© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Overcoming age-related differences
Gloria Luque Agulló has been involved in foreign language teaching and teacher education in Spain for fifteen years, and now she works at the University of Jaén (Spain). She has published mainly in two fields: foreign language learning and teaching methodology, and her research deals with trying to find out how to facilitate the learning of a foreign language
Email: gluque{at}jaen.es
One of the most controversial issues in FL teaching is the age at which language learning should start. Nowadays it is recognized that in second language contexts maturational constraints make an early start advisable, but there is still disagreement regarding the problem of when to start or the best way to learn in foreign contexts. The aim of this paper is threefold: to establish if there is a critical or sensitive period for FL learners; to determine the particular linguistic and cognitive aspects affected by this period; and to make a pedagogical proposal to overcome the age-related problem using an extract taken from the film Shrek. This proposal comprises two lesson plans using the same film extract, one for children and the other one for older students. These plans are then compared in terms of the different cognitive, linguistic, and metalinguistic processes involved in learning and teaching for each age range.