CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. The Young Learners

1. The Characteristic of Young Learners
There are commonalities across learners of all ages, young children differ
from older children in many ways. Studies of young children show how
learning changes across development. However, we now know that even very
young children have a predisposition to learn in certain domains, and that
young children are actively engaged in making sense of their world. Young
children appear to be predisposed to acquire information.
These biases toward certain types of learning should pave the way for
competence in early schooling. Children lack knowledge and experience, but
not reasoning ability. Indeed, although young children are inexperienced,
they reason with the knowledge they have. Precocious knowledge may jump-
start the learning process, but because of limited experience and
underdeveloped systems of logical thinking, children’s knowledge contains
misconceptions. Misinformation can impede school learning, so teachers
need to be aware of the ways in which children’s background knowledge
influences their understanding. Such awareness should help teachers
anticipate children’s confusion and recognize why children have difficulties
grasping new ideas. Strategies for learning are important.
When children are required to learn about unfamiliar knowledge
domains, they need to develop intentional learning strategies. Children need
to understand what it means to learn, who they are as learners, and how to go
about planning, monitoring and revising, to reflect upon their learning and
that of others, and to learn how to determine if they understand. These
metacognitive skills provide strategic competencies for learning.
 The children have their own characteristics, which are different from
adults. The characteristics cover their ways of thinking, their attitude, their
aptitude, et cetera. They also prevail to the children’s ways of learning
language. This, of course, influences the ways of teaching them. To give the
best quality of teaching English to the children, the teachers should know and
understand them.
Characteristic of younger and older learners

Younger Learners Older Learners

Children are at pre-school or in the These children are well established
first couple of years of schooling. at school and comfortable with
school routines.
Generally they have a holistic They show a growing interest in
approach to language. analytical approaches.

They have a lower level of They show growing level of

awareness about themselves as awareness about themselves as
language learners as well as about language learners and their learning.
process of learner.
They have limited writing and They have well developed skills as
reading skills even in their first readers and writers.
language.
Generally they are more concerned They have a growing awareness of
about themselves then others other and their viewpoints
They have limited knowledge about They have a growing awareness
the world. about the world around us.
They enjoy fantasy, imagination, They begin to show interest in real
and movement. life issues.1

1
Annamaria, Teaching Young Language Learners. (China: Oxford University Press, 2006).
 Phillips states that in learning a language, young learners respond to the
language, depending on what it does or what they can do with it rather than
treating it as an intellectual game or abstract system. Brewster supports it by
saying that theories of the children’s learning require that young learners be
supported by moving from the abstract to the concrete and through being
involved in activity. It can be understood that the children need activities that
are more concrete rather than abstract and to be involved in those activities
in order that they can learn the language well.
While, Brumfit gives a list of the characteristics which young learners
share:
a. Young learners are only just beginning their schooling.
b. As a group they are potentially more differentiated than secondary or adult
learners.
c. They tend to be keen and enthusiastic learners.
d. Their learning can be closely linked with their development of ideas and
concepts.
e. They need physical movement and activity as much as stimulation for their
thinking.
Most primary level learners will share these characteristics. Those
opinions give the researcher some important notes about children’s special
characteristics in learning the language. They are as the following:
a. Children respond the language well through concrete things (visual things)
rather than abstract things.
b. Children need physical movements and real activities to stimulate their
thinking.
c. Children will be enthusiastic if they are taught using fun activities or being
involved in activities.
d. Children love to play, and learn best when they are enjoying themselves.
e. Children learn well through something that is close to their culture.
 f. Children like to work together.
Knowing the characteristics is essential:
a. They have short attention span.
b. They are very active
c. They respond well to praising.
d. They differ in their experience of language
e. They are less shy than older learners.
f. They are imaginative.
g. They enjoy learning through playing.

