Dr. Nils Jaekel, Clinical Assistant professor in TPTE, and his research team from Germany have received the “Outstanding Article of the Year 2017” award from the highly-respected journal Language Learning. Jaekel’s article ‘From early starters to late finishers? A longitudinal study of early foreign language learning in school’ investigates the impact of an early onset of foreign language learning in elementary school and its effects on language proficiency in middle school grades 5 and 7. The article provides evidence that earlier onset foreign language instruction (i.e., starting in grade 1 versus grade 3) may not be better for the student. According to the journal’s editorial board, Jaekel’s article was chosen as most outstanding because of its potential to impact future research, educational policy and practice.
Dr. Jaekel will be presenting his findings as a plenary speaker on April 7, 2018 at the regional conference of the Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association at Oak Ridge High School.