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Chapter Two   Literature review  

This  chapter  reviews  the  literature  associated  with  the  main  areas  of  interest  in this study. The first section introduces the comprehensible input hypothesis. The second section  introduces  the  empirical  studies  on  the  characteristics  of  young  learners’ language  learning  in  primary  schools.  And  the  third  section  reviews  foreign  teachers’ functions on improving English language teaching in China and abroad. All in all, most studies are conducted in secondary schools and universities and their research results are confined  to  the  foreign  teachers  and  students  in  universities  and  secondary  schools. Their effects on primary schools are limited. So there is a great need to focus on foreign teachers’  functions  on  cultivating  students’  listening  and  speaking  ability  in  primary schools.  

2.1 Comprehensible input hypothesis 
A  hypothesis  proposed  by  Krashen,  which  states  that  in  second  or  foreign language  learning,  for  language  acquisition  to  occur,  it  is  necessary  for  the  learner  to understand input language which contains linguistic items that are slightly beyond the learners'  present  linguistic  competence.  Learners understand such  language using cues in the situation. Eventually the ability to produce language is said to emerge naturally, and need not be taught directly (Richard, J. C., J. Platt and H. Platt 228). An important paper  in  the  discussion  of  negotiation  of  meaning  is  Long.  Long  begins  his  paper  by arguing that modifications to input made by native speakers (NSs) in conversation with non-native (NNSs) play an important role in make input comprehensible to learners. But modifications to interactional structure are, he argues, probably more important (125). Thus,  if  foreign  teachers’  input  is  comprehensible  and  a  little  above  students’  current English  language  level,  then  students’  English  listening  and  speaking  ability  are developed. 
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2.2 Review of empirical studies on young learners’ language learning
There  are  many  studies  on  young  learners’  learning  of  the  foreign  language. Though  there  are  some  views  proposed  by  Lightbown  and  Spada  (1999)  against  the Critical Period Hypothesis, this assumption must be viewed in the light of what it really means  to  be  “successful”  in  learning  a  second  language,  and  particularly  the  role  of “accent”  as  a  component  of  success  (H.D  Brown  53).  So  the  primary  school  peri本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。