2. The Young Learners’ Learning Styles

Learning style is the way of students in absorbing and understanding the
information or idea which they have got in learning process. In other side, it
could be said that learning style is the preference way in learning.
According to Kolb, “Learning style is characterized by the degree to
which the learner emphasizes abstractness over concreteness in perceiving
information and the degree to which he or she emphasizes action over
reflection in processing information in a learning situation.”2
Meanwhile, Hilliard stated “Learning styles are the characteristic ways in
which an individual acquires, perceives and processes information.”3 Then,
based on Dunn and Dunn statement, “Learning style is the wayin which each
learner begins to concentrate on, process,, absorb and retain new and difficult
information.”4

2
David Kolb, in Doris B. Matthews, An Investigation of Learning Styles and Perceived
Academic Achievement for High School Students, Taylor and Francis Group, 69, 1996, p. 249.
3
Hilliard, in Zainal Abidin Naning and Rita Hayati, The Correlation between Learning Style
and Listening Achievement of English Education Study Program Students of Sriwijaya University,
Jurnal Holistics, 2011, p. 2.
4
Dunn and Dunn in Zainal Abidin Naning and Rita Hayati, The Correlation between
Learning Style and Listening Achievement of English Education Study Program Students of
Sriwijaya University, Jurnal Holistics, 2011, p. 4.
 According to Joy M. Reid, there are three learning styles. Students learn
in many different ways, visual, auditory, kinesthetic learning style (VAK).
Some students learn primarily with their eyes as visual learners or with their
ears as auditory learners and some students prefer to learn by experience and
practice as kinesthetic learners.5 Thus, types of learning styles are visual,
auditory and kinesthetic learning styles.
a. Visual Learning Style
Visual is related to sight or everything can see. According to Yong,
visual learning style refers to preference for learning for through vision and
visual learners rely on their sight to take the information. They organize the
knowledge in terms of spatial interrelationships among ideas and store it
graphically. There are some characteristics of the students visual learning
style; they can memorize the material better when it is presented by using
visual media such as power point presentation, videos, pictures, diagrams and
graphs. Visual learners typically like to be able to read the textbook, journal,
article, or newspaper on their own to increase their understanding.6
Furthermore, Myra Pollack stated that students learn best by seeing and
they will find the information when it is explained by the aids of textbook,
charts, pictures, course outlines and graphics. Visual learners like to keep
their eyes on their teacher by sitting in front of the class and watching the
teacher closely.
Stephen James Minton stated,”Essentially, visual learners learn best
from what they can see.”7 They can respond and remember best the learning

5
Joy M. Reid, Understanding Learning Styles in the Second Language Classroom, (New
Jersey: Prentice Hall regents, 1998), p. 162.
6
Yong, F. L., A Study on Cultural Values, Perceptual Learning Styles, and Attitudes Toward
Oracy Skills of Malaysian Tertiary Students, European Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 13, 2010, p.
481.
7
Stephen James Minton, Using Psychology in the Classroom, (London: SAGE Publication,
2012), p. 58.
 materials through eyes. Similarly, agalover and Law aserted that visual
learners rely on what they see in writing form.8
Moreover, Porter and Hernacki were covering the characteistics of visual
learners. Visual learners are tidy and order, talk active, good planner and
manager, detail and attentive, good performing in appearance and
presentation, good speller, good in remembering what they see, good in
memorizing using visual association, not easy to be disturbed by noisy, bad
in memorizing verbal instructions, good in reading speed and dilligent, good
in learning by reading than listening to someone, need whole vision and
objective, good in taking notes during in phone cell, easy to forget sending a
verbal message to others, always give short answer for each question, prefer
doing demonstration to speech, prefer art than music, good in knowing what
need to be said but difficult to choose the diction, and easy to lost their
concentration when they want to get focus.9
It can be comprehended that visual learning style is students’ preference
way to acquiring, using, thinking of knowledge on visual sense. Visual
learners tend to talk active, reader speed and dilligent and tidy. Thus, they
learn best by seeing and tend to less in verbal things.
b. Auditory Learning Style
Auditory learning is a learning style in which a person learns through
listening. Based on Myra Pollack and David Miller, auditory learners learn
best through hearing, this type of students can remember the detail of
conversations and they also have strong language skills. Auditory learner
should be given opportunity to recite the main points of a book or teachers
statement and let them say out loud the meaning of the illustrations and main

