The DOI matches its Crossref record; 15 of the 16 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 32 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue
Abstract
Despite being something of a ‘Cinderella’ area of study, research into and informed discussion of teaching young learners is on the increase, perhaps mirroring the increasing numbers of children learning English globally in primary schools. This introductory article reviews key themes and issues in the teaching of English to young learners, and explains how the articles in this Special Issue connect to and develop them. It also points forward to some of the areas we expect to be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the years to come.
Overview
Integrity signals
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Cites
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Verification
Claims the paper makes
23 No basis given · 21 Sources not found · 5 No full text of the sources · 4 Not checked yet · 4 Own result · 3 Own interpretation · 1 Supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“For example a search for articles with 'young learner' and 'primary school' in the title or abstract published in ELT Journal since 2000 had just eight hits that could be considered to have a focus on YL pedagogy, covering areas as diverse as stories, posters, the interactive whiteboard, and reading.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Second, we know too little about effective pedagogies for teaching YLs, particularly in classrooms.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“but research-based publications into effective practices for teaching YLs continue to be quite rare.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Database searches, including in the archives of this Journal, still yield very few examples of empirical studies about the effect of pedagogies on early language learning.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“It is also clear that children access English outside the classroom through a variety of media.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Sayer and Ban (p.321 this issue) show how children in Mexico access English through popular culture, engaging with the language in order to listen, watch, and/or play.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Sayer and Ban (p.321 this issue)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“First, as Ellis points out, most research to date has focused on the older age group of secondary-school learners.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Ellis 2014 source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The assumption that younger is better is controversial as previous studies have given contradictory results (Pinter 2011) and there is no conclusive evidence for the supposed benefits of the early introduction of English into the curriculum.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Pinter 2011 source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“In their global study, Garton et al. (op.cit.)came across a number of comments that suggested that in some cases, this kind of understanding was limited.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Garton et al.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
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In the paper
“However, it is also true that, over time, improvements in policy implementation have been made in a number of countries.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Karavas (p.243 this issue)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- It may state two separate claims as one. 20
- Probably not a substantial claim. 30
Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Very often, such research is based on methods used with adults and, as Pinter and Zandian (2014) note, tends to be experimental.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
What the sources say
- Supportedcites Pinter and Zandian (2014) source
The Introduction states that the majority of published studies on young learners are experimental in design. The citation is attached specifically to the claim that such research tends to be experimental; the preceding statement about methods used with adults is not explicitly attributed to this source. (LLM, conf=0.93)
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Supported
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, we know very little about how policies are developed, or how the macro, in terms of policy, becomes the micro, in terms of school practice.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Future directions
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Empirical evidence of sociocultural and educational advantages/disadvantages of early language learning are scant, yet policy dictates that English should be taught to millions of children globally as if advantage is assured.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
- Rests on an assumption: Speaking English can confer economic advantage on some people.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It is clear that there are insufficient hours in most schools' curricula to provide a strong foundation in English language.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Nevertheless, primary English is now a reality in very many countries and recent discussions have turned to the role of 'social, environmental and individual factors' (ibid.: 64) as well as the quality of teaching in English language primary education.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites ibid.: 64
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Rests on an assumption: Primary English is now a reality in very many countries.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Previously, something of a 'Cinderella area' of scholarship, teaching English to YLs is now the focus of important European and global studies (Enever 2011; Garton, Copland, and Burns 2011, respectively) as well as a range of qualitative and quantitative investigations (for example Hawkins 2005; Muñoz 2006).”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Enever 2011
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Garton, Copland, and Burns 2011
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Hawkins 2005 source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“English in the primary curriculum has frequently been accompanied by other policy imperatives such as government-mandated changes to the teaching approach, usually with a focus on some form of Communicative Language Teaching or Task-based Learning and Teaching (TBLT).”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Research into and informed discussion of teaching English to young learners (YLs) has developed rapidly in recent years, mirroring the increase in the numbers of young children learning English globally.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Abstract
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Children can learn more than one language simultaneously and often do in their home and social contexts.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Blackledge and Creese 2010
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“For example teachers wrote that they were frustrated at teaching the finer points of grammar (such as the present perfect tense) to children who seemed unable to grasp them.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Garton et al.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“This is because of the huge differences in 'physical, psychological, social, emotional, conceptual and cognitive development' (ibid.: 75) among children in these age groups, leading to very different approaches to teaching.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites ibid.: 75
