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

Donaldson states further that those features of the written worcl which
encourage awareness Oflanguage may also encourage awareness of end's
own thinking and be relevant to the Cfevelopmentoff irtellected self-control'.
Written language alows children to notice patterns and regularities and it gives
them insights into how Iangiragewoffks and how it is strudured. The permanent
nature of written language alowsthe child to conceptualise, Categoriseand
organise language.

Snow, Hoefnagel & Hohle (1978)) provided evidence that Iteracy dkillswere
crucial in syntactical development and aιgued that the abl ity to read and write
was the reason why both adults<and school aged! children Outperfcrmed children
underfive. Wnttenlanguageused informal teachingCortlextsinevitably
focuses on form and through its permanent nature allows the child to pay
attention to the structural properties of language, to focus on patterns and to
form and test hypotheses in his own time.

Being able to read woud thus seem crucial in enabling ci ild!ren to break down
language chunks into their component parts to <fisasserτblis Iangwage in order
to reassemble. Breakingdown language chunks from Spokerlftnguageonly
can be very difficult, rf not impossible, given the restιctiors of thθdassπoom.
In the case of a language like French, for example where Ceittainaspects of
grammar are only realised through written language, exposure tt>∖written
language would seem important if children are to develt>p an accurate
understanding of language patterns. Written language can help to clarify

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