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

The implicit assumption underlying such a training model, namely that the
majority ofteachers, if not all, and by implication older learners, can be
successful in learning a foreign language from scratch is even more interesting
in the light of the discussions on maturational constraints on language
development in Chapter Two. If adults with no previous experience of the
foreign language are deemed to be trainable as suitable role models then this
would surely undermine any justification for an early start based on
phonological considerations only.

Just one example of the many misconceptions surrounding the teaching of a
foreign language to young children is provided by The NFER- Nelson Training
Company (National Foundation for Educational Research) who offered a 2-day
training course in November 1997 entitled Teaching Primary French - Learn
How to Do it in Just 2 days'. This course was aimed at primary school teachers
with a basic knowledge of French such as rusty O-Ievel who would benefit from
a refresher course or Simplyjust 'Francophiles'. The course promised to
provide delegates with the confidence and linguistic skills to introduce French, a
one year scheme of work, motivating strategies and materials and a
professional understanding of methodology in MFL teaching and learning at
primary school.

It seems that the Scottish National Pilot has since encountered a number of
problems as the involvement of the visiting specialist teachers who had played
a major role in the Pilot had to be reduced for financial reasons. Further funding

182

<<   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   >>

More intriguing information