Popular video cartoons and associated branded toys in teaching English to very young learners: A case study

Abstract

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. When teaching foreign languages to very young learners, motivation is an issue that needs to be taken into account even more than in the case of any other age group. Teaching materials and students’ textbooks used in schools and preschools, however carefully crafted, often fail to cater for the genuine interests of children and to invoke intrinsic motivation for learning. This article aims to examine whether centring teaching around authentic media material, such as popular cartoons, and the accompanying branded toys, affects the level of second language (L2) knowledge and motivation for learning. The ‘one environment – one language’ approach was developed for this case study, which focuses on the learning progression of one four-year-old during the period of 18 months. The results speak in favour of using this approach both in kindergarten settings, exploiting role play with playschool character toys, as well as in home settings, where family characters can be used to connect home and preschool environments.