PowerPoint Presentation

GRAMMAR FOR YOUNG LEARNERSFactors of how and what to teachAge Proficiency levelEducational backgroundPeople of different ages have different needs, competences and cognitive skills (Harmer, 2005).Children can profit from a focus on form if attention to form is offered through structured input and incidental, indirect error treatmentAGEProficiency levelProficiency level of the young learners is at the beginning If we force too much grammar focus on beginning level learners, we run the risk of blocking their acquisition of fluency skills. Explicit grammar teaching is more effective at the intermediate to advanced levels than beginning levels (Brown, 2007).Grammatical focus is helpful as an occasional zoom lens with which we zero in some aspect of language but not helpful if it become the major focus of class work (Brown, 2007)This is because incidental focus on form is valuable as it treats errors that occur while learners are engaged in meaningful communication.Educational backgroundThere is no formal educational background for young learners or children.Young learners or children who have no formal educational background may find it difficult to grasp the complexity of grammatical terms and explanations.Young learners learn differently from older children, adolescents and adults among others in the following ways; They respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual words.They often learn indirectly rather than directly taking every information around them rather than focusing on the precise topic being taughtTheir understanding comes from explanation as well as from what they see and hear and interact with.They find abstract concepts such as grammar rules difficult to graspThey have a limited attention span; unless activities are extremely engaging, they can get easily bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so.