Should We Also Teach Learning Skills in Teaching English to Young Learners?

Abstract

Despite a growing interest in teaching learning skills to children, there has been a dispute and hesitation from teachers to implement the idea in teaching young learners, especially in teaching English to young learners. This paper presents a critical look into the idea of teaching learning skills in teaching English to young learners. It covers a brief overview of the definitions and elements of language skills and learning skills, a review of relevant literature on the importance of learning skills for children, and reasons why both skills should be taught to young learners. Towards the end of this paper, some practical ideas on how to implement the integration of both language and learning skills in teaching English to young learners are presented, along with the suggested framework of the implementation.