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

possible topics and themes to cover in future lessons. It elicited a surprising
range of responses. One girl, for example, stated 'I would like to know how did
some West Indies know how to speak French' while another said that she
'would like to know from French-speaking people how to make learning French
easier¹. One boy said he wanted to know 'how many languages are spoken in
France' and one girl said she would like to know 'how hard they found learning
French and if they like their language'. One girl said she wanted to know
whether 'French was a hard language to speak and when you Ieam French do
you find it easy to learn another language'. One said he would like to know
'how their lives have changed from the past' and one wanted to know 'how
many towns there were in France'. One child wanted to know 'what a French
class was like' and one boy said he wanted to know ^,why they eat snails'. One
girl stated that she would like to know 'almost everything'. These comments
quite clearly present a wealth of topics and themes that could be dealt with in a
scheme that sets its aim different to the one of developing communicative
competence in a particular language and, by implication, adopts a different
stance towards issues such as the use of the target language.

6.5.12 Learning French at Secondary School

This question was included primarily as a double-check on the reliability of other
responses to questions on enthusiasm and enjoyment. It was thought that
those children who said that they liked and enjoyed learning French would also
look forward to learning French at secondary school. Responses to this
question revealed a variety of reasons why some children wanted to ∞ntinue

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