Elementary School English Teaching: Its Theory and Reality Revisited

English language teaching in elementary school was proposed and is now in practice on the basis of the Critical Period Hypothesis which is also theoretically supported by innatists who argue that UG begins attrition around puberty and that language acquisition becomes increasingly difficult beyond this period. This was proved true of first language acquisition and naturalistic SLA, but no evidence has been known about instructed second language learning in formal education. Elementary school EL T is supported by some parents who wish their children to learn this world language effectively, but the educational environment is far from utilizing the learners' UG: few teachers are capable of providing authentic input, so the learners depend on their general intelligence and learning strategy rather than UG. It is suggested that high school age is optimum for utilizing learners' motivation, intelligence, and learning strategy