8
Derek Glover and Sue Law, Improving Learning Professional Practice in Secondary
Schools (Memperbaiki Pembelajaran Praktik Profesional di Sekolah Menengah), (Jakarta: PT.
Grasindo, 2002), p. 92.
9
Bobby DePorter and Mike Hernacki, Quantum Learning Membiasakan Belajar Nyaman
dan Menyenangkan, Terj. From Quantum Learning Unleashing The Genius In You by Alwiyah
Abdurrahman, (Bandung: Kaifa PT. Mizan Pustaka, 2005), Cet. IX, p. 116.
 subject headings and recite any new vocabulary words. It can be helpful
for them to comprehend the material of the subject matters.
Abbas Pourhossein Gilakjani pointed out,“auditory learners discover
information through listening and interpreting information by the means of
pitch, emphasis and speed.”10 Deborah Daiek and Nancy Anter said that
auditory learning style is learning through hearing lectures or audiotapes.
Daiek and Anter elaborated features of auditory learners are listening to
tapes, watching documentaries, speaking about subjects, sounding out words,
using rhymes, having discussions, explaining notes, using word links,
taping-recording studying, using oral directions, talking and listening with
a partner, using rhythmic sounds, listening carefully, talking to own selves
and reading aloud.11
Auditory learning style preferences are the result from processing
auditory learners’ brain to receive and to process the knowledge. There is
proverb said that to be fond of learning is to be near the knowledge. But to
be near the knowledge, auditory learners involve in teaching learning
process through their sense of hearing and their brain.12
In the same way, Derek Glover and Sue Law mentioned that auditory
learners rely on material presentation that delivered by oral or spoken.
Meanwhile, in Psikologi Pendidikan (Dalam Perspektif Baru) stated that a
learner who has verbal learning style or auditory learning style, they will get
much information, knowledge and idea by hearing words and
explanations.13
Here are the characteristics of auditory learner, elaborated by Bobby De
Porter and Mike Hernacki, they pointed that auditory learners talking to own

10
Abbas Pourhossein Gilakjani, Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic Learning Styles and Their
Impacts on English Language Teaching, Journal of Studies in Education, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2012, p. 106.
11
Deborah Daiek and Nancy Anter, Critical Reading for College and Beyond, (New York:
McGrawHill, 2004), pp. 12-13.
12
Susan Shreen, Self Access, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 5.
13
Sudarwan Danim and Khairil, Psikologi Pendidikan (Dalam Perspektif Baru), (Bandung:
Alfabeta, 2010), p. 116.
 self when working, getting easy to be disturbed by noise, making lips move
when they are reading a book, prefer reading loud and listen, feeling difficult
to write, but great in telling story, speaking in the good rhythm, used
to be a fluent speaker, listening to music rather than art, learning by
listening and remembering what they discussed rather than seeing, speaking,
discuss and telling story completely, having a job problem which commit to
visualization, spelling loudly rather than to write, making a joke than to read
comic.14
To sum up the theories above, auditory learning style is students’
preference way to get information by hearing. The best learning way for
auditory students to absorb and comprehend the knowledge use their sense of
hearing rather than reading.
c. Kinesthetic Learning Style
Kinesthetic learning style is the way people absorb information
through physical, likely they use their body or sense of touch to lear and
understand the world around them. Joy M Reid stated,“Kinesthetic
learning: experiential learning, that is, total physical involvement with a
learning situation.”15
According to Zainal Abidin Naning and Rita Hayati’s research,
students who have kinesthetic learning style prefer to think out issues, idea
and problems while the teacher giving exercises. These learners typically
use larger hand gestures and other body language to communicate. They
learn best through a hands-on approach and may find it hard to sit still for a
long periods and may become distracted by their need for activity and
exploration.16

