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

3. What are the organisational, teaching and other problems posed by such an
experiment?

4. Are there levels of ability below which the teaching of French is of dubious
value?

5. What methods, incentives and motivations are most effective in fostering
learning of a foreign language? (Schools Council, 1966: 3)

It would thus seem that a number of reasons underpinned the Pilot Scheme,
to identify 'on what conditions it would be feasible to contemplate the
introduction of a modem language into the primary school' and to ascertain
^,whether an early start would provide identifiable advantages over starting at the
age of eleven'. The above points, in combination with the nature of the Pilot
Scheme in the form of a 'feasibility study', would seem to suggest that the
'younger is better¹ view was not necessarily accepted, at least not for all children
of all abilities. It would thus seem difficult to establish beyond doubt to what
degree Penfield & Roberts' (1959) theory of a critical age was accepted by all
those involved in the Pilot Scheme. In fact, Burstall et al. later stated that the
main purpose of the Pilot Scheme was to discover:

"...whether it would be feasible and educationally desirable to extend the
teaching of a foreign language to pupils who represented a wider range of age
and ability than those to whom foreign languages had traditionally been
taught." (Burstall et al., 1974: 11)

It was also hoped that the results of their evaluation of the Pilot Scheme would
provide sufficient information:

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