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“a child of three will be very different from a child of five or seven and classroom approaches that are suitable for the latter will not be so for the former.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Instead of the child receiving hours of individualized comprehensible input from carers, which focuses on meaning through interaction, he/she will have a language class once or twice a week often in a large group of children (nearly a quarter of the teachers in the study by Garton et al. (op.cit.) reported class sizes of over 30 children).”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“For example meaning-based approaches, developed in Western classrooms for adults, may not be compatible with local educational traditions and may go against the expectations of both parents and learners.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“While some training has usually been given in the imported approaches, teachers often feel that training in new methodologies is inadequate, resulting in a gap between policy and its implementation in the classroom where teachers may fall back on familiar practices.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Butler, Someya, and Fukuhara (p.265 this issue) also show how children engage with online games outside the classroom and identify the features that are attractive to children of different ages.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Butler, Someya, and Fukuhara (p.265 this issue)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Moreover, it is probable that the child will take part in activities aimed at engaging the group rather than the individual.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Indeed, for many children in the world, being bilingual or multilingual is an everyday reality (Blackledge and Creese 2010).”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Blackledge and Creese 2010
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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In the paper
“Enever (p.231 this issue) not only highlights the current weaknesses in teacher education in Europe in this regard but also points out that such weaknesses are likely to be more widespread.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Enever (p.231 this issue)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, none of these groups of teachers is fully and appropriately trained (i.e.trained to teach primary level or trained to teach English or both), a situation that is common in many contexts.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: None of the groups of teachers (homeroom teachers, higher-level English teachers, or native English teachers) is fully and appropriately trained, and this situation is common in many contexts.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“English medium schools are also growing in popularity.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Besser and Chik (p. 299 this issue) asked children in their study to take photographs of their environments, which were then used by the researchers to find out about how the children viewed themselves in relation to English.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Besser and Chik (p. 299 this issue)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In the ELT world, in contrast, there is a drive towards using English as the medium of instruction with the development of CLIL and English medium instruction (EMI) pedagogies.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In other places, teachers using a CLIL methodology are less concerned about their English levels as their focus is on the content of what they are teaching rather than on their language use.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Future directions
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“At the same time as interest in teaching English to YLs is growing, there is a parallel interest, particularly in the United Kingdom and North America, in the teaching of bilingual children.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“While in some contexts pedagogy seems to comprise games and songs, in others, children are expected to sit for long periods of time doing comprehension-type activities and grammar exercises (see Copland, Garton, and Burns 2013).”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Copland, Garton, and Burns 2013
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“López-Gopar explores how identity texts were used with YLs to develop an understanding of the value of their multilingual identities.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites López-Gopar
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Child-centred researchers such as Pinter and Zandian (op.cit.) and Kuchah (2013) suggest using participatory activities such as drawings, photographs, music, and storytelling for data collection.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Pinter and Zandian (op.cit.)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Kuchah (2013)
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Empirical evidence of sociocultural and educational advantages/disadvantages of early language learning are scant, yet policy dictates that English should be taught to millions of children globally as if advantage is assured.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
- Rests on an assumption: Policy dictates that English should be taught to millions of children globally as if advantage is assured.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Finally, policy is hugely important in the YL context as it directly influences the lives of millions of children.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Future directions
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, it is clear that there remains a lack of classroom-based studies and 'young learners' in general remains an under-researched area.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Besser and Chik describe how children attending English medium schools in Hong Kong, generally the prerogative of the wealthy, develop strong English language skills that are much sought after when they later enter the job market.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Besser and Chik
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Similarly, in Mexico and other South American countries, a recognition that English can bring disadvantages as well as benefits has led to a critical approach to English language teaching, even with YLs.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This is unfortunate as both share an interest in YLs' language learning and advocate for supporting children in the most effective ways possible, yet both take very different positions in this regard.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Karavas (p.243 this issue), for example, describes the successful extension of English to first and second grades in primary schools in Greece through the involvement of stakeholders in programme development.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Children as language learners
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Karavas (p.243 this issue)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirectSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Indeed, recent studies have suggested that learning English can contribute to disadvantage because children from wealthier homes are able to access extra English support that poorer children cannot (see, for example, Lamb 2011).”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Lamb 2011
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
In the paper
“For example Jin, Liang, Jiang, Zhang, Yuan, and Xie (p.286) elicited metaphors from children as a way of understanding their motivations for learning English, while López-Gopar (p.310) used multimodalities and narratives to research the introduction of children's indigenous languages into the English classroom.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Young learner pedagogy
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Jin, Liang, Jiang, Zhang, Yuan, and Xie (p.286)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
In the paper
“In this issue, Besser and Chik explain how children who attend EMI schools in Hong Kong and who are also supported at home, tend to develop bilingual identities that are not generally attainable by those attending Chinese medium schools.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Besser and Chik
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This literature tends to support using the children's L1 to teach content subjects as it leads to more effective learning and identity development.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, the research traditions in bilingualism and ELT rarely cross.”
