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

Table of Contents

Title Page                                                                 1

Abstract                                                             2

Table of Contents                                                  3

Terminology                                                       11

The Concept of Primary School Education                             13

Introduction                                                               15

CHAPTER ONE

The Historical Background to Early Language Learning Schemes
and the Situation in the United Kingdom in the 1990s

1.1 Introduction                                                           21

1.2 The Background to the Pilot Scheme                           22

1.2.1 The Post World War Il Political and Economic Climate 22

1.2.2 The Contribution of UNESCO to Early Language Learning 23

1.2.3 The Annan Report                                    25

1.2.4 The Kellermann Project                                   25

1.3 The Pilot Scheme                                            27

1.3.1 LanguageChoice                                     30

1.3.2 TeacherTraining                                         31

1.3.3 Methodology and Materials Used in the Pilot Scheme       32

1.3.4 PatternsofProvision                                     32

1.4 The NFER Evaluation of the Pilot Scheme                      33

1.4.1 AssessmentofOutcomes                             34

1.4.2 OtherFindingsonAchievement                         39

1.5 Critiques of the NFER's Final Conclusion                          40

1.5.1 The 1976 Nuffield Foundation Survey                      42

1.5.2 ConditionsforSuccess                                  43

1.6 The Situation in the 1990s in England, Wales, Northern Ireland 46
and Scotland

1.6.1 ThesituationinEngIand₁WaIesandNorthemIreIand 47

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