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

The least successful children were those who analysed Γtthe, stlιdk to a formda
or avoided speaking English altogether. Depending on Iheir inguιstic
environment, some children have already developed a greater degree of
metalinguistic awareness than others Whenitheystartsdhool. Wels (1981)
suggested that when a child started formal schooling this 'avβreness' or
’knowledge of literacy¹ was the most tnηp□rtant predictorof educational
attainment. Children who started school wth positive pre-school experiences,
with an idea of what language was about, what books looked like, with an
awareness that what they heard at a phonological level related to symbols on
paper, for example, were clearly ahead in their language develbpment and, to a
large extent, stayed ahead during Iheirpriiinaryschool years.

When children begin to learn a foreign language in a school (environment the
move from a largely unconscious approach in their spokenι first language
development to a largely conscious approach would seem inevitable. In such a
context, children with a degree of language awareness, with same 'knowledge
about language' and an understanding of language as a system wodld seem to
be at an advantage. The abilty to distinguish the word as ar arbitrary label
from the object it denotes, for example is regarded as crucial in dealing with
language as a formal system (Tunmer, Pratt & Herriman, 1984). Some children
might not develop this ability until the age of 10 or e even.

Hawkins (1981: 227) states that 'lack Cfpreparationin awareness of anguage
and insight into pattern on which Ciependsthe ability to process incoming

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