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

It was further stated that the overall objective of the Scottish National Pilot was
^,to increase and improve practical competence in a range of languages in our
future generations' and that:

"...the primary start arises from the pragmatic motivation of providing more time,
as well as from the more reasoned assumption that practical language skills are
best established at more receptive ages." (Giovanazzi, 1992: 24)

The aim of an early start was clearly functional; to develop communicative
competence in a language or'language learning' rather than 'language
Sensibilisation' or 'language awareness'. The 'language learning' rather than
'language awareness' or 'sensibilisation' stance was later endorsed by
Professor Johnstone:

"National policy in Scotland has set its sight firmly against 'awareness'.
I believe that this is right, since the awareness approach does not provide
primary school pupils with the rich experience of the language on which their
intuitive acquisition mechanisms can be fed." (Johnstone, 1994: 58)

It was further argued that both the awareness and encounter approaches,
where pupils 'dip into three or four languages':

"...deny one of the most important justifications for foreign languages at
primary, namely that it increases the length and amount of time available for
learning the particular foreign language." (Johnstone, 1994: 58)

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