This paper aims to stress the importance of building rapport with young EFL (English as a foreign language) learners and to investigate the connection between student-teacher rapport and students’ achievement in an EFL classroom. It also treats some methods and approaches that should be used when teaching young language learners with respect to their needs and characteristics. In addition, this paper describes the importance of motivation for language acquisition and explores some motivational strategies for young language learners.
The paper also aims at inspiring EFL teachers to focus on dimensions of language teaching which are associated with pedagogical aspects of teaching and are focused on creating positive student-teacher relations. The positive classroom atmosphere in which students feel safe and comfortable is considered essential for their success in language learning.
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