The Beliefs of Teachers, Students, and Parents on the Importance of Learning Second Language at a Young Age

There are so many factors which affect the learners when learning second language. Age, motivation of the learners, the ability to acquire language, cognitive development as the factors affect learning second language. When learners start at a young age the other factors are affected positively. The researcher aimed to search the importance of age when learning foreign language. She made a questionnaire with 52 volunteers; 26 of them are students at Foreign Language Department in Uludag University, 26 of them are parents. And she also interviewed with teachers. She carried out this study by collecting the qualitative and quantitative data. The research has shown that “Age” is important factor when learning second language. Person who learned second language at a young age has a lot of advantages in long term. The researcher chose this subject because she thought that learning second language at a young age is easier inasmuch as language acquisition is available. She wanted to learn thoughts of parents, students in Foreign Language Departments, teachers. She revealed the thought of “the younger the better” by making interview with teachers and making a questionnaire with parents and students in Foreign Language Departments. The researcher corroborate her theory by looking at these results.

the adult age (Krashen, 1982). Indeed learners are affected by many factors while learning foreign language. A further instance of these are age, motivation of the learners, the ability to acquire language, and cognitive development. These factors have a relationship among them while the learners are learning foreign language.
I think age is the most important thing amongst the other factors. Because learner's age affects the other factors. In one study, Cenoz (2003) compared Spanish/-Basque L1 learners who had started EFL instruction (English as a third language) at the ages of 4, 8 and 11. The youngest learners scored the highest in attitude and motivation. Beyond cognitive enhancement and general academic success, "research has shown that foreign language study in the early elementary years … results in higher achievement test scores in reading and math" (Stewart, 2005).
With this article I try to show the importance of learning foreign language at a young age. Firstly, I made a questionnaire with different age groups; with students who study at foreign language department, and with parents. And I conducted interviews with teachers. Secondly, I corroborated my theory by looking at these results. Finally, I reveal with this article that second language learning at a young age is important.

Literature Review
Age is contention issue that divides the scholars into two groups. Some scholars believe in "the earlier the better"; on the other hand, some scholars believe the opposite. "One of the earliest concerns that researchers tackled was the idea that bilingualism confused children" (Nicoladis, Charbonnier, & Popescu, 2016). Nevertheless recent studies indicate that the best time for learning a foreign language is in the first three to four years of our life. "Research has also shown that the earlier a child begins, the better a child can learn a second language and the more benefits he or she can reap from that knowledge" (Jeffery, 2008). "One of the greatest feats of human development is learning language", says Lust (2016). It's remarkable, she says, "how well equipped children are, beginning at birth, to accomplish the complex task of learning language" (Lang, 2016). Namely, people have started the learning since they were born. At a young age children can learn everything by listening, repeating the sounds; observing, exploring the environment and doing what they have seen thanks to their innate ability. So the earlier they begin learning language, the earlier they can learn. they know the same number of words or more than the children who don't learn second language. The children learning foreign language try to correlate their first language to understand the second language easily. Learning second language is confirmed the children's vocabulary knowledge in their first language. "Children can differentiate between two languages within the first weeks of life.
Learning another language actually enhances a child's overall verbal development" (Kaparova & Sabyrova, 2015). Lenneberg (1967), claims that "there is a certain period in acquisition of a second language. In this period, which is identified critical period hypothesis in language acquisition, Lenneberg theorizes that the acquisition of language is an innate process determined by biological factors which limit the critical period for acquisition of a language from roughly two years of age to puberty. Lenneberg believes that after lateralization, which is a process by which the two sides of the brain develop specialized functions, the brain loses plasticity and lateralization of the language function is normally completed by puberty, making post-adolescent language acquisition difficult" (Gömleksiz, 2001). In other words, children learn more easily because their brains are more flexible than adults' brains. The children can learn second language naturally as their mother tongue. They have innate ability to acquire the rules of any languages. They have the ability to hear and reproduce new sounds. They differentiate the sounds of the first and second language owing to their speech muscles and ears. And also they can reproduce native-like sounds. These abilities disappear by adulthood.
"When a child learns a second language, it not only activates the components of the brain that are responsible for verbal and written communication, but it also activates the areas of the brain that are directly responsible for reasoning, thinking, and numeric understanding. As a result, the child is capable of excelling in virtually every area of their academic careers" (Shiflett, 2010). "Children who learn a foreign language at a young age also exhibit better problem-solving skills, enhanced spatial relations, and heightened creativity" (Benefits of Learning Language While Young, February 23, 2015). who can't talk to each other, they can actually translate and help out" (Cordova Cordova, Gonzalez Menjivar, & Martinez Garmandez, 2010). "They are simultaneously learning the language and how to use it appropriately in different situations and with different people" (Winskel, Zhou, Li, Mei, & Peart, 2016). Specifically, the children who learn a second language communicate with other people more easily thanks to their self-esteem.

