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

"...if only one or two possibly important factors are not taken into ac∞unt, it
makes drawing firm conclusions quite unwarranted...It is therefore not possible
to state simply whether this problem is ∞ntingent or necessary. Certainly
some variables that are not controlled in any given piece of research might in
principle have been; others, such as the unique ∞mbination of this particular
child with this particular teacher, interacting in this particular way, at this time in
this ∞ntext, cannot be, as a matter of logic. (The uniqueness of the
combination may be the explanation of what happens on this occasion, and, if
it is unique, it cannot be generalised from.)." (Barrow, 1984: 154)

Questioning therefore whether 'tightly controlled scientific research can explain

complex social phenomena' (Van Lier, 1988: 53), it was decided that an
ethnographic approach would be the most appropriate way to investigate real
life phenomena in real life contexts and to arrive at a modest understanding of
the many subtle and complex processes in the primary school foreign language
classroom.

Chapter Four centred around theoretical discussions of a wide range of
substrates considered important in learning a foreign language at primary
school such as the ability to listen to formal instruction, noticing, attention
spans, a degree of consciousness and language awareness, literacy skills,
world knowledge, memory, learning strategies, the ability to stay on task,
aptitude and children's home background, social skills as well as affective
variables. Every attempt was to be made in the case studies to present as
holistic a picture as possible Ofclassroom life. However, given the ∞mplexity

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