ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that research sometimes contradicts commonly held beliefs and myths that have influenced instruction, assessment practices, and the organizational structure of educational programs. Research in formal instructional second language (L2) learning settings has confirmed the finding relating to the initial faster rate of older starters, but has not confirmed the long-term benefits of an early start when younger and older starters have had the same number of hours of instruction. Subjects with several years’ naturalistic experience of their L2 whose exposure to the L2 began early in childhood generally tend to outperform those whose exposure began later. The decision to introduce English language instruction at earlier grade levels was also based on the commonly held assumption that when it comes to learning an L2, earlier is better. It was very clearly communicated to us that Early foreign language learning has overt political and economic dimensions that trump the arguments of Second Language Acquisition researchers.