Methodology
Elena Nicoladis (in her book Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development) says that the differences are that the children knowing second language achieve higher scores than the children knowing only their mother tongue on a number of tests of cognitive ability, including mental flexibility, non-verbal problem-solving tasks, understanding the conventional origin of names, distinguishing between semantic similarity and phonetic similarity and capacity to judge the grammaticality of sentences.
Actually, at young age, people can learn easily, they can solve problems easily, associating with their mother-tongue they can understand words easily, remember what they listen/hear thanks to their brains flexibility. So; if the children learn second language at a young age, they will be more successful than the other children who know only mother tongue.
In this article the researcher collected both Qualitative (Interview, 3 open-ended questions in Questionnaire) and Quantitative Data (Questionnaire).

Participants
Participants were 52 Turkish people; 26 of them who have been studying at foreign language department, Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey; 26 of them who are parents. The participants are in different age groups. The participants were randomly selected from among the volunteers.
The researcher interviewed with 4 teachers who work at Uludag University in ELT department to support her study.

Materials
Questionnaire which includes 20 multiple-choice items and 3 open-ended questions (look at the appendix) that was prepared by the researcher was administered to all participants. Each item provided an option for "strongly agree", "agree", "no opinion", "disagree", "strongly disagree" requesting utterances. Participants chose the best relevant to them and they shared their thoughts.
In this study, the researcher used 10 sources for this article which is related to the subject. And one of them was Encyclopaedia on Early Child Development, 4 of them were websites, the other 5sources were articles. English sources were used.
Also, she made interview with teachers. The interview included 5 open-ended questions which are related the effects of age when learning second language. Moreover, they answered these questions based on their experience.
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Procedures
Prior to the implementation of procedures, it had been determined which participants would be included. The participants were selected from different age groups; parents and students at foreign language departments. This study was prepared by using L1 for parents and it was prepared by using L2 in Foreign Language Department.
The questionnaire was carried out in students' free time when they did not have a lesson. Before the lesson and after the lesson, the survey was implemented. Also the questionnaire was carried out in parents' free time. The participants were 52 people; 26 of them have been studying in Uludag University Foreign Language Departments who were volunteers and were from different grades; 26 of them are parents who were volunteers. And the survey took less than ten minutes in total for each person. In addition, the study was completed in three days. Moreover, Researcher didn't lead and affect the parents and learners who were volunteer participants. The participants were informed that the investigation was a part of a research, additionally, that all private information would be protected to make them feel relaxed. So, volunteer participants had opportunities for expressing their true opinion about the questions. Also, they felt comfortable while doing the questionnaire. Before they didn't do the questionnaire, they had been informed about what they would do in that study.
Furthermore, the researcher made interviews with teachers besides the questionnaire. The researcher performed the interviews in the same day to teachers who are successful in their own branches.
The researcher's aim was exposing the importance of age when learning second language. Furthermore, she aimed to reveal that children who learn a second language at a young age can learn more easily, and they are more successful in various fields.
The researcher produced this article by regarding research questions and she prepared the questionnaire by looking at these questions which they would find the answers in the article. The main purpose of the study was to answer the following questions: What is the importance of age when learning second language?
What are the contributions of learning second language at a young age?

