Some young
learners have their own characteristic. There are some of their generally
characteristic that teachers and parents should know :
1. They have short
attention span. So teachers should vary their techniques to break the boredom.
they should give varied activities as handwriting , songs , games etc.
2. They are very active.
Try to ask them to play games , role play dialogues and involve them in
competitions.
3. They respond well to
praising. Always encourage them and praise their work.
4. They differ in their
experience of language. Treat them as a unit , don't favour those who know some
English at the expense of those who do not know.
5. They are less shy
than older learners. Ask them to repeat utterances , resort to mechanical
drills.
6. They are imaginative.
Use pictures to teach new vocabulary related to concrete meanings, but may have
some difficulties distinguishing between imagination and real world.
7. They enjoy learning
through playing. Young learners learn best when they learn through games. Let
games be an essential part of your teaching.
8. They are less shy
than older learners.
9. They enjoy imitating
and skilfull in listening accurately and mimicking what they have heard.
11. They respond well to rewards from the
teacher.
12. They have limited writing
and reading skills even in their first language.
13. Generally they are more
concerned about themselves then others.
14. They have limited
knowledge about the world.
15. They enjoy fantasy,
imagination, and movement.
There are some children’s special characteristics in
learning the language. They are as the following:
1.
Children respond the language well through concrete things (visual things)
rather than abstract things.
2. Children
need physical movements and real activities to stimulate their thinking.
3.
Children will be enthusiastic if they are taught using fun activities or being
involved in activities.
4.
Children love to play, and learn best when they are enjoying themselves.
5.
Children learn well through something that is close to their culture.
6.
Children like to work together.
Beside the
characters above, there are some unique characters that children have :
1. Hyperactive
children, these children tend not to sit still. He tends to move
continuously, sometimes like running, like jumping up and down, screaming and
even in the classroom. This child is difficult to control. It performs
activities in accordance with his own will. He also likes to annoy his friends
and even his teachers.
2. Distractibility
child is a child who tends to get bored quickly. He often turned his
attention to a variety of other objects in the class. Children are can not
focus on the activities that take place in the classroom.
3. Poor self concept
tends to quiet kids in class, passive, or hypersensitive so easily offended.
Characteristics of these children tend not to dare to ask or answer, and felt
he was not capable. As such, it is less likely to get along as well as bold
aloof.
4. Impulsive
child is a child who quickly reacted every teacher gives kelas.Namun
question, the answer given is often not demonstrated the ability to think
logically. Such a child wanted to show that he is a smart kid, but he answered
the way it reflects the inability.
5. Children
destructive behavior of students who like to destroy things around him.
Negative aggression in the form of slamming and throwing indicates that this
child is a child with problems (trouble maker). Such a child irritable. He have
high tempramental, which leads to aggressive behavior.
6. Distruptive
behavior is the children who often get the words rude and disrespectful.
With an ironic tone, the child is likely to oppose the teacher. Profanity form
of harsh words were often thrown disrespectful.
7. Dependency
young child is always dependent on their parents. These children often feel
frightened and unable to brave it alone. He is very dependent on the people
around him. The attitude of the parents are too over protective or very
protective of the child depends.
8. Withdrawal,
the children had a very low socio-economic, so feel himself stupid and
unwilling to try to make the tasks assigned by the teacher because he was not
able to.
9. Learning
disabilities are children who do not have the mental capacity equivalent to
kids his own age. Children are hard to analyze, capture the course content, and
apply what is learned.
10. Learning disorder
is a child who has a congenital defect either physical or nerve damage. Such a
child is likely to be difficult to learn normally like children his own age.
Children like this need to be addressed by experts specialized agencies, such
as children who suffer from Autism Sectrum Disorder / ASD).
11. Underachiever, is children who have
intellectual potential above average, but their academic achievement in the
classroom is very low. The spirit of learning is also very low. Such a child
often underestimate the tasks given, and homework is often overlooked.
12. Overachiever is a child who has
a learning spirit is very high, he responded in a quick way. Such a child can
not accept failure. He does not easily accept critics from anyone, including
the teacher.
13. Slow learner is difficult to capture
the child in class and take a long time to answer and doing his work.
14. Social
interseption child is a boy are less sensitive and are not concerned with
the environment. Children are less perceptive in reading expressions and
difficult to hang out with friends in the class.
Characteristic of Young Learner
When you are a teacher,
you should know the characteristic of children, or the characteristic of young
learner that you taught. Young learners mean children from the first year of
formal schooling (5 or 6 year old) to eleven or twelve year age. Young learners
have own special characteristics that differentiate them from adult learners.
There should be known and understood by the teacher to give contribution to
improve their quality of teaching and learning process. In relation to this,
Halliwel (1992: 3-5) clarifies the characteristics of children;
1.
Children are already very good in interpreting meaning without necessarily
understanding the individual word.
2.