14
Bobby de Porter and Mike Hernacki, op. cit., p. 118.
15
Joy M Reid, The Learning Style Preferences of ESL Students, TESOL QUARTERLY,
Vol. 21, No. 1, 1987, p. 89.
16
Zainal Abidin Naning and Rita Hayati, op. cit. pp. 1-10.
 Also, Bobby De Porter and Mike Hernacki claimed the characteristics
of kinesthetic learners are speaking slowly, responding to physical gesture,
touching people for getting their attention, standing closer when talking
with someone else, Orienting to physics and much made moving, learning
through manipulation and practice, memorizing by walking while seeing,
using fingers to point when reading, using body language intensively,
Never staying quietly for long time, bad to remember Geography, excluding
if they have ever visited the place, using much action verbs, reading book
which oriented to the plot, having untidy characteristic, tending to do
everything, playing games much.17
Further, H. Douglas Brown asserted, “kinesthetic learners will show a
preference for demonstrations and physical activity involving bodily
movement.”18 Additionally, kinesthetic learners usually called haptic (Greek
for “moving and doing”). This type of learners learns best by doing. They
will catch the idea easily when it is explained by the instructional aids
of skits and role-play. Kinesthetic learners will move or go around along the
learning and teaching process. Thus, the teacher should provide them to do
the movement in class for it also can enhance their memorizing
information.
In addition, stated by Deborah Daiek and Nancy Anter,“kinesthetic
learning is preferred learning by touching and doing; practicing techniques,
drawing maps, creating outlines or making models. The characteristics
of that learning style are always better in learning by doing physically,
better involving in role play, good in pretending to teach subject, writing
lists repeatedly, better in using notecards, prefer to do projects and
create pictures, prefer pointing with finger when reading, prefer
practicing by repeated motion, good in take notes and create pictures,

17
Bobby de Porter and Mike Hernacki, op. cit., pp. 118-120.
18
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching 5th Edition, (San
Fransisco: Longman, 2007), p. 129.
 prefer stretching and moving from chair, prefer riding stationary bike while
reading, prefer putting feet in a tub of sand while reading, good in
dancing, and prefer selecting project-driven courses.19
It can be concluded that kinesthetic learning style is students’ preference
way to acquiring knowledge by moving or using their physical body
movement and demonstration.

B. Assessment
Assessment is the measurement of what students are learning. Student
achievement is defined as how well they’ve mastered certain target skills.
Assessments provide educators with both objective and subjective data in order
to ascertain student progress and skill mastery.
1. The Purpose of Assessments
Assessment should provide multiple measures and opportunities for students
to create and demonstrate what they can do with a language. To provide a
comprehensive picture of a student’s language ability, the teacher should strive
to create a balance between formative assessment and summative assessment.
Assessments should be authentic and include alternative and integrated
performance-based assessments.
The teacher and language learner need to identify goals, objectives, and
expected results before beginning to plan a lesson or activity. In other words, it
is essential to determine what the learner should know, understand, and be able
to do. According to Terry Crooks is his article about classroom evaluation,
classroom assessment “guides students’ judgment of what is important to learn,
affects their motivation and self-perceptions of competence, structures their

19
Deborah Daiek and Nancy Anter, loc. cit.
 approaches to and timing of personal study… and consolidates learning and
affects the development of enduring learning strategies and skills.”20

Once learning goals and objectives are set, the teacher and language learner
must determine what type of evidence will show how well those goals have been
met. The assessments should reflect student progress and should move from
simple to more complex tasks.

After the objectives and the type of evidence to document success are
determined, then the teacher and language learner can begin to develop activities
that will guide and prepare the learner with the knowledge and skills to master
those objectives.