Analyses
The researcher made a questionnaire to find out the learners' thoughts at foreign language departments and the thoughts of parents. And there were alternatives such as strongly agree, agree, no opinion, disagree, strongly disagree. Moreover, because the learners and parents could express their opinions clearly and the researcher could reach her purpose there were three open-ended questions which the learners and parents could express liberally whatever they wanted to say. Furthermore, she would get rational result to be able to develop her article and she would corroborate her theory by looking at these results.
The researcher preferred the questionnaire as a data tool since she thought that the learners at foreign language departments and parents owing to their experiences could answer the questions. Thanks to volunteer participants, the researcher could interpret the most common shared thoughts. Also, the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe

Results and Discussion
In the quantitative section, the researcher's concentrated on two main issues to determine: 1) the opinions about importance of age when learning second language according to students in foreign language department (Table 1); 2) The opinions about importance of age when learning second language according to parents ( %26.92 (7) %7.69 (2) %15.38 (4) %3.84 (1) %100 There are no differences between the children who know second language and know only their mother tongue. %3.84 (1) %7.69 (2) %23 (6) %65.38 (17) %100 (26) As if children learn second language at a young age, they can't learn it like mother tongue. %19.23

Quantitative Results (Questionnaire Data)
The researcher obtained the results from questionnaires (Table 1 and Table 2). In Table 1, the researcher found out that the students at foreign language department thought that age is important criterion when learning second language. Almost all of them agreed that second language acquisition should be at a young age. At a young age children learn easily thanks to freshness of their mind and flexibility of their brains. And all of them agreed that learning second language at a young age is easier.
No one said to opposite.
All of them agreed that "Person learning foreign language at a young age is at an advantage". They differentiate the sounds of the first and second language owing to their speech muscles and ears, they can reproduce native like sounds; 73% of students thought that if they learn second language at young age, they can learn it like mother tongue 7.69% of students had no opinion for this questions; but 19.23% of students thought the opposite. All of them said that the children who know second language develop their positive attitude in social domain, also they thought that they are more sociable. 88.46% of students said that "Thanks to their self-esteem the children who know second language are more active", 11.53% of students had no opinion about this questions; but anyone didn't think the opposite.
And all of them thought that "Learning foreign language at a young age has positive effects in long term". No one said the opposite.
In Table 2, the researcher found that 96.15% of parents thinking age is important criterion when learning second language. Only 3.84% of parents thought the opposite. Also 92.30% of parents thought that second language acquisition should be at a young age; 7.69% of parents had no opinion about this question but anyone did not say opposite. They are sense that children can learn more easily at a young age. Also all of the parents thought that "Person learning foreign language at a young age has advantages". No one thought the opposite. 88.46% of parents thought that if they learn second language www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe at young age, they can learn it like mother tongue. Except 96.15% of parents thought that the children who know second language develop their positive attitude in social domain. And except 96.15% of parents said that "Thanks to their self-esteem the children who know second language are more active", and 92.30% of parents thought that "Learning foreign language at a young age has positive effects in long term".
Overall they are aware of importance of age when learning second language at a young age and also they sense to know advantages of learning foreign language in early childhood.

