easily, this was not the case with all children. Some did but others seemed to
struggle and might therefore have to be consciously taught.
Lesson observations, questionnaires and interviews earned out in the two
primary schools suggest considerable differences both ∞gnitive and affective
between individual children. It is nothing new to state that children of the same
age can vary considerably in their cognitive and affective development,
however, the relevance of the concept of a specific 'age, in foreign language
learning remains questionable and if one were to 'catch them young' one might
well have to catch them with different 'baits'. Some children are cognitively
more mature, they are literate, they have some awareness of how language
works, they are responsible in their classroom behaviour, they have adequate
personal and social skills, they are enthusiastic and display positive attitudes
and they have parental support. Others clearly lack even the most basic skills,
they find it hard to concentrate or focus and their personal and social immaturity
is likely to prevent them from gaining much from the experience. Younger did
not necessarily seem to be better for affective reasons either and while some
children appeared very enthusiastic, others displayed poor attitudes, were at
best disaffected and at worst alienated. Some children might therefore appear
more 'ready' for some foreign language work. However, as yet, there is little
evidence to support the notion that there is a definite connection between 'age'
alone and the levels of proficiency a learner achieves and that those who start
learning a foreign language 'early' do better than those who start 'later,.
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