ultimate proficiency. Another factor under investigation is motivation (Marinova-Todd, Marshall, & Snow, 2000). Findings suggest that some older beginners who achieve nativelike proficiency have very high levels of motivation (Ioup, Boustagui, Tigi, & Moselle, 1994; Mover, 1999). Given these mixed results, it is clearly important to continue investigating the language learning of students who begin earlier or later in Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) programs. Some studies comparing young foreign language learners to older ones show great inconsistencies in their design and are based on programs where students are taught the target language in brief daily lessons. For example, Bennett (1975) argued that the massive British study (Burstall, Jamieson, Cohen, & Hargreaves, 1974) conducted during the 1970s that investigated the advantages of introducing instruction in French as a foreign language at age 8 did not consider parental occupation or socioeconomic status as an important variable for L2 learning. …