Qualitative Results (Interview Data and Open-ended questions)
Thanks to the interview, the researcher gained qualified results. The researcher interviewed with 4 teachers. She asked 5 questions. These questions are that: When did you start learning second language? Do you think this is advantage or disadvantage? Why?
How old do you think should start the learning second language? Why?
Do you think learning second language at a young age is important?
What are the advantages of learning second language at a young age?
Do you think that there are differences between the children who know second language and know only their mother tongue?
They started to learn second language at 4 th grade when they were 9-10. They think that person should start to learn second language as early as possible but systematically. They think learning second language at young age is important. Because the more early they begin learning language, the more permanent they learn. They who know second language use more of their brains than the other children who know only their mother tongue. Learning a second language at a young age encourages flexible thinking and communication skills, helping children consider issues from more than one perspective.
Knowing second language not only activates the responsible for verbal, communication areas of brain, but it also activates reasoning, thinking, understanding areas of brain. So, the children knowing second language are capable of excelling in virtually every area of their academic careers.
The researcher also asked 3 open-ended questions to volunteer participants. These are that: How old do you think one should start learning a second language? Why?
Learning second language should start at age 3-4. Do you agree with this opinion? Why/why not?
What are the differences between learning second language at a young age and learning second language in adulthood?
According to participants almost all of them said that age affects language learning and learning second language should start at young age (at the age of 3 to 5). Because language acquisition is still available for children in these age. So they can memorize all structure, vocabularies easily like in their mother language. They remember the things with games more easily. The cognitive skills can be activated in these ages. Their development is appropriate for learning. So they can start at age 3-4. At young age people can learn more easily and remember what they hear/listen. They have no fear to make mistakes.
They have memory to learn new words, their pronunciation ability is higher, but in adulthood that Published by SCHOLINK INC.
process get harder. Fresh minds are always better than busy, old minds. But adults should try more to learn. Because of the fact that they should focus on other fields at the same time like family or some problems.

Conclusion
In conclusion, results of the data analyses showed that the subjects' "age" is an important factor when learning second language. According to Dr. Patricia Kuhl, what's going on in a baby's brain is nothing short of rocket science: "By three, a little child's brain is actually twice as active as an adult brain".
Children learn second language more easily at young age. They can discriminate the sounds of languages; also they can reproduce native-like sounds. They can learn like mother tongue. It is an obvious fact that the more years committed to learning a language and the more use of it made, the greater the proficiency that will be achieved. Learning second language in early age has so many advantages in long term. The cognitive benefits of learning a language have a direct impact on a child's academic achievement. Compared to those without an additional language, the children learning second language at a young age have improved reading, writing, and math skills, and they generally score higher on standardized tests. Increased cognitive abilities also help children develop their communication skills. While talking with people, they try to understand more than one way which supports children's understanding of other people's perspectives. Also-Flora Lewis said that "Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things". Their relationship between people is better, they can express themselves more easily, by looking something from a different standpoint they can untie matter more easily. Thanks to these qualities they can be more successful in their life. They can gain better job opportunities in adulthood. Knowing second or more languages opens up the door to a variety of job opportunities not available to monolingual job candidates. These opportunities exist in marketing, transportation, administration, sales, retail, banking, education, law, communication, public relations, tourism, government and etc. Also the people knowing second language are more productive, earn higher salary. As Lynn Jeffery said "Children have nothing to lose and much to gain by learning a foreign language". learning in early childhood.

Interview Questions
When did you start learning second language? Do you think this is advantage or disadvantage? Why?
Do you think learning second language at a young age is important?
How old do you think should start the learning second language? Why?
Do you think that there are differences between the children who know second language and know only their mother tongue?
What are the advantages of learning second language at a young age? Age which is one of the factors of learning foreign language affects the other factors.
As mentioned that the children who know second language develop their positive attitude in social domain.
Learning second language in adulthood is easier.
As mentioned that the children who know second language their attitudes don't change.
If children learn second language at a young age, they can learn it like mother tongue.
There are no differences between the children who know second language and know only their mother tongue.
As if children learn second language at a young age, they can't learn it like mother tongue.
Learning second language at a young age is easier.
While the children learn second language, development of their first language slow down.
Person learning foreign language at a young age has advantages.
Thanks to their self-esteem the children who know second language are more active.
Age is not important criterion when learning second language.
Second language acquisition should be at an old age.
Learning foreign language at a young age has positive effects in long term.
Learning foreign language at a young age has no effect in long term.
Person learning foreign language at a young age has disadvantages.
There are differences between the children who know second language and know only their mother tongue.
How old do you think should start the learning second language? Why?
Learning second language should start at age 3-4. Do you agree this opinion? Why/why not?
What are the differences between learning second language at a young age and learning second language in adulthood?