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

"Experience now shows that clear conditions must be fulfilled if primary French
is to succeed. Some local educational authorities now wisely insist on
∞ntinuity between primary and se∞ndary school French; on adequately
qualified staff; on a reasonable time allocation; and on the use of appropriate
materials. Without these minimum ∞nditions it seems better to leave the
subject alone." (Hoy, 1977: 6)

Ten years prior to the 1977 Nuffield survey the Plowden report had already
made the important point that:

"...far too many schools have introduced French without having a teacher who
possesses even minimum qualifications, without consideration of what
constitutes a satisfactory scheme and time-table and without any consultation
with receiving secondary schools. This can only be deplored. No good
purpose can possibly be served by it. Without a teacher who is well qualified
linguistically and in methods suitable for primary schools, it is better to have
nothing to do with French. The presence of a native French speaker, while it
guarantees the former, often fails to provide the latter."

(Plowden Report, 1967: 225, para 617∕v)

Thirty years on, many of the current early foreign language learning schemes

employ native language assistants from abroad. While these assistants can
undoubtedly bring some of the target culture into the classroom, their ability and
competence to 'teach' their mother tongue to young children cannot be taken for

granted. What it means to be 'linguistically qualified' to leach' a foreign
language to young children, however, remains to be established and would

seem to depend largely on the aims of a scheme. These points will be
discussed again at a later stage.

44

<<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   >>

More intriguing information