Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

Learning foreign language is one of the key concerns of the present society. Some experts have the strong opinion that learning foreign language at primary school results in more benefits than learning at secondary school. In the following paragraphs, the advantages and the disadvantages of learning foreign language at primary school will be discussed.

One of the advantages of learning foreign language at primary school is that young children are very good in learning new subjects. It has been universally felt that young children grasp the subject matters, including learning new languages, too quickly. Therefore, when students are taught the foreign language at early age, they learn it naturally without any difficulties. In contrast, if they are taught in secondary school, they can't perform well, as they feel that they are forced to learn and even try to learn artificially which ultimately leads to unsatisfactory results.

Another advantage is that young children develop the correct accent of the language. It is true that those who learn foreign language at the later age have significant problem in the accent and to the contrary of it, those who learn earlier has outstanding accent of the foreign language.

On the other hand, there are some disadvantages when children learn the foreign language at primary school. Firstly, this is the age of their freedom, and when they are taught foreign language, they could get confused and might not learn effectively. It is even possible that due to the effect of it, they might even forget their own mother-tongue language. However, in my opinion, this might be the case of minority children with below average I.Q. Another disadvantages is that they might neglect their own language and speak foreign language in school and even in home. Nevertheless, this could be controlled by parents and teachers with proper communication with children.

In conclusion, learning a foreign language at primary schools have significant benefits, although there are some drawbacks. However, the disadvantages are easily outweighed by the advantages.