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

"...don't have the structures to be able to manipulate the language, and we
have to give them these tools to be able to create, manipulate and transfer."
(Lowet. al, 1995: 48)

This general lack in structural progression amongst children could partially be
explained by inadequate methodolog'es and by not giving children the 'tools'.
Researchers state that while most teachers interviewed seemed to agree on the
need to develop pupils' awareness of how language works and to focus their
attention on the structural properties of language, this was apparently not
happening during lessons. One teacher said that it was hoped that primary
children would pick structures up 'by osmosis' (Low et al., 1995: 48) and in the
fourteen primary lessons observed researchers noted only six specific
instances (Low et al.,1995: 21) where teachers drew the pupils' attention to
structure:

"It is important to add, however, that there were very few instances where
primary pupils' attention was expl citly drawn to language structure."
(Lowetal., 1995: 34)

It was generally assumed that a wide range of language experiences and
'natural opportunities' focusing on songs, stories, miming, games and making
things would allow children:

"...to gain familiarity with more complex structures than those pursued in the
texts and associated materials of early secondary..." (Low et al., 1995: 34)

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