Rethinking Key Questions of Young Learners’ Language Learning

A wake-up call

Abstract

My experience as a language and teacher educator dictates that young learner language teaching has fallen behind and has been unable to catch up with the current language learning needs of today’s Mexican young learners. This talk maintains that the reason behind this is due to teaching practices and perspectives that neglect the profile and needs of today’s young learners. This talk also contends that there is an urgent need to reconceptualize who young learners are, why they are learning English, and what and how they are learning it.