The purpose of assessment differs according to who is conducting or using

the assessment.

a. School administrators use assessment as benchmarks for instruction,

placement, or exemption in course levels and certification.
b. Teachers use assessments as diagnostic tools and feedback for guiding
instruction, evidence of progress, and evaluation of teaching or curriculum.
c. Researchers use assessment to gather data on knowledge about language
learning and language use, and for evaluation or experimentation of programs.

2. Kinds of Assessments
Assessments can take many forms and can be designed for many reasons.
There’s a lot of jargon used to name concepts related to assessments and some.
Assessment can be divided into three stages: baseline assessment, formative
assessment, and summative assessment. Baseline assessment establishes the

20
Crooks, Terry J. “The Impact of Classroom Evaluation on Students.” Review of
Educational Research 58 (4 1988), pp. 438–481.
"starting point" of the student's understanding. Formative assessment provides
information to help guide the instruction throughout the unit, and summative
assessment informs both the student and the teacher about the level of
conceptual understanding and performance capabilities that the student has
achieved.

The wide range of targets and skills that can be addressed in classroom
assessment requires the use of a variety of assessment formats. Some formats,
and the stages of assessment in which they most likely would occur, are shown
in the table.

ASSESSMENT FORMATS

Format Nature/Purpose Stage

Oral and written responses

based on individual
Baseline
experience Baseline
Assessments

Assess prior knowledge

Multiple choice, short

answer, essay, constructed
Paper and response, written reports
Formative
Pencil Tests
Assess students acquisition
of knowledge and concepts

Assess an aspect of student

Embedded
learning in the context of Formative
Assessments
the learning experience
 Require communication by
the student that
Oral Reports Formative
demonstrates scientific
understanding

Assess individual and

group performance before,
Interviews Formative
during, and after a science
experience

Require students to create

Performance or take an action related to Formative and
Tasks a problem, issue, or Summative
scientific concept

Monitor and record Formative and

Checklists
anecdotal information Summative

Require students to explore

Investigative a problem or concern stated
Summative
Projects either by the teacher or the
students

Require the application of

Extended or
knowledge and skills in an Summative
Unit Projects
open-ended setting

Assist students in the

process of developing and
Formative and
Portfolios reflecting on a purposeful
Summative.21
collection of student-
generated data

21
http://www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/articles/badders.html
C. Speaking for Young Learners
Young learners in the communicative classroom should get as many speaking
opportunities as possible and their speaking time should slowly but steadily rise
so as to prepare them for various communicative situations. Keeping in mind
that each classroom offers a wide range of learners differing in their abilities,
knowledge, confidence, motivation and learning styles, a teacher should provide
them with a proper environment that would help them develop their skills,
independent of their basic characteristics and diversity.

1. Speaking Assessments for Young Learners

a. Performance-Based Assessment
Performance-based learning and assessment represent a set of strategies
for the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and work habits
through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to
students.
b. Aspescts to be assessed in Speaking Assessement
Teachers can give feedback on a student's speaking performance.
There are several different ways to record the results of performance-
based assessments (Airasian,1991; Stiggins,1994):
1). Checklist Approach When you use this, you only have to indicate
whether or not certain elements are present in the performances.
2). Narrative/Anecdotal Approach When teachers use this, they will
write narrative reports of what was done during each of the
performances. From these reports, teachers can determine how well their
students met their standards.
3). Rating Scale Approach When teachers use this, they indicate to
what degree the standards were met. Usually, teachers will use a
numerical scale. For instance, one teacher may rate each criterion on a
 scale of one to five with one meaning "skill barely present" and five
meaning "skill extremely well executed."
4). Memory Approach When teachers use this, they observe the
students performing the tasks without taking any notes. They use the
information from their memory to determine whether or not the students
were successful.22

22
P.W. Airasian, (1991). Classroom assessment. (New York : McGraw-Hill,1991)