Globalization is a common word used nowadays. According to Lamy (2006) “Globalization is a fundamental transformation in societies because of the recent technological revolution which has led to a recombining of the economic and social forces on a new territorial dimension.” As a result, English as a Lingua Franca (Richard, Platt and Platt. 1985:214) has motivated people to acquire English as a second language. What is more, English became a necessity for professional needs (Richards and Rodgers 2001:207). However, a question arises: is it better to learn english during childhood or adulthood?
Childhood should be the best age for learning english. According to Roizen (2009), “kids have more neurons actively creating new connections than adults do.” It allows them to learn faster than adults do, and languages are not the exception. Furthermore Roizen states “It’s much better for you to expose your kids to lots of different things – repeatedly, ideally – to allow those connections to be formed, rather than trying to catch up later.” Based on that, the earlier children are exposed to a second language, the better and easier they learn. And that is why Noam chomsky, who is a reputed linguistic, has explained that in the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) theory.
Taking advantage of kid’s language acquisition ability, parents and institutions must take and play an important role in their learning process. For that reason Mozihim (2010) quotes that “one of the earliest language abilities to be obtained should be reading.” Students are stimulated through reading activities in which parents ask questions or opinions. Doing so, the kids will “handle and process information more easily in the english language later on (Mozihim, 2010).
For all above, what are your waiting for to let your kids learn english as a second language?