Cover not available
Article published In:
Language Problems and Language Planning
Vol. 42:1 (2018) ► pp.89–111
Interlinguistics / Interlingüística / Interlinguistik / Interlingvistiko

Esperanto as a tool in classroom foreign language learning in England

| University of Essex
| University of Essex

Previous work has examined the potential of Esperanto as a pedagogical tool in classroom foreign language learning in England, where limited language input of sometimes as little as one hour per week is the norm. The work reviewed here focuses on child learners aged 6 to 12 and was carried out between 2006 and 2016. Two Esperanto-based language awareness programmes have provided primarily descriptive insights, suggesting that learning Esperanto may result in greater metalinguistic awareness and more positive attitudes to other languages and cultures. However, the language awareness programmes were implemented without matched comparison groups and therefore could not reveal whether the learning of Esperanto would lead to different results than the learning of other languages. Classroom-based research that included matched comparison groups has sought to address this issue. Specifically, three studies investigated the questions of whether learning Esperanto as opposed to learning other languages would help enhance children’s metalinguistic awareness and thus contribute in turn to more successful learning in a limited-input classroom context. On the one hand, results indicate that for novice child learners, Esperanto was easier to learn than French, and that learning Esperanto may have a levelling effect that compensates for individual differences between children. On the other hand, the findings also show that these apparent advantages of Esperanto did not translate into measurably greater benefits for the development of metalinguistic awareness, or greater subsequent success in learning another foreign language. Moreover, learning Esperanto could not compensate for low language learning aptitude. In view of these sobering results, a number of proposals are made on how to take forward the research agenda. These proposals include further research into the potential benefits of using form-focused instruction (based on any language) with children as well as the effects of learning Esperanto in novice adult learners.

