Young learners

4. FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS


It is an exciting time in YL research. In this section, we would like to suggest some areas we think would benefit from further investigation. First, the benefits and drawbacks of children learning English need to be more fully considered and explored. 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. In some contexts, children might gain more benefit from, for example, extra literacy work rather than language learning. Secondly, we know too little about effective pedagogies for teaching YLs, particularly in classrooms. The belief drawn from bilingual or immersion contexts that children are like sponges and will soak up English is not tenable when transferred to contexts where children have very limited input and this input is in large group settings. 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. Yet, as we can see from the articles in this special issue, other approaches do exist and these need to be examined for context specific effectiveness. A third area that merits exploration is technology, specifically how this is used, or can be used, outside the classroom to access English. It is clear that there are insufficient hours in most schools’ curricula to provide a strong foundation in English language. It is also clear that children access English outside the classroom through a variety of media. These two realities could lead to research projects to explore language learning outside the classroom and how this can be made more effective. We would also like to see more research into teacher education in teaching English to YLs. In many countries, native English-speaking teachers and expert users are employed by governments and schools to teach English because local teachers feel unable to teach, either because their English skills are too poor or because they believe their English skills are too poor. In other places, teachers using about their English levels as their focus is on the content of what they are teaching rather than on their language use. Effective secondary schooling is paramount to enabling adolescents to acquire the skills and confidence needed to transition to work and succeed in life. These factors also facilitate social and economic transformation. However, there are many young people in low income countries who fail to enter secondary education, whilst those who are enrolled achieve learning outcomes well below international levels. Future research on secondary education should investigate the financing of secondary education, the provision of skills for achieving livelihoods, including skills that will facilitate innovation and experimentation. Future employability has to be reconceptualized as the labour market is unlikely to absorb the growing number of school graduates. We need to strongly embed education for sustainable development into the curricula to ensure increased awareness and attitudinal change from the future generations. While foundational literacy and numeracy are key skills for the 21^st century, a deeper understanding of non-cognitive skills is necessary in order to promote a more holistic cognitive and socio-emotional developmental experience for children in schools and communities. Whilst there was no single definition of these vital skills, most presentations included:

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  social skills, which are key for building tolerance and cohesion;
  
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  communication skills, which are central to social relations, business, and politics;
  
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  adaptability skills, which are important for experimentation, future innovations, and seeing things differently. Other important skills also include development of confidence, self-esteem, perceptions of self and others as well as tolerance to diverse socio-cultural norms. Additionally, research presented at the a lot of conference focused on the gendered nature of some skills, as well as gender differences in the formation of such skills and the limiting factors in a girl’s environment which could hinder her development. There are immense challenges in measuring holistically the development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills during childhood and adolescence. The development of these skills changes in complex ways as children grow up, and their enhancement depends on many other intersecting, contextual, and cultural conditions. In terms of future directions, we require deeper and more contextually relevant understanding of
  

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  how non-cognitive skills for both boys and girls are interpreted in light of social norms, values, and local knowledge
  
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  how these can be successfully taught within and outside the formal education system
  
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  and whether these influence broader economic and social outcomes.
  

