The Necessity of Early Childhood English Education

羅玉琳 楊萌

摘要：In recent years， English learners is becoming younger and younger， and a variety of training classes for early English education have come into being. This is because with the continuous improvement of economic level and the continuous advance of global integration， English is more and more recognized by the public. English is no longer an unacquainted skill， but a life skill that everyone can master. The importance of English is understandable. But there is a question： is it necessary for children to learn English from an early age？

關(guān)鍵詞： lowering age;English early education;necessity

The old saying "start young" is not without reason. Early childhood is a critical and golden period of language development： The LAD theory of N·Chomsky， an American linguist， believes that children have an "innate language acquisition mechanism" determined by heredity. It is a direct channel for children to acquire language. It is very active from 0 to 6 years old， and weakens with the growth of age. Its role will disappear after 12 years old.

Chomsky 's theory is that when language signals enter a child's brain， the LAD device recognizes the signals he hears and remembers them. Children are the masters of active language generation and development， not the imitators who only react passively to stimuli. This explains why it is common for any child to master the language of everyday communication in his mother tongue at a certain age. It also explains the necessity of language development （including first language and second language） at the age of young children. The wolf children illustrate this point. In 1920， two wolf children were found in Calcutta， India. They were eight years old but could not speak a word. After nine years in the nursery， they could only say six short sentences.

Adults have mastered the general characteristics of the native language and can make use of the knowledge of the native language to advance to a foreign language. Adults learn foreign languages step by step under the instruction of teachers with the aid of well-written textbooks. Although the condition is superior to that of children， the effect is poor. Children do not have the condition of adults， but children learn a foreign language more authentic than adults. Why is that？

One reason is that children spend more time learning to speak. According to the survey， the number of words spoken by German children every day is 20，000 at the age of two and 40，000 at the age of three and a half. Children over the age of five have about 20，000 hours to learn to speak. The second reason is that the interference of native language is less. In the language system of adults， the mother tongue has been deeply rooted， and they are more likely to think and express in their mother tongue in life or study， which greatly deepens the difficulty of learning a second language. However， for children， their native language system is not complete， so they are less disturbed by their native language in learning， and children's talent in language learning is at its best. Children learn especially authentic foreign languages during this period.

It has become a part of education to teach children English in an early age， which is good for them to learn a second language. Combine the mental characteristics of children， need to use physical and language combination of stimulation， like mother tongue applied in children's life， for children to create an appropriate environment. Also can use songs and English cartoons， to help children learn English.

References

[1]The Story of Wolf Children in India [J].

[2]Hu， Zhuanglin.2006. Linguistics： An Introduction，97-102[C] Peking University Press.

[3]Li Hua.2019.On the Importance and Countermeasures of Preschool English Enlightenment Education[D].