Teaching Languages to Young Learners: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

Our main hypothesis is that the history of language teaching to young learners has been marked by two questions: (1) Which is the optimal age for starting to learn a language? (2) Is the effort and expense used worth the results? Our objective, then, is to review the history of language teaching to young learners. To trace its history an international approach will be assumed, as mutual influences are quite frequent in this field among several countries. Furthermore, we will also try to encompass the teaching practice concerning young learners as well as the theories and researches on the question on the optimal starting age, as both theory and practice has been closely tied together in this occasion.