07 Nov 2012 Debates
Dr Frank Monaghan, vice chair and senior lecturer, Open University in London
YES
The early years forms a critical stage in children’s development. If children are to become and remain bilingual, early years settings have a role to play in providing opportunities for ‘additive’ rather than ‘subtractive’...
Dr Fiona Copland & Dr Sue Garton, senior lecturers in TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), Aston UniversityNO
“We should state clearly from the start that we are in favour of introducing languages into schools at all ages. However, both the theoretical issues and the practical implications of formally learning languages at an early........