“If you’ve gone through adolescence already, you’ll no longer be able to speak a foreign language perfectly.” This and other similar statements are not the only thing argued among brain researchers and experts in languages. But they agree on one thing: Children learn languages differently from adults.
“Good morning, boys and girls!” For decades this has been how English classes started in Germany. They are the first bits of vocabulary and basic phrases. For years now, however, increasing numbers of primary schools in Germany have been teaching younger children their first foreign language. In order to better prepare children for a multilingual future, parents, educators and policymakers are seeking support behind the idea of “the earlier the better” when it comes to learning foreign languages. But does this necessarily mean that small children in general learn foreign languages better than adolescents or adults?
“It depends on what we consider ‘better’ about foreign languages,” says Rudiger Grotjahn, professor of language learning.” If we look at the end result of language acquisition（获得）, an early start is certainly advantageous.”
If “better” means faster, then young children don’t do so well compared to adolescents or even young adults, especially at the beginning of the course when, according to Rudiger Grotjahn, the latter two groups make better progress.
Educational psychology has also shown us that successful learning is mainly based on existing knowledge. The same is true for language learning. Furthermore, techniques developed when you are learning the native language also play an important role in learning a foreign language.
Children often respond to（应对）new languages with curiosity while adults increasingly look to their own learning and life experience to help them learn the words, structures and ideas of a foreign language. The result is that children learn more through games and gestures while adults take a more analytical（分析性的）approach with stricter rules. Rudiger Grotjahn thinks that good foreign language courses should take these various requirements and methods into account. The joy of learning a foreign language is something both the young and the old can experience to an equal degree.
【小题1】The underlined word “multilingual” in the second paragraph probably means __________”.
| A．going to happen soon | B．using different languages |
| C．better than expected | D．unclear or unknown |
【小题2】Which of the following is important to language learning in educational psychology?
| A．Study skills. | B．Kinds of foreign languages. |
| C．Interests. | D．Language teachers. |
【小题3】What is the main idea of the text?
| A．Different advantages that children and adults have in learning. |
| B．Teaching methods of foreign languages are wrong in Germany. |
| C．The role that age plays in learning foreign languages. |
| D．Learning foreign languages helps to prevent aging. |
【小题4】It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _________.
| A．adults learn foreign languages only by past experience |
| B．foreign language courses have too many requirements |
| C．when teaching foreign languages we should consider age differences |
| D．children like learning foreign languages better than adults do |
