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

America seemed to suffer a 'practical communication crisis' (Stack, 1964) with
a severe shortage of people with foreign language skills and teaching children a
foreign language from a young age was deemed politically and economically
desirable. The 1958 National Defence Act declared Modern Languages an
area in need of special support and subsequently made large sums of money
available to the Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) projects.
Within a couple of years FLES programmes sprang up all over America and
grew rapidly due to strong support from state and local government as well as
from the Modern Languages Association. In Britain, application for entry into
the Common Market in 1961, although at the time unsuccessful, drew attention
to the need for improved trade relations with other countries as well as for
increased travel and, by implication, to the need for people with foreign
language skills.

1.2.2 The Contribution of UNESCO to Early Language Learning
Developments

According to Stern, two UNESCO-sponsored international meetings in Hamburg
in 1962 and 1966 were intended to promote research into early language
teaching and on the effectiveness of an early start (Stem, 1996: 364). The aim
of the 1962 conference was 'to evaluate reports from investigations into the
effectiveness of early language teaching in schools around the world' (Stern,
1963). These reports showed the feasibility of an early start and that young
children responded positively but, more importantly, as Stem argued 'the
superiority of an early start over a later start was not proved' (Stern, 1996: 364).

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