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

Tape-recordings of speech samples were judged by native-speakers of English
who 'regarded the native-speakers of English in the control group and the highly
successful learners of English as members of the same population'. The group
of excellent learners of English was not outperformed by the group of
native-speakers on any of the tasks (Bongaerts, Planken & Schils, 1995: 43).
Bongaerts et al. concluded that 'instruction in the pronunciation of a second
language does make a difference'. With training both in the perception and
production of a phonological system some learners seem to be able to achieve
native-like competence.

Martohardjono & Flynn suggested that one area of language development that
was not affected by a critical period were the 'biologically determined sensory
abilities for the development of sound' (Martohardjono & Flynn, 1995: 135).
Fundamental competence in the area of speech cognition seems to remain
accessible to the adult learner and the ability to perceive novel contrasts does
not seem to disappear with age. The acquisition of some aspects of phonology
might be a question of a 'biological capacity' whereas other aspects, such as
the 'fine-tuning of accent', might be 'data-driven'. Martohardjono & Flynn also
proposed that this would have obvious implications for the teaching of a foreign
language in the classroom and the teacher as a role model.

2.3.2.1 Phonological Development in the Classroom

One of the earliest studies on the acquisition of a sound system in the
classroom by Dunkel & Pillet (1957) provided some evidence that younger is

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