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This book offers an insight into the dynamics and complexities of learning and teaching English as a foreign language at primary level. Taking a Dynamic Systems Theory perspective, the chapters present the findings of longitudinal research undertaken in Croatia into the development of English in young learners. The book includes both qualitative and quantitative research and provides insights into internal individual learner factors and external micro and macro contextual factors which impact English learner development. Importantly, it tackles the unique position of English in today’s globalised world in detail. It therefore makes a major contribution to work on learning English by the digitalised generation and to understanding the impact of practices in the modern EFL classroom. The volume will appeal to anyone interested in new ways of researching the complex and dynamic phenomenon of the early learning of English.
Grounded in the Croatian socioeducational context, this impressive volume has relevance beyond the borders of a single country. It draws on contemporary theories in finding support for a complex, dynamic process of primary English development. It also contributes important lessons concerning new learner characteristics, such as their digital literacy, which teachers and researchers alike would do well to heed. I have learned a great deal!
Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović worked as a Professor of SLA and TEFL at the University of Zagreb, Croatia till she retired in October 2014. Her main research interests centre around teaching modern languages to young learners and affect in language learning. She has been involved in a number of large scale research projects, the latest one being Early Language Learning in Europe (ELLiE).
Marta Medved Krajnović holds the position of Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Currently Director of Stockholm International School, she is leading the school’s strategic development. Her main research interests centre around dynamism and complexity of multilingual development in both children and adults.
Introduction
1. Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović: Context and Structure of the Study
2. Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović: Individual Differences among Young EFL Learners: Age- or Proficiency-related? A Look from the Affective Learner Factors Perspective
3. Višnja Josipović Smojver: Croatian Primary School Pupils and English Pronunciation in the Light of the Emergence of English as a Lingua Franca
4. Lovorka Zergollern-Miletić: Acquisition of the Markers of Definiteness and Indefiniteness in Early EFL
5. Marta Medved Krajnović and Irena Kocijan Pevec: Present Tense Development in 11- to 13-Year-Old EFL Learners
6. Smiljana Narančić Kovač and Ivana Milković: Associating Temporal Meanings with Past and Present
7. Renata Geld: What Vocabulary Networks Reveal about Young Learners' Language
8. Renata Šamo: Receptive Skills in the Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Context of EFL Learning
9. Stela Letica Krevelj and Marta Medved Krajnović: Early EFL Development from a Dynamic Systems Perspective
Afterword