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

is made as to cause and effect relationships. Some ephemeral findings which
also seemed important but which are less open to 'categorisation' or grouping,
such as instances of children displaying 'world knowledge' or lack of such
knowledge, will also be discussed.

5.4 Interviews

As lesson observations only provide a partial picture of the complex teaching
and learning process, it was decided that interviews should be carried out to
complement participant classroom observation in School One, Case Study One.
Their purpose was to gain a more thorough, if modest, understanding of
children's experiences of learning French. In particular, the affective issues
discussed in Chapter Fourwhich could not be fully explored via lesson
observation alone were the main focus of these individual interviews. They
were to explore, for example, if enthusiasm is widespread amongst children and
if the number of hands up in the classroom is really an indicator of levels of
enthusiasm. They were to explore whether children generally feel at ease in
their French lessons and whether those natural characteristics which have
traditionally been ascribed to them such as spontaneity and willingness to have
a go would also apply to the foreign language classroom. Interviews were also
meant to provide information on children's perception of the various skills, what
individual children might find easy or difficult, the things they liked and disliked
about learning French, their view of the French language Itselfand parental
support.

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