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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Kieltenopetus vuosiluokilla 1–3: Miten oppilaat siihen suhtautuvat ja mitä tuloksia sillä saavutetaan puolen vuoden opiskelun aikana?

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 As of January 2020, all Finnish pupils are to start their foreign language studies in the first grade. This study examined the effects of early language teaching by comparing pupils in grades 1, 2 and 3. The pupils had started studying English in August 2017 and had all had roughly the same number of English lessons by the time of the study in early 2018. The study examined pupils’ attitudes towards English and studying English as well as how pupils use English in their free time. Pupils also self-assessed their English skills and completed vocabulary and text segmentation tasks. The results show that the pupils had an overall positive attitude towards English and language learning. Analyses of pupils’ language skills and extramural use of English revealed statistically significant differences between 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. Findings and their possible explanations are discussed.