Page 20 - ELG1801 Jan Issue 453

COMMENT .

Are we nearly

there yet?

Your rst language, your age and even local politics could all affect how long it
takes you to learn a language, explains Melanie Butler

any frustrated language learners entitled to ‘affirmative action’ to help them any difference: all language is acquired,
will have asked themselves: how improve their English. In most states, this not learned. But according to Cambridge
long does it really take to learn a has meant that most primary-age English English Language Assessment, classroom
Mlanguage? Language Learners (ELLs), 80 per cent of language learning is much faster than natural
Of course, the answer isn’t simple, and whom are born in the US, are educated acquisition.
starts with another question: are we talking in separate programmes and enter the The Cambridge website says it takes an
about natural acquisition or classroom mainstream when their academic English is average of 200 hours of guided learning to
learning? In the case of natural acquisition, as high as that of their native-speaker peers. compete one level on the Common European
the average baby receives at least 5,000 hours This usually takes six years. Framework. And it says it takes 1,000–1,200
of input before it can make a simple sentence hours to reach C2, roughly equivalent to
in its L1. The fact remains the level of a well-educated native speaker.
Meanwhile, migrant children entering that Romance language Really? Are they absolutely sure? Let’s look at
school at around five years old will take the evidence.
between four and eight years to acquire the speakers struggle more The best data is the language test results
language, according to research in the US and of fifteen-year-olds in thirteen European
the UK. These countries have traditionally with Germanic languages countries, organised by none other than
taken radically different approaches to the than other European Cambridge English Language Assessment.
education of migrant children. These are the very people who maintain
In the UK, the 1985 Swann report speakers that on average it takes 500 to 600 hours
recommended that migrant children should of guided learning to reach B2. Only one
be educated in mainstream classes and In English-speaking countries, primary country, Sweden, averaged B2 at this age.
given language support – and this remains children learning English as an additional Only two, Slovenia and Estonia, hit B1 or
the norm, at least in primary schools. A language (EAL) – starting school at an early above on average in around 500 hours.
longitudinal study of British-born children age – will also acquire the language in around To be fair, the Netherlands did hit a B1
showed that migrants entering school in six years of full-time education in English. average in two languages. Since they don’t
the first year had the same average score in So how long does it take for children normally start formal language learning until
English at the age of eleven as their native- studying English as a foreign language in a they are ten years old, they might even have
speaker peers. non-English-speaking country? hit both of them within the magic 350–400
Meanwhile, a 1974 court case in California According to US language learning hours considered normal by Cambridge. Is
found that migrant children should be guru Steven Krashen, there shouldn’t be this because of some particular problem with
38 December / January 2018