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IntroductionEnglish is being introduced to ever more and ever younger children and in manycountries around the world English is now compulsory in primary education(Nikolov, 2009a; Pinter, 2006). However, curricula and practices are often beingdeveloped in an ad hoc way because there is little appropriate research to informfundamental policy decisions. As Enever and Moon (2009:5) note:… we have yet to clarify the priorities for formulating effective language policies,for designing appropriate programmes of implementation and for meetingthe very real challenge of ensuring that policy is effectively and sustainablyimplemented within the daily practice of classrooms.Moreover, knowledge and understanding of teaching practices in the field of younglearners are, at best, sketchy. There are a number of books that bring togetherworthwhile studies of small research projects, often led by local universityresearchers (see Moon & Nikolov, 2000; Nikolov, 2009a; Rixon, 1999) but thesestudies often focus on how young learners acquire particular systems, such asvocabulary (for example, Orosz, 2009) or skills, such as reading (for example,Samo, 2009). Other books recommend best practice in teaching young learnersin the light of available research findings, informing and guiding both teaching andteacher education (for example, Cameron, 2001; Pinter, 2006; Slattery & Willis,2001). However, there are no studies, as far as we are aware, that examine howteachers around the world go about their everyday practice of teaching English toyoung learners, their attitudes to this teaching and the challenges they face. Nor isthere any research which provides a detailed description, on a case by case basis,of how expert teachers in local contexts ‘do’ English language teaching, where thisteaching is not part of a programme of innovation and change (cf. Graddol, 2006).The overall aim of this project was, therefore, to investigate global practices inTeaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) aged 7-11 from macro and microperspectives. Key aims were to:■■■■■■■■discover what policy/syllabus documents inform TEYL practices around theworldinvestigate and map the major pedagogies that teachers usebetter understand teachers’ perceptions of their roles and responsibilities,including the challenges they faceidentify how local solutions to pedagogical issues can be effective and howthese may resonate globally.This report first reviews some of the existing literature on policy and practicein TEYL as this relates to the project. We then describe the research design andthe data collected before summarising the key findings. Finally, we present ourrecommendations for future action to support teaching English to young learners.36 | Global Practices Young Learners