Summary About Second Language Learning: What Every Teacher Needs To Unlearn

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Review of Barry McLaughlin. "Myths and Misconceptions About Second Language Learning: What Every Teacher Needs to Unlearn"
Barry McLaughlin claims that mistaken Intuitive assumptions are existing extensively nowadays and that if teachers do not have a clear understanding of them, children will be harmed. This article introduces five widely accepted myths concerning second language acquisition of children and presents some possible countermeasures of teachers. From my perspective, this article did well not only in raising people’s awareness of myths and misconceptions about children and second language learning but also in providing some proper concepts; meanwhile, in the fifth myth, the author omits the reality when talking about the things …show more content…

No matter what the mode of language instruction is, the result persists. Therefore, teachers should have realistic expectations of their ESL learners. Do not teach too much for the young children.
The third myth discussed is “THE MORE TIME STUDENTS SPEND IN A SECOND LANGUAGE CONTEXT, THE QUICKER THEY LEARN THE LANGUAGE.” Research indicates that this increased exposure to English does not help children acquire English more quickly. Children in bilingual classes have the similar English language skills acquisition to the children in English-Only programs. Hence, Teachers should give language minority children support in the home language and children will get benefit from it.
After that, the misconception “CHILDREN HAVE ACQUIRED AN L2 ONCE THEY CAN SPEAK IT” is discussed. Actually, proficiency in face-to-face communication does not represent the using of the more complex academic language. Generally, it takes 5 to 7 more years to generate a language than to speak it fluently. Consequently, educators should be aware that it is inappropriate to mainstream children on the basis of oral language assessment. Besides, it should not be neglected that child has no problem in speaking may have trouble in reading and …show more content…

However, according to cultural anthropologists, children with different cultural background have varied learning ways. In addition, Social class is also influencing factor. Beyond that, learning from peers is a more comfortable learning way for some children. It is worth mentioning that the characteristics of children also have an impact on their learning style. As a result, teacher should apply varied instructional activities to teach different children, considering the children's diversity of

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