EL ARRIERAJE EN EL TRASLADO DEL AGUARDIENTE

In section 2.2 above, literature on policy-practice disconnections was reviewed to show how recent developments in the spread of English are influencing teaching policy in many countries in the world. Research in Japan, Singapore, Turkey, Vietnam, Hongkong, Thailand, Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Kenya for example revealed that although the predominant discourse in language pedagogy policy was learner- centredness (LC), actual teaching practices remained at odds with MoE rhetoric. This section examines pedagogical ideas and recommendations for teaching English to young learners (TEYL) to show how these ideas fail to fully take into consideration the voices of the very learners for whom they are designed. In doing this, I intend to draw from

developments in sociology to show why we may benefit from learning from (especially) young learners about learning, so as to inform existing predominantly adult-oriented ideas of how children learn. This is particularly important in a study about Cameroon, given that the country’s ratification of the UN declaration of the rights of the child on 11 January 1993 and its subsequent promotion of learner-centred methodologies in 1998 is at the heart of the issues this study seeks to investigate.

LC takes its roots from philosophical and psychological ideas about childhood and child-centredness. As far back as the 18th _{century Rousseau (1762) made a case for}

children’s innate tendency to explore the world and find things out in their own way, arguing that education ought to allow them opportunities to discover and draw conclusions from their own experiences rather than force them to learn beyond their grasp. This call for child-centred education was further developed by Dewey (1956) who criticised traditional education of gravitating outside the child’s experiences:

In traditional education, ‘the centre of gravity is outside the child. It is in the teacher, the textbook, anywhere and everywhere you please except in the immediate instincts and activities of the child himself… Now the change which is coming into our education is the shifting of the centre of gravity. It is a change, a revolution not unlike that introduced by Copernicus when the astronomical centre shifted from the earth to the sun. In this case, the child becomes the sun about which the appliances of education revolve; he is the centre about which they are organised (p.34)

Bell (1981) and Bennet (1976) suggest that the fullest expression of child-centred practices were translated into ‘progressive approaches’ to education and promoted in England during the 1960s and 70s. Progressive approaches emphasise interest and play, learning by discovery, pupil active roles, creative expressions, integrated subject matter, intrinsic motivation, pupils’ participation in decision making in the process of learning, cooperative learning, learner equality and mutual respect, while rejecting rigid forms of

control and testing. Under these circumstances, the teacher’s role is that of guide to learners’ educational experiences.

There is also substantial evidence from the field of psychology and SLA that children and adults approach learning in significantly different ways. Insights from constructivism (e.g. Piaget 1928; Donaldson 1978) and social constructivism (Vygotsky 1978; Cameron, 2001) inform us that young learners develop their knowledge of the world around them through action and interacting with the environment and people in unique ways that need to be taken into consideration in developing teaching strategies for them. This is further supported by SLA research (Clahsen 1988; Haznedar 2001; Haznedar & Schwartz 1997; Ionin & Wexler 2002; Krashen, Long & Scarcella 1979; Krashen, Scarcella, & Long 1982) which shows significant challenges faced by young learners in the development of morphological and syntactic structures in English necessitating specific teaching strategies and input. Drawing from LC-related theory, a common feature of the TEYL literature is therefore the predominant use of ‘activities’ rather than methods, suggesting that TEYL experts seem to agree that young learners learn better when they are actively involved in the learning process. In a recent survey of 4,696 EYL teachers from 144 countries Garton, Copland & Burns (2011) reveal that their major pedagogies primarily include activities like children repeating after the teacher, listening to audio recordings, reading aloud, playing games, singing, filling gaps and role-play amongst others. Addressing the relevance of Nunan’s (1995) discussion of the mismatches between teaching and learning agenda, Bourke (2006) claims that from an experiential perspective, the world of children is that of fantasy and make-believe, of dragons, monsters, talking animals, and alien beings and as such language teaching content has to include such activities as games and fun, doing and making, songs,

chants, rhymes, big books which will facilitate language acquisition in the classroom (pp. 280-1). Despite the cultural limitations of parts of this claim (e.g., some cultures in Cameroon object to the idea of talking animals) the repertoire of TEYL activities suggested by young learner gurus and researchers includes ‘creative’ activities like drama and roleplay, games, stories, songs, and ‘doing’ activities amongst others (see section 1.7) which seem to endorse Bourke’s ideas.

Permeating the literature cited above has been the importance of visual aids and any other forms of language teaching support materials and situations. More than 50 years ago, Corder (1963) argued for the use of visual aids - i.e., anything which can be seen while the language is being spoken (p.85) - in the language classrooms claiming that in many cases, it was better to talk with the real thing than a picture of it. The use of visual aids and realia has received extensive attention in TEYL (see for example Gonzalez 2010; Nino 2010; Pinter 2006). Focus on the use of visual aids has also featured in local research in Cameroon with researchers (e.g. Che 1998; Folindjo 1999; Ticha 1999; Wirsiy 1999) demonstrating through quasi-experimentation that young learners achieve more in language learning when this is facilitated by visuals and realia.

The various sources cited in this section tend to share one thing in common, namely that they focus on ideas and research procedures that either involve adults manipulating variables with children being only passive ‘objects’ of research or they focus on perspectives expressed by adults albeit with experience of teaching or working with young learners. Their contribution to the understanding and development of the TEYL profession notwithstanding, there still seems to be a need for research that takes on board the perspectives of young learners about their own learning and the teaching that

address their needs and aspirations. While in the field of anthropology and sociology (e.g. Christensen & James 2008), particularly within the ‘New Sociology of Childhood’ movement (Christensen & Prout, 2002; James, Jenks & Prout, 1998; Maybin, 2006), there has been a well-established emphasis on the importance of seeking children’s perspectives about important aspects of their lives, this tradition is still not well established in second/foreign language teaching despite the promotion of learner-centred approaches. Scott (2008) argues that ‘the best people to provide information on the child’s perspective, actions and attitudes are the children themselves. Children provide reliable responses if questioned about events that are meaningful to their lives’ (p.88). Pinter (2011) advises that:

‘...we can learn an enormous amount from children when we listen to their voices and perspectives about second language learning processes and practices. Children might have a different emphasis or a different view compared to adults, such as their teachers or their parents, but … their point of view is worth taking into account even if it seems puzzling or unusual at first sight.’ (p. 203)

Recent TEYL related participatory research, by Pinter & Zandian (2012) and Kuchah & Pinter (2012) for example, suggests that when children are put under conducive circumstances they are capable of generating insights which deconstruct and reconstruct the fallacy of adult prerogatives over them. This study therefore takes on board recommendations for including learners in the continuing search for teaching practices that address their needs and interests (see research question 1).