Harvard Study: Kids Learn Chinese and
English the Same Way
The idea that children should learn Chinese has grown by leaps and bounds in British schools over the past few years. Available instruction has swelled from 70 schools in 2003 to over 400 in May 2007. Yet there remains a common perception that Chinese is too difficult for children—especially young children—to learn. How hard is it, you may well ask, for kids to learn Chinese?
Recent research suggests that toddlers may learn Chinese, or any other second language, by employing the same methods—and the same cognitive or linguistic tools—that babies use when they first learn to speak. However, toddlers speed up the process considerably; they're much faster than babies at picking up a language, and more natural in their efforts than adults.
Harvard developmental psychologist Jesse Snedeker recently completed a study of a group of nursery-aged children who had been adopted from China. The study's purpose was to discover the means by which children naturally acquire a second language in a foreign environment.
These children, who had learnt Chinese in their native country, faced an abrupt transition to an all-English environment. However, Snedeker learnt that, in the 3 to 18 months after their arrival in the US, the Chinese children had followed the same language-learning patterns we associate with infants. Read more.
Sincerely,
Katie Lagana
Early Advantage |