A Critical Examination of the Beliefs about Learning a Foreign Language at Primary School

Even if exposure time as a variable were to be held constant, the quality of the
input over a period of time in a second language acquisition environment
cannot easily be compared with the quality of the input in a classroom simply
because of differences in the quality of the interactions that might take place.
Macnamara (1973) stressed the importance of'real communication’ with
speakers ofthe target language in successful second language development
and Wagner-Gough & Hatch (1975) suggested that the frequency of forms in
the input and their 'semantic power¹ will determine what the learner acquires
regardless of age. The need for meaningful and genuine communication or
'speech acts' in the target language is often absent from the foreign language
classroom, however, especially in the British primary school where teachers,
even native-speakers, usually share the English language with the children.

2.6.1 Language Status

Learning time would seem to be closely linked to socio-cultural and affective
variables notably the status and relevance ofthe languages involved.

As Dodson (1993) suggested, it is the value society puts on languages, the way
they are taught and learnt, and the self-image the child develops in the process
of learning two languages that are important. Lambert (1961, reported in
Hamers & Blanc, 1989) emphasised the importance Oflanguage status in
explaining divergence in research findings on successful second language
development. 'Additive' bilingualism and greater cognitive growth were said to
result in cases where two high-status languages and cultures made a positive
∞ntribution to the child's development whereas 'subtractive' bilingualism

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