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

find it very hard to ∞mpare like with like and that they generally do not grasp
that they might have done worse than others, for example. Their assessments
oftheir relative performance in the classroom are therefore often quite
unrealistic. From the age of seven upwards, on the other hand, children seem
to be less positive about their performances and the incidents of social
comparisons increase. It will be seen in Chapter Six that some of the slightly
older children indeed seemed much more realistic in their evaluation of
themselves and the learning process.

A positive self-concept would seem an important and valuable foundation on
which to build foreign language learning. However, a positive self-concept
would also seem to be closely related to experiences of success. Providing and
maintaining positive experiences for all children over time is not an easy matter
if one focuses on linguistic progression in one particular language. The issue
whether focus on one language is desirable within the context of British primary
schools will be raised again in the concluding paragraphs.

5.11.4 FindingFrench^fEasy'

Despite generally high levels of confidence, not all of the younger children said
that they found learning French easy. Interviews produced comments such as
'it's a little bit hard', 'it's a challenge', 'it's a little difficult', 'I get eas ly confused',
'I don't understand anything, nothing'. A number of children said that they found
pronunciation problematic or that they keep forgetting things. The children who
made these comments were probably slightly more mature and therefore more

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