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

The importance of 'native-like^, accents for the child in Britain learning a foreign
language would also seem questionable. Authentic accents are, as Hill (1970)
argued, 'culture-bound' and important in assessing membership of a particular
speech community but societies vary with respect to their sensitivity to accent.
While it would seem important for the child to understand and master the
morphological and semantic distinctions realised by phonology and while it is
important to understand and make oneself understood, how important is it for
the child to sound like a native-speaker? While one can disagree on the answer
to this question, any justification of an early start which is solely based on
children achieving native-like standards of pronunciation becomes at least
questionable and particularly so in a context where future language needs are
difficult to predict from an early age. If, however, one were to justify an early
start for phonological reasons only, the importance of the teacher as a role
model cannot be overstated. If most children acquire native-like standards of
pronunciation fairly effortlessly then, by implication, they also acquire 'flawed'
pronunciation and intonation effortlessly from their less 'qualified' teachers and
these 'flaws' might be difficult to shake off at a later stage.

Outcomes from early foreign language learning projects in British primary
schools do not seem to provide convincing evidence that an early start in a
foreign language necessarily leads to better outcomes or improved 'ultimate
attainment'. Out∞mes from early foreign language projects appear limited and
seem to be of a psychological nature, such as higher levels of motivation, rather
than of a linguistic one. The possibility that similar linguistic outcomes could

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