Children already have great skill in using limited language creativity.
3.
Children frequently learn indirectly rather than directly.
4.
Children take good pleasure in finding and creating fun in what they do.
5.
Children have a ready imagination, children words are full of imagination and
fantasy, and it is more than simply matter of enjoyment.
The
characteristic of young learners mentioned by Clark (1990: 6-8):
a. Children are
developing conceptually: they develop their way of thinking from the concrete
to the abstract thing.
b. Children have no real
linguistics, different from the adult learners that already have certain
purpose in learning language, for instances, to have a better job, children
rarely have such needs in learning a foreign language. They learn subject what
school provide for them.
c. Children are still
developing; they are developing common skill such as turn talking and the use
of body language.
d. Young children very
egocentric, they tend to resolve around
themselves.
e. Children get bored
easily. Children have no choice to attend school. The lack of the choice means
that class activities need to be fun interesting and exciting as possible by
setting up the interesting activities.
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THE CHARACTERISTIC OF YOUNG LEARNER
INTRODUCTION
While there are commonalities across
learners of all ages, young children differ from older children in many ways.
Studies of young children show how learning changes across development.
However, we now know that even very young children have a predisposition to
learn in certain domains, and that young children are actively engaged in
making sense of their world. Young children appear to be predisposed to acquire
information.
These biases toward certain types of learning should
pave the way for competence in early schooling. Children lack knowledge and
experience, but not reasoning ability. Indeed, although young children are
inexperienced, they reason with the knowledge they have. Precocious knowledge
may jump-start the learning process, but because of limited experience and
underdeveloped systems of logical thinking, children’s knowledge contains
misconceptions. Misinformation can impede school learning, so teachers need to
be aware of the ways in which children’s background knowledge influences their
understanding. Such awareness should help teachers anticipate children’s
confusion and recognize why children have difficulties grasping new ideas.
Strategies for learning are important.
When children are required to learn about unfamiliar
knowledge domains, they need to develop intentional learning strategies.
Children need to understand what it means to learn, who they are as learners,
and how to go about planning, monitoring and revising, to reflect upon their
learning and that of others, and to learn how to determine if they understand.
These metacognitive skills provide strategic competencies for learning.
The children have their own characteristics, which are
different from adults. The characteristics cover their ways of thinking, their
attitude, their aptitude, et cetera. They also prevail to the children’s ways
of learning language. This, of course, influences the ways of teaching them. To
give the best quality of teaching English to the children, the teachers should
know and understand them.
DISCUSSION
Characteristic of younger and older learners
|
Younger learner
·
Children are at pre-school or in the first couple of years of schooling.
·
Generally they have a holistic approach to language.
·
They have a lower level of awareness about themselves as language learners as
well as about process of learner.
·
They have limited writing and reading skills even in their first language.
·
Generally they are more concerned about themselves then others.
·
They have limited knowledge about the world.
·
They enjoy fantasy, imagination, and movement.
|
Older learner
·
These children are well established at school and comfortable with school
routines.
·
They show a growing interest in analytical approaches.
·
They show growing level of awareness about themselves as language learners
and their learning.
·
They have well developed skills as readers and writers.
·
They have a growing awareness of other and their viewpoints.
·
They have a growing awareness about the world around us.
·
They begin to show interest in real life issues.
|
Phillips states that in
learning a language, young learners respond to the language, depending on what
it does or what they can do with it rather than treating it as an intellectual
game or abstract system (1995: 7). Brewster (1997: 6) supports it by saying
that theories of the children’s learning require that young learners be
supported by moving from the abstract to the concrete and through being
involved in activity. It can be understood that the children need activities
that are more concrete rather than abstract and to be involved in those
activities in order that they can learn the language well.
While, Brumfit (1997: v) gives a
list of the characteristics which young learners share:
a. Young learners are only just beginning their
schooling.
b. As a group they are potentially more differentiated
than secondary or adult learners.
c. They tend to be keen and enthusiastic learners.
d. Their learning can be closely linked with their
development of ideas and concepts.
e. They need physical movement and activity as much as
stimulation for their thinking.
Most primary level learners will share these
characteristics. Those opinions give the researcher some important notes about children’s
special characteristics in learning the language. They are as the following:
a. Children respond the language well through concrete
things (visual things) rather than abstract things.
b. Children need physical movements and real
activities to stimulate their thinking.
c. Children will be enthusiastic if they are taught
using fun activities or being involved in activities.
d. Children love to play, and learn best when they are
enjoying themselves.
e. Children learn well through something that is close
to their culture.
f. Children like to work together.
Knowing the
characteristics is essential:
·
They have short attention span.
·
They are very active
·
They respond well to praising.
·
They differ in their experience of language
·
They are less shy than older learners.
·
They are imaginative.
·
They enjoy learning through playing.
http://educationchewy.blogspot.co.id/2011/03/characteristic-of-young-learner.html
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