§ Key themes and future directions in teaching English to young learners: introduction to the Special Issue > Learning English and context
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper relies on this without support.
English is being introduced to children in many countries at a rapidly and comprehensively lower age, and preschool English is spreading.
“Moreover, the rapid and comprehensive lowering of the age at which English is introduced to children in many countries, together with the spread of preschool English, means it is timely to focus on these younger age groups.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Primary English is now a reality in very many countries.
“Nevertheless, primary English is now a reality in very many countries and recent discussions have turned to the role of 'social, environmental and individual factors' (ibid.: 64) as well as the quality of teaching in English language primary education.”
The paper relies on this without support.
In EFL contexts, most language learning happens in schools.
“In EFL contexts, most language learning happens in schools.”
The paper relies on this without support.
None of the groups of teachers (homeroom teachers, higher-level English teachers, or native English teachers) is fully and appropriately trained, and this situation is common in many contexts.
“However, none of these groups of teachers is fully and appropriately trained (i.e.trained to teach primary level or trained to teach English or both), a situation that is common in many contexts.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Speaking English can confer economic advantage on some people.
“There is little doubt that speaking English can confer economic advantage on some.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Policy dictates that English should be taught to millions of children globally as if advantage is assured.
“Empirical evidence of sociocultural and educational advantages/disadvantages of early language learning are scant, yet policy dictates that English should be taught to millions of children globally as if advantage is assured.”
Citations
Cites
Teaching languages to young learners
Cameron, L. (2001) · Cambridge University Press · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511733109 · Cited by 1,807
Multilingualism : A Critical Perspective
Blackledge, A., & Creese, A. (2010) · Bloomsbury Academic eBooks · doi:10.5040/9781474212281 · Cited by 596
Challenges in Teaching English to Young Learners: Global Perspectives and Local Realities
Copland, F., Garton, S., & Burns, A. (2014) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.1002/tesq.148 · Cited by 300
Self-citationStudent use of the mother tongue in the task-based classroom
Carless, D. R. (2007) · ELT Journal · doi:10.1093/elt/ccm090 · Cited by 254
Children Learning Second Languages
Pinter, A. (2011) · doi:10.1057/9780230302297 · Cited by 203
Age and the Rate of Foreign Language Learning
Muñoz, C. (2006) · Multilingual Matters eBooks · doi:10.2307/jj.30945687 · Cited by 185
Becoming a Student: Identity Work and Academic Literacies in Early Schooling
Hawkins, M. R. (2005) · TESOL Quarterly · doi:10.2307/3588452 · Cited by 179
China’s foreign language policy on primary English education: What’s behind it?
Hu, Y. (2007) · Language Policy · doi:10.1007/s10993-007-9052-9 · Cited by 109
'Young learners': clarifying our terms
Ellis, G. (2014) · ELT Journal · doi:10.1093/elt/cct062 · Cited by 74
Cooper, C. (2015) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203593493.ch16 · Cited by 71
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Coyle, Y., Guirao, J. C., & de Larios, J. R. (2018) · Journal of Second Language Writing · doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2018.09.002 · Cited by 60
Zein, S. (2016) · Professional Development in Education · doi:10.1080/19415257.2016.1156013 · Cited by 122
“Since teachers are indispensable in the implementation of the policies, calls for enhancing their instructional practice through professional development (PD) have mounted (see Hamid 2010, Emery 2012, Copland and Garton 2014, Enever 2014).”
BackgroundYılmaz, R. M., Topu, F. B., & Tulgar, A. T. (2022) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-022-10916-w · Cited by 86
Collaborative writing and feedback
Luquin, M., & Mayo, M. D. P. G. (2020) · Language Teaching for Young Learners · doi:10.1075/ltyl.19007.luq · Cited by 67
Metaphors as a window into identity: A study of teachers of English to young learners in Vietnam
Nguyen, C. D. (2016) · System · doi:10.1016/j.system.2016.06.004 · Cited by 65
Metadata
- Authors
- Copland, F., & Garton, S.
- Affiliations
- Aston University (GB)
- ORCID
- Garton, S.
- Venue
- ELT Journal
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-06-12
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 223-230
- ISSN
- 0951-0893 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-4526
- OpenAlex
- W2153785554
- Semantic Scholar
- 7a021fbf199b328861bc303efd681830897e9e0d
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ELT Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Second Language Learning and Teaching
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Keywords
- teaching English to young learners, young learners, primary education, English language teaching, child language acquisition, research agenda
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-11, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-11 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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