Keywords: child foreign language learning, child L2 learning, instructed L2 learning, Esperanto, metalinguistic awareness, language learning aptitude
Article outline
  • Language awareness projects drawing on Esperanto
  • Classroom research comparing Esperanto with other languages
  • General discussion and conclusions
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 24 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00013.roe
References
Anderson, J. R.
(2005) Cognitive psychology and its implications (6th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.Google Scholar
Baker, C.
(2006) Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (4th ed.). Clevedon: Mutilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Barton, A., Bragg, J., & Serratrice, L.
(2009) ‘Discovering language’ in primary school: An evaluation of a language awareness programme. Language Learning Journal, 37(2), 145–164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E.
(2001) Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy, and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Peets, K., & Moreno, S.
(2014) Producing bilinguals through immersion education: Development of metalinguistic awareness. Applied Psycholinguistics, 351, 177–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D.
(1989) Metalinguistic performance and interlinguistic competence. Berlin: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bishop, A. J.
(1997) EKPAROLI project report 1994–1997. [URL] (15 July 2011).
Bouffard, L., & Sarkar, M.
(2008) Training 8-year-old immersion students in metalinguistic analysis: An innovation in form-focused pedagogy. Language Awareness, 17(1), 3–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carroll, J. B., & Sapon, S. M.
(2002) Modern language aptitude test – Elementary: MLAT-E. Rockville, MD: Second Language Testing Foundation.Google Scholar
Corsetti, R., & LaTorre, M.
(1995) Quale lingua prima. Language Problems and Language Planning, 191, 26–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dörnyei, Z.
(2009) The psychology of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C.
(1994) Consciousness in second language learning: Psychological perspectives on the role of conscious processes in vocabulary acquisition. AILA Review, 111, 37–56.Google Scholar
Ellis, R.
(2004) The definition and measurement of L2 explicit knowledge. Language Learning, 54(2), 227–275. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erlam, R.
(2005) Language aptitude and its relationship to instructional effectiveness in second language acquisition. Language Teaching Research, 9(2), 147–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fantini, A., & Reagan, T.
(1992) Esperanto and education: Toward a research agenda. [URL] 8 July 2011.
Fisher, A.
(1921) Modern languages by way of Esperanto. Modern Languages, 5(6), 179–182.Google Scholar
Formaggio, E.
(1990) Lerneja eksperimento pri lernfacileco kaj transfero en la fremdlingvoinstruado. Internacia Pedagogia Revuo, 201, 1–9.Google Scholar
Gombert, J. E.
(1992) Metalinguistic development. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester.Google Scholar
Halloran, J. H.
(1952) A four year experiment in Esperanto as an introduction to French. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 22(3), 200–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hanan, R.
(2015) The effectiveness of explicit grammar instruction for the young foreign language learner: A classroom-based experimental study. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of York.Google Scholar
Harley, B.
(1998) The role of focus-on-form tasks in promoting child L2 acquisition. In C. Doughty and J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 156–174). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hulstijn, J. H.
(2005) Theoretical and empirical issues in the study of implicit and explicit second-language learning: Introduction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 27(2), 129–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jones, N., Barnes, A., & Hunt, M.
(2005) Thinking through languages: A multi-lingual approach to primary school languages. Language Learning Journal, 32(1), 63–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karmiloff, K., & Karmiloff-Smith, A.
(2002) Pathways to language: From fetus to adolescent. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lichtman, K.
(2013) Developmental comparisons of implicit and explicit language learning. Language Acquisition, 20(2), 93–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2016) Age and learning environment: Are children implicit second language learners? Journal of Child Language, 43(3), 707–730. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lodge, O.
(2004) School teaching and school reform. London: Elibron Classics. Original publication 1905.Google Scholar
Markarian, R.
(1964) The educational value of Esperanto teaching in the schools. Rotterdam: Universala Esperanto-Asocio.Google Scholar
Masson, H.
(2006) Quel parti la language française peut-elle tirer de la défense et de l’illustration de l’espéranto? La Informilo, 1331, 25–28.Google Scholar
Maxwell, D.
1988 On the acquisition of Esperanto. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 101, 51–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Milton, J. & Alexiou, T.
(2006) Language aptitude development in young learners. In C. Abello-Contesse, R. Chacón-Beltrán, M. D. López-Chiménez & M. del Mar Torreblanca-López (Eds.), Age in L2 acquisition and teaching (pp. 177–192). Oxford: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Porter, A.
(2014) An early start to French literacy: Learning the spoken and written word simultaneously in English primary schools. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Southampton.Google Scholar
Rodríguez, S., Luis, H., & Roehr-Brackin, K.
(2016) Language learning aptitude and working memory as predictors of instructed adult L2 learners’ explicit and implicit L2 knowledge. Paper presented at the Cognitive Approaches to Language Pedagogy 2 conference, Basel, Switzerland, 10–11 June.
Roehr, K.
(2012) The Springboard to Languages evaluation project: a summary report. In A. Tellier (Ed.), Esperanto as a starter language for child second-language learners in the primary school (pp. 23–34). Stoke-on-Trent: Esperanto UK.Google Scholar
Roehr, K., & Gánem-Gutiérrez, G. A.
(2009) The status of metalinguistic knowledge in instructed adult L2 learning. Language Awareness, 18(2), 165–181. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, R. W.
(2001) Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3–32). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Serrano, R.
(2011) From metalinguistic instruction to metalinguistic knowledge, and from metalinguistic knowledge to performance in error correction and oral production tasks. Language Awareness, 20(1), 1–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sparks, R., Patton, J., Ganschow, L., & Humbach, N.
(2009) Long-term crosslinguistic transfer of skills from L1 to L2. Language Learning, 59(1), 203–243. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Subcomponents of second-language aptitude and second-language proficiency. Modern Language Journal, 95(2), 253–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Svalberg, A. M. -L.
(2007) Language awareness and language learning. Language Teaching, 40(4), 287–308. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Symoens, E.
(1989) The socio-political, educational and cultural roots of Esperanto. Antwerpen: Internacia Ligo de Esperantistaj Instruistoj.Google Scholar
(1992) Al nova internacia lingvopolitiko: La propedeŭtika valoro de Esperanto (Vol. 28–29E1 Esperanto-Dokumento). Rotterdam: Universala Esperanto-Asocio.Google Scholar
Tellier, A.
(2013) Developing a measure of metalinguistic awareness for children aged 8–11. In K. Roehr and G. A. Gánem-Gutiérrez (Eds.), The metalinguistic dimension in instructed second language learning (pp. 15–43). London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
(2015) Metalinguistic awareness and foreign language learning in primary school: A classroom study with children aged 8 to 9 years. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Essex.Google Scholar
(Ed.) (2012) Esperanto as a starter language for child second-language learners in the primary school. Stoke-on-Trent: Esperanto UK.Google Scholar
Tellier, A., & Roehr-Brackin, K.
(2013a) The development of language learning aptitude and metalinguistic awareness in primary-school children: A classroom study. Essex Research Reports in Linguistics, 62(1), 1–28.Google Scholar
(2013b) Metalinguistic awareness in children with differing language learning experience. EuroSLA Yearbook, 131, 81–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2017) Raising children’s metalinguistic awareness to enhance classroom second language learning. In M. del P. García Mayo (Ed.), Learning foreign languages in primary school: Research insights (pp. 22–48). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thorndike, E. L., & Kennon, L.
(1927) Progress in learning an auxiliary language: A report. New York, NY: Institute of Educational Research, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Tinsley, T., & Board, K.
(2016) Language trends 2015/16: The state of language learning in primary and secondary schools in England. British Council. Reading: Education Development Trust. 511. [URL].
White, J., & Ranta, L.
(2002) Examining the interface between metalinguistic task performance and oral production in a second language. Language Awareness, 11(4), 259–290. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
White, L., Spada, N., Lightbown, P., & Ranta, L.
(1991) Input enhancement and L2 question formation. Applied Linguistics, 12(4), 416–432. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, N.
(1965a) A language teaching experiment. Canadian Modern Language Review, 221, 26–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1965b) Report on the teaching of Esperanto from 1948 to 1964. Manchester: Denton Egerton Park County School.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 6 other publications

ARAY, Başak
2020. ARADİLLER ve ARADİLBİLİM. Trakya Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 10:19 ► pp. 127 ff. DOI logo
Buts, Jan
2022. Invented languages, intertextuality, and indirect translation: Wilde’s Salomé in Esperanto. Translation Studies 15:2 ► pp. 125 ff. DOI logo
Coluzzi, Paolo
2022. How learning Toki Pona may help improving communication strategies in a foreign or second language. Language Problems and Language Planning 46:1 ► pp. 78 ff. DOI logo
Schreyer, Christine
2020. Artificial Languages. In The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Schreyer, Christine
2021. Constructed Languages. Annual Review of Anthropology 50:1 ► pp. 327 ff. DOI logo
Xu, Yufeng & Yanfen Zou
2023. COVID-19 online teaching intervention and learning performance of college foreign language students. Frontiers in Psychology 13 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.