Abstract
When a foreign language (FL) acquisition begins in preschool, at which time young learners are particularly linguistically sensitive, it allows for a higher FL competence in future. Moreover, a second language learning depends on a learner’s aptitude. The aim of our study was to assess the early predictors of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Polish pre-school students who had not yet started formal literacy instruction, and to characterize the level of their oral receptive and active skills in English. 30 children aged between 3 years 5 months and 5 years 10 months who attended two private and one state kindergarten, participated in the study. All were native speakers of Polish, and apart from English classes, communicated in their first language at kindergarten and in their everyday life. Non-verbal intelligence, emerging literacy, phonological awareness in Polish, and knowledge of English were assessed. We found that in Polish pre-school children emerging letter identification from their first language alphabet, phonological awareness in their first language, and non-verbal intelligence were related to the achievements in learning EFL, despite the differences in transparency between the two languages. Moreover, the children’s passive color vocabulary was larger than their active vocabulary, and they were used to repetition tasks. The participants in our study attempted to communicate in English during the assessment, which suggests that even at a pre-school age they were able to differentiate between first language and FL discourse. We also identified some problems possibly stemming from linguistic transfer, like articles omissions. Therefore, teachers should pay more emphasis to the differences between the first and the second language, in terms of: syntax, morphology, phonetics, phonology, and orthography, to prevent later consolidation of early errors. The automatisation of correct linguistic habits in young learners would equip them with skills for their later FL educational success.
Highlights
In Poland, learning English as a foreign language (EFL) combines sequential and subordinative acquisition (Kubiak, 2003), as formal instruction begins relatively early at pre-school entry
We found that phonological awareness in L1 and non-verbal IQ predicted English oral language skills of Polish pre-schoolers learning EFL, but apart from EFL class generally instructed in L1, when age and non-verbal IQ were controlled for
We found that in Polish pre-school children, at a pre-literacy level of education, emerging letter identification and phonological awareness, in their L1 were related to the achievements in learning English as a FL, despite the differences in transparency between the two languages
Summary
In Poland, learning English as a foreign language (EFL) combines sequential and subordinative acquisition (Kubiak, 2003), as formal instruction begins relatively early at pre-school entry (optionally and due to parental decision at 3 years of age, obligatory at 6 years of age, into Reception Year, cf. Regulation of the Minister of National Education, 2014 Journal of Laws, item 803). In Polish pre-schools (entry at 3 years of age, due to parental decision; obligatory at 6 years of age), speaking skills and print awareness are developed (Krasowicz-Kupis et al, 2015b), as a preparation for literacy instruction, which is based on an analytic-synthetic teaching strategy (Awramiuk and Krasowicz-Kupis, 2014), combined with a global one (Jaszczyszyn, 2010)
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