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Öz

Teaching Foreign Language to Children According to Learning Theories- In parallel with the increasing struggles of both private and state institutions to teach foreign languages all over the world, in Turkey again in state and private schools age of acquisition of a foreign language has been reduced. The aim of this study is to discuss some issues related with teaching foreign language to children which has become a hot topic due to the start of Ministry of National Education’s (MoNE) teaching English to second grade primary school students as of 2013-2014 academic year. In this study we first addressed the considerations regarding the definition of child learners and which age group individuals are considered as child learner. Then we discussed general education theories and language learning theories about children and the methodologies inspired from those theories. We also tried to show to what extent the widely held belief that younger learners learn a second language better than relatively older learners do is true. Finally, we discussed the idea that foreign language teaching addresses the three aspects (cognitive, motor, and affective development of children) of the primary school curricula.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Foreign language, Child learner, Education theories, Language teaching method.

Öğrenme Kuramlarına Göre Çocuklara Yabancı Dil Öğretimi

Öz

Bu çalışmada tüm dünyada yabancı dil öğrenimine karşı hem özel hem de resmi kurumların artan çabalarına paralel olarak Türkiye’de gerek özel gerekse devlet okullarında İngilizceye başlama yaşının düşürülmesi; bu bağlamda
Milli Eğitim Bakanlığının (MEB) 2013-2014 eğitim öğretim yılıyla birlikte ilkokul 2. sınıf öğrencilerine İngilizce öğretmeye başlaması neticesinde daha da sıcak bir konu haline gelen çocuklara yabancı dil öğretimindeki bazı hususlar ele alınmıştır. Çalışmada önce çocuk öğrencinin tanımı, hangi yaş aralığındaki bireylerin çocuk öğrenci olduğuna dair değerlendirmeler ele alındı. Daha sonra 
çocuklarda genel öğrenmeyle ve dil öğrenimiyle ilgili kuramlar ve bu kuramlardan ilham alınarak ortaya çıkan dil öğretim yöntemleri tartışıldı. Bunun yanı sıra tüm dünyada yaygın bir kabul gören genç öğrencilerin görece daha yaşlı
olanlara göre ikinci dil öğrenme becerilerinin daha iyi olduğu fikrinin doğruluk derecesi gösterilmeye çalışıldı. Son olarak yabancı dil öğretiminin, ilköğretim programlarının üç ana hedefi olan çocukların bilişsel, duyuşsal ve motor becerileri
gelişim alanlarının hepsiyle ilgili olduğu fikri ele alınmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Yabancı dil, Çocuk öğrenci, Eğitim kuramları, Dil öğretim yöntemi.

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