This article offers insights into trends found in 74 empirical studies on teaching and learning a foreign language (FL) in pre-primary schools in 25 countries. The emerging picture is like that of primary-school programs: most are implemented in English, mostly owing to parents’ enthusiasm rather than evidence on long term FL benefits. Researchers focus on measurable outcomes in the FL rather than embedding studies in what early childhood education and language policies aim for: developing children not only in a FL, but also in their first language and emotional, cognitive, and social domains. A short literature review on how children learn languages and what necessary conditions include, is followed by the evidence empirical studies offer along themes found in them. Research has revealed encouraging results as well as weaknesses, whereas most authors frame their findings in positive terms. Overall, the younger the children the slower their rate of FL development. The field is dominated by FL experts; it would benefit from early childhood expertise to shift it towards the whole child. Although the increase in research is significant, more is necessary to build a model of pre-primary FL programs. A table available online complements the text.

本文深入探讨了 25 个国家的学前学校外语教学 (FL) 的 74 项实证研究中发现的趋势。正在出现的情况就像小学项目一样：大多数都是用英语实施的，这主要是由于家长的热情，而不是长期FL益处的证据。研究人员关注的是 FL 中可衡量的结果，而不是将研究嵌入到幼儿教育和语言政策的目标中：不仅在 FL 中培养儿童，而且在他们的母语以及情感、认知和社交领域中发展。对儿童如何学习语言以及必要条件包括哪些内容进行了简短的文献回顾，然后是实证研究根据其中发现的主题提供的证据。研究揭示了令人鼓舞的结果以及弱点，而大多数作者都用积极的措辞来阐述他们的发现。总体而言，孩子越小，FL 发展速度越慢。该领域由 FL 专家主导；将其转向整个儿童将受益于幼儿期专业知识。尽管研究的增加很显着，但建立学前 FL 项目的模型还需要做更多的工作。在线提供的表格对文本进行了补充。