Teaching Modern Foreign Languages at Advanced Level

Norbert Pachler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN: 9780415203142
• eBook ISBN: 9781134630523
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Designed to complement Learning to Teach Modern Foreign Languages in the Secondary School, this book focuses specifically on the skills and processes of teaching MFL at A and A/S level in schools and colleges. The book is divided into three sections: the changing nature of A and A/S level courses; bridging the gap between GCSE and A level; and planning, teaching and assessment. With chapters on learner independence, teaching and learning grammar, planning topics and programmes of work, working with literature, and vocational alternatives, the book will be an essential text for all secondary MFL students and teachers.

Part I
Changing A/AS level courses

Chapter 1
The relevance of A/AS level courses to post-16 learners

Kit Field and Shirley Lawes

Introduction

GCE Advanced (A) levels have represented the ‘gold standard’ for the British education system since their introduction in the early 1950s. Specialisation through the selection of three and occasionally four subject areas has led to many discussions over what they actually prepare learners for. Access to A levels has tended to be restricted to the more academically able learners.

Socio-political developments have led to an increase in staying-on rates at post-16. In particular, the economic recession of the 1980s reduced the number of apprenticeships available to school leavers. Moreover, as Lucas points out (see 1997, p. 214), studies throughout the 1980s demonstrate that the proportion of Continental European youngsters continuing their education after the age of 16 has been significantly higher than in Britain. The trend across Europe is that the burden of vocational training has shifted from the world of work to educational institutions with Britain lagging behind. Comprehensivisation has increased access to post-16 and consequently post-19 study for learners.

For many years there has now been a focus of attention on post-16 study. In 1988, Gordon Higginson, chairing a committee appointed by the then Secretary of State for Education and Science and the Secretary of State for Wales, recommended a diversification of the content for A level study (see DES 1988). This theme has continued to run. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) were created providing a qualification framework for vocational education and training supposedly of equivalence to academic qualifications. Discussions amongst commentators have not only concentrated on the academic/vocational divide, but also on the issue of breadth and depth (see Chapter 15). The International Baccalauréat examination, emanating from France, in contrast, encourages the continued study of up to eight subject disciplines, thereby making it an excellent route for the ‘non-specialist’ linguist (see Neather 1991).

A recent article in the Times Educational Supplement concerning the subject popularity amongst learners in secondary schools compared preferences expressed in 1971 with those in 1996 (see Judd 1997). In the early survey only 27 per cent of learners rated modern foreign languages (mfl) as their favourite subject and it ranked tenth out of eleven subjects. In 1996, mfl were still at number 10 but with only a 19 per cent popularity score.

The study of mfl is by far not the only choice learners have at post-16 and A/ AS levels are not the only examinations available.

Objectives

By the end of this chapter you should:

• be aware of the range of study options available to post-16 mfl learners
• be able to recognise the relevance of different mfl study routes for a range of learner types
• understand the role of mfl in the post-16 curriculum
• be aware of the aims and objectives for the different study routes, and
• appreciate learners’ motivations for following post-16 mfl courses

Modern foreign languages at post-16

Recent developments in the post-16 curriculum have led to several issues coming to the fore for mfl learners. They are compelled to make choices regarding further study at a young age. The basis for these choices is their own experience of learning a modern foreign language up to GCSE level. Figure 1.1 is a crude representation of these choices.

Ron Dearing’s Review of Qualifications for 16–19 Year Olds (1996) considers these issues closely. The need to provide full post-16 programmes covering the key skills of Communication, Application of number and Information Technology is central to the recommendations made because they are expected by employers and Higher Education Institutions of learners completing a post-16 programme of study, regardless of the subjects actually studied. Also of concern is the popularity and appeal of subjects selected for study, their vocational viability, the academic rigour and lastly the potential for personal development. What follows is an analysis of mfl as a post-16 subject with these points in mind.

Figure 1.1 Choosing a post-16 mfl study route

Popularity and appeal

It is too early to assess the impact of the new syllabuses and how successful they will be in attracting learners. It is possible to say, however, that, while we might celebrate the expansion of mfl provision at GCSE level, we still need to look very carefully at how we nurture potential A/AS level candidates throughout Key Stage 4 and how we motivate a greater number and wider variety of learners towards continuing to study a modern foreign language post-16. Is it possible that the ‘languages for all’ policy pursued in recent years at 11 to 16 has led to a situation where most pupils have achieved a basic level of communicative competence, but that in some situations, the most able linguists are not achieving their full potential if they are not sufficiently motivated to go on to A/AS level study?