Finally, policy is hugely important in the YL context as it directly influences the lives of millions of children. 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. Many more studies, therefore, are needed in this area. As we have noted, more and more children are learning English from an early age, and research in the area has begun to grow. Very often, such research is based on methods used with adults and note, tends to be experimental. The question therefore arises as to whether research focusing on YLs needs to develop a new set of research tools, or indeed whole new approaches. Groundbreaking work suggests the need to introduce child perspectives into research, shifting the focus to children’s concerns and agendas and seeing them as co-researchers, acknowledging that children are capable of providing useful and reliable insights into their own lives as well as being resourceful and knowledgeable, especially concerning their own experiences.⁸ Child centred researchers such as suggest using participatory activities such as drawings, photographs, music, and storytelling for data collection. A number of innovative approaches can be found in this Special Issue. For example, elicited metaphors from children as a way of understanding their motivations for learning English, while used multimodalities and narratives to research the introduction of children’s indigenous languages into the English classroom. Children asked 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. Research with children and young people is crucial. It can advance understanding of how they develop and live their lives, it can contribute to theoretical debates, and its outcomes can impact directly and indirectly on the lives of those researched and others in similar situations. However, if the research is to be in the best interests of the children and young people themselves, it is essential that researchers take heed of a number of critical issues which arise in the planning, carrying out and dissemination stages of research. Relevant issues include ethics, consent, the legal system, power relations, methodology and the dissemination process. It is also important when reading research papers to consider whether the various issues have been addressed appropriately, in order to evaluate the research and its contribution. We have need together researchers who have expertise in a variety of different spheres and who are particularly well placed to identify and reflect on some of the issues and questions which arise in research with children and young people. They differ from one another in many ways including the disciplines in which they work, the methodological approaches they favour, the groups of children and young people they research, and their primary interest which for some is to understand children and young people better and for others is to improve the lives of children and young people. Despite these differences they share an interest in ensuring that research with children and young people is effective and appropriate. Although we invited particular researchers to reflect on specific topics there are a number of issues which appear in many of the chapters, such as access, consent, ethics and power relations. However, these are discussed by different authors from their different perspectives and often in relation to different groups of children and young people. Not surprisingly, given their different backgrounds and experiences, the contributors express varied points of view and at times may even contradict one another in what they say. As editors we have not sought to ensure that a united picture is presented of how to tackle the different issues which are raised. This is because there is no single correct answer to each issue and it is important to acknowledge, debate and reflect on different views. Nevertheless, certain themes do emerge from many of the chapters. One recurring theme is that the theoretical and methodological approach that is taken influences the research outcome; another is that the power relations which exist between researcher and researched affect the process of research; a third is the positive shift towards children and young people participating actively in research, even to the point of carrying out research themselves. There are also undoubtedly gaps, some of which will only become apparent in time. The contributors can only present an account of some of the issues which are uppermost on their research agendas at the time they are writing in the early part of the twenty-first century⁹. Fashions and trends shift and change in research and while we may believe that we have identified and solved a problem once and for all it is a fact of research, as it is of life, that many of the problems we identify and views which we hold today will be challenged by future generations and surpassed as different questions and approaches to research emerge. We can only comment on issues and possible ways of dealing with them in the light of our existing knowledge and understanding. However, by bringing together contributors from varied backgrounds our hope is that the ensuing chapters will enrich and advance discussion rather than complicate it. As already noted, the contributors are working within different disciplines and therefore utilize different methodological approaches in their own research. The contributors reflect the disciplines of Education, Health, Social Welfare, Psychology, Sociology, Childhood studies, Youth Studies, and Law. What unites the contributors are the participants in their research, namely children and young people. Further, since the contributors are exploring questions which arise in research with children and young people, they do not describe different methodologies in any detail, although they do comment on methodological aspects to varying extents. So, if you are looking for a step by step guide through different methodological approaches to research with children and young people this is not an appropriate book. Nevertheless, many of the chapters do provide examples and suggestions for how research with children and young people can be carried out effectively. It is also important to note that the contributors are all based in and predominantly working in the minority or Western world, although research with children and young people in the majority or non-Western world will be the topic. In these commentaries the researchers discuss how their research came about, describe difficulties they encountered during the research and how they overcame them or not and reflect back on the research after its completion. Many of the commentaries touch on questions which are covered in the present volume. Reflection is a vital part of the research process and is one way in which researchers can develop their expertise and advance their research. We must suggested a topic to each of them and asked them to reflect on the topic from their experience as a researcher. Self reflection is a crucial part of the research process and we would encourage you to engage in this as you read each chapter in the research. As we have already pointed out, research fashions change over time, new issues arise and old issues may diminish in apparent importance, or resurface. Nevertheless, if research with children and young people is to result in better understanding and improved social conditions then we all need to stand back and take stock from time to time.¹⁰ We would not want this book to be seen as putting forward definitive answers to particular questions. Rather, it provides a starting point for us to reflect on a number of critical issues which every researcher working with children and young people should address. While there has been a positive increase in emphasis on hearing the voices of children in research over the past two decades, this seems to be less true of young children, under the age of 8 years. Ironically, in some instances this may be because of an increased awareness of ethical issues in working with children and the need to protect children from inappropriate questioning. The focus on child protection/ safeguarding by donor agencies is welcomed, but this may have sometimes served as a barrier to the participation of young children in research. This resource identifies six steps consider in deciding how to engage young children in research. They are meant to offer a flexible process for building capability for the research process, to developing ethical protocols and processes, and for building trust and relationships. The methods have been organized into clusters to make them accessible to researchers, although there are obvious overlaps between these clusters. An overarching theme is that in order to successfully engage with young children research needs to be fun and relevant. The Researcher Toolkit and Researcher Resource have been developed to support researchers to include young children in research; particularly children aged 5 to 8 years of age. While it has been designed to support those who are seeking to include young children in research for the first time we hope that the broad range of methods described will also be of value for more seasoned researchers. It does this by providing a six-step process for designing research and through systematically identifying and describing a range of methods that have been used with young children in diverse contexts around the world. We use the term ‘researcher’ throughout this resource to refer to anyone involved in designing and conducting research including: practitioners, academics, community workers, staff in hospitals, street workers, school teachers and many others. It designed to gather further examples of methods of value in working with young children. Through this broad sweep in the collection of methods we have been able to gather methods that have been successfully used in research with young children for a wide range of types of research questions and in a very broad range of contexts. This has enabled us to identify some of the many important kinds of cultural, religious and resource issues that one needs to consider when working with children in very different kinds of settings. We have also included case studies to show how the research methods have has been applied in different parts of the world.