Teaching English

The article Is it necessary to teach our children English at an early age? by Lie Hua (Nov. 30, 1996) begins by citing the results of a local research study which "contradict the widely held belief that English should be introduced to someone very early in their life if they hope to master it." I believe that Lie Hua, by glibly accepting a research study which contradicts a widely held belief, shows a lack of understanding about research. There's good research and there's bad research. Furthermore, widely held beliefs often have some basis in fact. Thus, research which contradicts a widely held belief should be scrutinized very carefully before being accepted. Of course, there is plenty of research and experience in bilingual and multilingual countries, which is the basis for this widely held belief.

It appears to me that Lie Hua has no firsthand personal experience teaching English to children or, for that matter, teaching anything to children. In my capacity as manager of Bogor International Preschool, I have seen many 2 to 3-year-old children with no prior knowledge of English put into an English environment where they quickly learned to understand the language. The ability/confidence to speak English takes longer, of course. The common experience of educators and parents is that young children learn quickly and painlessly.

It is misleading to state that learning one's native language is accomplished unconsciously, whereas learning a foreign language requires full consciousness. The important point here is not what is being learned, but when. One's native language is learned when one is a young child; if the foreign language is presented properly to young children, they will learn it just as unconsciously as the native language.

At first glance, Lie Hua's conclusion -- teaching English to children is a waste of time and an activity solely designed to extract money from parents -- might apply to language courses comprising one hour of exposure to English per week, compared to the immersion methods of (pre)schools operating in the English language. However, even here, I think the conclusion is wrong. Obviously, children do learn in short weekly sessions. Ask my 4- year-old daughter: She is learning three different subjects in one hour per week sessions.

NINA STOLTZ

Bogor, West Java