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

Chapter Four and the 'inability' to do so could explain why some children did not
remember much of what they had been taught.

5.11.2 Enthusiasm

The number of hands up during classroom observations suggested that most
children were enthusiastic about learning French and enjoyed the experience.
During talks with individual children a slightly different picture emerged,
however. Some said that they enjoyed everything and thought that French was
'fun' but some did not seem too sure about the whole experience and were
rather hesitant when asked if they wanted to continue learning French. For a
couple of children learning French was sirηply 'alright' or 'OK' and some would
have preferred a different language for a variety of reasons such as friends or
family connections. At the same time some children claimed that they definitely
wanted to continue learning French when their body language seemed to tell a
slightly different story. Their 'positive' verbal responses might have been made
therefore simply to please the interviewer. One boy said that 'getting things
right made French more enjoyable'. This comment re-emphasises the
importance of'success' in determining attitudes (see Burstall et al., 1974).
However, whether the general level of enthusiasm is a reflection of age rather
than Ofcircumstantial variables such as children's more advantaged
background, the type of experiences that they had such as plenty of fun and
games and of the fact that they were taught by their class teacher, remains
difficult to establish. 'Mixed' responses suggest that not all children in this class
were very enthusiastic about learning a foreign language. However, as in

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