Young Children Learning a Second or Foreign Language:

Similarities and Differences

Patton O. Tabors

There is considerable interest in the language-learning abilities of young children around the world.� A great deal of attention has been focused recently on how children learn language, how that process can be supported by the adults in their world, and how their language skills are related to their literacy development.� More recently still, there has been a growing interest in how children add a second language to their repertoire, either because they live in a society that operates in a different language from the one they learned at home - second language acquisition-, or because there is a desire for them to learn another language other than the one that is common in their society - foreign language acquisition.

This presentation will explore the similarities and differences of these two processes, second language and foreign language acquisition, for young children.� Starting with the basics of all language learning, this presentation will then discuss what we know about the two processes and will highlight the ways in which these processes overlap, and the areas in which they diverge.� The consequences of these similarities and differences will be discussed in terms of developing curriculum to respond to the needs of young children in these two different circumstances.

This presentation will be an interactive experience for the audience. The presentation will be punctuated with opportunities for audience members to reflect on and share their experiences, thus providing many of the examples to illustrate the points being made.� At the conclusion of this session, the final understandings of each of the members of the audience will have been built from the information presented, the experiences of the other audience members, and the ir own experiences.