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

However, to what extent learning outcomes were, and are, affected by
children's background and by what 'aspects' of background particularly, would
seem to be difficult to establish.

3.7 Potential Problem Areas Surrounding Evaluations OfOutcomes
Any precise assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes is somewhat
problematic due to the large number of variables at play. In an interventionist
programme, where learning is brought about through teaching, aims and
objectives, teaching methodologies and materials, patterns of provision, teacher
competences, the language under investigation as well as methods of
assessing achievement all play a crucial role. Some of the problems
surrounding assessment of learning outcomes in the Pilot Scheme, for example,
have already been discussed in Chapter One. In the context of the Scottish
Pilot, as was stated earlier, researchers were hesitant to draw any definite
conclusions 'due to the large number of variables involved¹.

In the past, as much as in the present, possible 'obstacles to success have
included methods, teacher skills and competence, patterns of provision and
above all continuity between primary and secondary school. Further questions
have been posed: what if methods had been different? What if the teachers
had been more competent? What if there had been continuity between primary
and secondary school? The following pages will address these issues.

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