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

with his friend. He says he is 'sometimes quite happy with the French' but
sometimes not and would prefer it if the teacher spoke English because he
does not know all the French words and sometimes does not understand what
the teacher is saying.

Robert

Robert sounds as if he is not too sure about learning French. He says he likes
filling in worksheets and listening to the tape recorder. He says that he is
worried when he does not understand what the teacher says because 'you don't
know what's happening or something'. He is not too sure about speaking
aloud in class and says that he does not really like it. Robert goes to Sunday
school where he learns Hebrew. He says he finds this boring but the
experience has given him an awareness of different alphabets and scripts and
different relationships between sounds and symbols. When asked if he wants
to continue learning French Robert is not too sure.

Natasha

Natasha likes working in pairs and acting things out and doing role plays and
most 'things to do with French'. She says she likes doing worksheets and work
in her French book but she does not really like reading although she likes
reading in English. She says she finds long words hard to pronounce but that
she 'gets the hang of them after a while'. She does not like making mistakes
and says that although the teacher 'asks us to put our hands up I'll only do it if
Γm really sure and I know I won't get it wrong'. Natasha likes it when the

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