Equally, the characteristics of good language learners and the way they learn will be highly influenced by the environment,
and the way in which they are learning, particularly with very young learners. The belief that learning to learn is fundamental when teaching young learners becomes, therefore, of paramount importance.
In case the above leads you to the dangerous belief that young learners are so-called ''empty vessels'' for teachers to fill, some words of common sense from Susan Halliwell (1992:3) on working with young learners:
Young children do not come to the language classroom empty-handed. They bring with them an already well-established set of instincts, skills, and characteristics, which will help them to learn another language. We need to identify those and make the most of them. For example, children:
- are already very good at interpreting meaning without necessarily understanding the individual words;
- already have great skills in using limited language creatively;
- frequently learn indirectly rather than directly;
- take great pleasure in finding and creating fun in which they do;
- have a ready imagination;
- above all take great delight in talking!
Teaching young learners is different from teaching adults. Young children tend to change their mood every other minute, and they find it extremely difficult to sit still. On the other hand, they show a greater motivation than adults do to do things that appeal to them. Since it is almost impossible to cater to the interests of about 25 young individuals, the teacher has to be inventive in selecting interesting activities, and must provide a great variety of them.
4. The findings. Findings regarding the causes of individual differences in
vocabulary acquisition are far from conclusive. In general, more effort has been spent on identifying within-child factors that contribute to insufficient growth than environmental factors.