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

Secondary school teachers in the S∞ttish National Pilot were asked if they had
noticed any 'deterioration of any kind' amongst the early starters. Ac∞rding to
the final report 59% of teachers said that they had not noticed any deterioration
but 28% indicated that the novelty Ofstarting a language at secondary school
had gone:

"...a little over a quarter of the teachers also pointed to some waning of
enthusiasm among some pupils who arrived at secondary with already several
years of experience of learning the language." (Low et al., 1995:173)

Low et al. also state that several years of experience of learning a language
'sometimes had a detrimental effect on motivation' (Low et al., 1995:163).
There is also substantial anecdotal evidence from colleagues at secondary
school that some of the most disaffected children can be those who started to
learn French at primary school. The above comments raise the important issue
of 'success' and 'successful experiences'. How these are defined, how these
are brought about and how they relate to successful foreign language
development leaves much scope for further discussion not just in the context of
young learners at primary school.

3.5.4 Anxiety

Relatively low levels of anxiety and a 'sense of achievement' at primary school
were put down to a relaxed classroom atmosphere where understanding was
not directly assessed and pupils' answers were in the form of whole class
chorus or physical response. In contrast, in the secondary school pupils had to

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