One of the first things it is useful to check before the start of a post-16 mfl programme is exactly what motivates learners. This information, in turn, will provide an indication of learners’ future goals and ambitions. In the past, when a smaller proportion of learners stayed on at post-16, it might have been more safely assumed that mfl study to A level was mostly in preparation for further mfl study at degree level. This is now less likely to be true partly because of the vastly increased number of young people who are going on to university to study a wider variety of degrees, often joint degrees, in which a modern foreign language may feature to a greater or lesser extent (see e.g. Coleman 1996). We should not assume therefore that all learners at A/AS level are budding linguists; we need to cater for a variety of motives and purposes. Indeed, even the ‘specialists’ continue to have ‘non-specialist’ language needs. So what might the range of motives and purposes within a learning group be? If the teacher is clear at the outset what motivates learners individually, then it is possible to help them identify and achieve longer-term goals.

REFLECTION

Activity 1.1 Why study mfl at post-16?

(a) Look at the following list of possible reasons for studying a modern foreign language at A/AS level and add any others you can think of.

(b) Ask your learners to respond to the questions individually.

1. Because you like the language
2. To travel to different countries
3. Because you are good at it
4. To become a better-educated person
5. Because you like the teacher
6. For your future career
7. Because your friends are doing it
8. Because your parents want you to do it
9. To get to know people who speak it
10. To have a better understanding of the way of life in the country where it is spoken

(c) In order to assist you with your planning, analyse the outcomes and answer the following questions:

• what are the reasons for your learners opting for mfl?
• how can you use this information to inform your teaching style?

Activity 1.1 has been adapted from a survey carried out in the early 1990s by Jim Coleman (1995) into the motives of university learners for learning French. It is interesting to note that ‘for your future career’ was selected by 85.6 per cent of learners during year one, but this reduced to 73.5 per cent by year three, and that ‘because you like the language’ increased from 80.1 per cent in year one to 84.3 per cent in year three. The proportion of learners who wanted to become a better-educated person—just over one third—hardly changed over the three-year period. The most significant change was ‘getting to know the people who speak it’ which increased from 24.3 per cent to 33.3 per cent from years one to three. By the time learners enter university, the vocational motive is high. It is likely that, at the beginning of the first year of study at post-16, learners, on the whole, have more mixed motives for their choice of mfl. At that stage of their lives, learners embark on a period where longer-term decisions are made, where they have to begin to make choices about their future and to start to take on adult responsibilities. If the teacher is clear at the outset what motivates learners individually, then it is possible to help them identify and achieve long-term goals.

GCSE mfl courses encourage active communication. Successful GCSE learners are able to comprehend and communicate essentially factual messages. The appeal of mfl for many at post-16 is to develop this functional approach beyond the basic level attained at GCSE. The context of GCSE is essentially what might be called ‘touristic’ and ‘domestic’. For many learners, post-16 study represents an opportunity to build upon this for vocational and more adult social purposes. David Phillips (1981) identified five different learner types embarking on post-16 study. The challenge for teachers and learners is to identify a programme which matches up to their aspirations.

Phillips’s first category is best described as ‘specialists’, by which is meant those wishing to continue the study of mfl at university and for whom the traditional A level route has not been problematic. It is on this group of learners that teachers have traditionally concentrated their efforts. In order to be able to prepare such learners for university study, there has traditionally been little objection to the inclusion of literature in A level syllabuses. Literature tended to constitute a major part of undergraduate courses (see Epilogue). The Dearing Report remarks (see 1996, p. 9) that mfl undergraduates, according to university tutors and admissions officers, require a sound grounding in syntax and grammar. The traditional A level route has tended to offer opportunities for focused study including the demonstration of grammatical and syntactic accuracy. It is clear, however, that this focus on the literary register of language and a concentration on accuracy has not always been appreciated by the full range of learners. Dwindling numbers of learners opting for A level study (see Prologue) suggest that the approach required to learning in this way is holding less and less of an appeal.

Phillips’s second type consists of learners intending to enter higher education, but for whom a modern foreign language is not the chosen subject of study. A/AS level subject specifications, formerly syllabuses, provide relevant learning opportunities here too. The emergence of course work and the study of regions and social aspects has led to a wide range of choice. A/AS level subject specifications include in their aims the fostering of cultural awareness or an understanding of culture and civilisation. It is not difficult to see how mfl can provide support and can integrate with other subject disciplines. Furthermore, language competence, the Dearing Report states (see 1996, p. 66), should be of functional value....

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• List of Figures
• List of Activities
• List of Contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue: Towards a Methodology of Modern Foreign Languages Teaching At A/AS Level
• Part I: Changing A/AS Level Courses
• Part II: The Transition from GCSE to A/AS Level: Bridging the Gap
• Part III: Planning, Teaching and Assessment At A/AS Level
• Epilogue: Looking Ahead: Trends In Modern Foreign Languages In Higher Education