There is a complex and cyclical relationship between L1 literacy skills, self-efficacy and attainment in the L2.
Over the last decade there has been a global expansion in the provision of early language teaching(Enever 2011)whilein Englandthe government recently took the decision to make learning a foreign language in primary schoolcompulsory from September 2014. In most countries a variety of reasons lie behindthe introductionof primary language initiatives. Firstly it isconsidered as an effective way to generate long-term, and more durable,favourable attitudes to language learning as well asfosteringinterest in the culture of other nations. With this comesanexpectation that early exposure will play an important role in motivating pupils to choose to continue with their language studies at the post-compulsory phase of education. Moreover, the provision of early language programmesworldwideis often based upon the assumption that younginstructedlearnerswillfind language learning a relatively effortless and straightforwardprocess. Thisviewstems from research based onyoung naturalistic learners which has found that early exposure to second language learning leads to enhanced proficiency (Muñoz2012). Yet research across a range of contexts examining early language learning provision, learner outcomes and motivation suggest that young learnersin factexhibit a great deal of variability interms of attitudes to language learning and second language proficiency. This paper aims to investigatethe relationshipbetween individual differences andsecond language learning outcomes with a view to enhancing our understanding of the variables that can influence individual performance for early language learners in instructed second language contexts.