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

children were giving 'socially desirable responses' cannot be excluded,
however.

Interviews with individual children also revealed that in a school context not all
children seemed equally willing to 'have a go' and take a risk. Some children,
for example, responded that they would only put their hand up if they were 'sure'
about an answer. In a school environment some young children are quite
aware ofthe risk of'taking risks' and of making mistakes. Comments during
interviews also suggested that some children who did seem to mind making
mistakes did so because ofthe risk of being laughed at by their peers. Their
concerns seemed to centre around affective or personal factors rather than
around accurate use of language as such. At the same time the possibility that
some children speak up in class simply to score good grades cannot be
excluded. Kook Yoeng, who said that if the teacher asked him a question he
felt he 'had to go for this answer to get top mark', serves as an example.

Cultural differences also need to be taken into ac∞unt Holmes (1978)
suggests that some children in some cultures, for example Chinese, might not
talk in class until they are sure of the answer as they do not want to be seen as
making a mistake or be laughed at. Cultural expectations, pupil personality,
teacher personality, methodologies and approaches to error feedback and not
least classroom atmosphere, all seem to play an important role in whether a
child chooses to speak in class or not.

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