Greetings. Please judge me harshly, for my own benefit.
I was asked if the advantages of teaching Foreign Language to students in secondary education outweigh to that of teaching the same subject to students in the primary education. Did I phrase that question correctly? I basically understood it in a way that I have to do a comparison between them and take a stand at the end.
All throughout the human history, Education has consistently evolved in response to our society's needs and resources. One major subject that has been affected constantly by the evolution of education is Foreign Language. Some would question its essence and relevance, arguing that it should be taught before pupils reach secondary school. Though there might be a considerable amount of advantages and disadvantages, I personally believe that Foreign Language can be most effectively taught during primary education.
It can be argued that secondary school students have higher awareness on knowledge consumption making them more receptive in learning new languages. Whilst younger students in primary school tend to be unfocused academically rendering average teaching strategies ineffective. In relation to this, a survey has found in 2014 that high-school students are 30% more focused academically compared to elementary students. This is an apparent disadvantage of teaching Foreign Language earlier than secondary education.
A strong advantage of introducing secondary language to primary students is that linguistic learning happens more effectively during school age. Though focus is not their greatest ability during school age years, elementary students possess juvenile left brain hemispheres capable of picking up new vocabularies. A novel example would be the current phenomena where Filipino kids already know hot to speak conversational English without formal education. Apparently, they have learned that this is an evidence worth noting of.
In general perspective, injecting Foreign Language to the curriculum of either primary or secondary education entails certain positive and negative outcomes. Although, I personally think that teaching secondary languages should happen as early as possible. It is when children are curious and interested with their linguistic abilities.
I was asked if the advantages of teaching Foreign Language to students in secondary education outweigh to that of teaching the same subject to students in the primary education. Did I phrase that question correctly? I basically understood it in a way that I have to do a comparison between them and take a stand at the end.
All throughout the human history, Education has consistently evolved in response to our society's needs and resources. One major subject that has been affected constantly by the evolution of education is Foreign Language. Some would question its essence and relevance, arguing that it should be taught before pupils reach secondary school. Though there might be a considerable amount of advantages and disadvantages, I personally believe that Foreign Language can be most effectively taught during primary education.
It can be argued that secondary school students have higher awareness on knowledge consumption making them more receptive in learning new languages. Whilst younger students in primary school tend to be unfocused academically rendering average teaching strategies ineffective. In relation to this, a survey has found in 2014 that high-school students are 30% more focused academically compared to elementary students. This is an apparent disadvantage of teaching Foreign Language earlier than secondary education.
A strong advantage of introducing secondary language to primary students is that linguistic learning happens more effectively during school age. Though focus is not their greatest ability during school age years, elementary students possess juvenile left brain hemispheres capable of picking up new vocabularies. A novel example would be the current phenomena where Filipino kids already know hot to speak conversational English without formal education. Apparently, they have learned that this is an evidence worth noting of.
In general perspective, injecting Foreign Language to the curriculum of either primary or secondary education entails certain positive and negative outcomes. Although, I personally think that teaching secondary languages should happen as early as possible. It is when children are curious and interested with their linguistic abilities.
