ELT Journal Special Issue: Teaching English to Young Learners

Update: Published!

The ELT Journal special issue on Teaching English to Young Learners, which was avertised below, was published in July 2014, as Volume 68 Issue 3. The issue was guest edited by Fiona Copland and Sue Garton, and consists of 10 main articles that look into different aspects of TEYL. The full table of contents can be accessed below:

Special Issue: Teaching English to Young Learners, ELTJ 68(3)

Call for papers

ELT Journal intend to publish a special issue on Teaching English to Young Learners in 2014. The needs of young learners (defined as pre-school, primary level and teenage learners) has become a salient issue in English language pedagogy. As noted in the call of papers:

The ongoing expansion of English language teaching for young learners and teenagers has been a notable feature of ELT in recent years. In many countries, English is now compulsory in primary as well as secondary education, whilst English for pre-school learners is also increasingly common. Indeed, some estimates suggest that up to 80 per cent of ELT globally is directed at students in primary or secondary schools, in a range of very diverse contexts around the world.

However, as both parents and educational authorities seek to increase younger learners’ English language skills, we cannot assume that an earlier start to learning English is automatically better. The advisability of an early start to learning English can be affected by a number of factors, ranging from the availability of suitably skilled teachers and appropriate resources to concerns about the possible implications for the teaching and learning of other languages.

A non-exhaustive list of topics which authors might address includes:

• bilingual education
• blended learning for young learners and teenagers
• classroom practice, methods, and methodologies
• CLIL for young learners and teenagers
• educational policy and the teaching of young learners and teenagers
• home language literacy skills versus English language literacy skills development
• literature and teaching young learners
• parents’ roles and attitudes towards ELT for young learners and teenagers
• researching the teaching of young learners
• syllabus and curriculum development
• young learner teacher training and education
• young learners’ assessment
• is starting English instruction earlier really better?

Submission instructions can be found in the following webpages: Information for authors and Online submission instructions. Informal queries can be addressed to the Editor of ELT Journal, Graham Hall (editor[at]eltj[dot]org). The deadline for submissions is 31st August 2013.