Primary Languages: Effective Learning and Teaching

Cynthia Martin, SAGE Publications Ltd

• Publisher: Learning Matters
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9781844451388
• eBook ISBN: 9781844455379
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

Primary languages are to be an entitlement for all pupils in KS2 from 2010. There is therefore a need to ensure that trainee primary teachers are equipped with the required skills, knowledge and understanding to contribute to this process. This book supports specialists, and also non-specialist trainees with an interest in MFL, who may need to deliver languages across the curriculum, providing them with a clear understanding of the methodology and helping them to develop linguistic competence and confidence.

1

Setting the scene

---

By the end of this chapter you will have:

• become aware of the international context for current Primary Languages initiatives;
• considered significant milestones in the recent history of Primary Languages in England;
• understood what the term Primary Languages stands for;
• become aware of key documents and developments in the field.

You need to have an awareness of the international and national context so that you can fully appreciate what you will see being taught in school. This background will enable you to consider how far practice in the schools in which you are training relates to policy and research.

This chapter addresses the following Professional Standards for QTS:

Q3a, Q14, Q15

---

Why Primary Languages? The European context

In 1995 the European Commission’s White Paper on Education and Training (EC, 1995), emphasised the importance of children learning at least two foreign languages before upper secondary education. In 2002 the United Kingdom joined the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), which supports the implementation of language education policies based on the recommendations of the Council of Europe. In March 2002 a meeting in Barcelona of EU heads of state reiterated the call for at least two foreign languages to be taught from an early age. This was followed in 2003 by the adoption of an Action Plan to promote language learning and linguistic diversity (EC, 2003). No fewer than 45 actions in three broad areas were proposed for the period 2004–06.

1. To extend the benefits of language learning to all citizens as a lifelong activity.
2. To improve the quality of language teaching at all levels.
3. To build within Europe an environment favourable to languages.

These developments form the European backdrop against which the National Languages Strategy Languages for all: Languages for life (DfES, 2002) can be set.

Multilingualism, monolingualism, plurilingualism

Multilingualism refers both to a person’s ability to use several languages and to the coexistence of different language communities within one geographical area, as is the case in many of the cities in the UK. It is the European Commission’s policy to promote a climate that is conducive to the full expression of all languages, in which the teaching and learning of a variety of languages can flourish. The Commission’s long-term objective is to increase individual multilingualisms, until all citizens have practical skills in at least two languages in addition to their mother tongue (EC, 2005).

Johnstone (1994) made the point that in many parts of the world, bilingualism or multilingualism is the norm and knowing only one language, monolingualism, is the exception. But for many years in the UK, the situation was typically perceived as the reverse, with monolingualism accepted as the norm, and bilingualism and multilingualism viewed as the ‘problem’.

Plurilingualism is a concept developed by the Council of Europe to refer to the totality of an individual’s linguistic competences in and across different languages, which develops throughout life. In 2005 CILT surveyed community languages across England, Scotland and Wales, producing a booklet in 2006 entitled Positively Plurilingual, which highlights the major linguistic asset which the UK possesses in its multicultural population, which if developed wisely and inclusively alongside English and other languages, has the potential to benefit society as a whole as well as enhancing the life chances of individual children. Its introduction states.

As a nation seeking to play a key role in global trade and diplomacy, we need to be able to draw on a diverse range of languages to further our strategic and economic aims: and these are already represented among the languages spoken by our school children. Yet, in our haste to ensure they acquire good English, we frequently miss the opportunity to ensure they maintain and develop their skills in their other languages too. Rather than thinking in terms of an ‘English-only’ culture, we should be promoting ‘English plus’.

(CILT, 2006, p1)

It is within this context of increasing awareness of the value of languages that the current initiatives in England are taking place. Providing good quality, early language learning is now a common aim across Europe, with some countries closer to achieving this than others. In most countries within mainland Europe, languages, in particular English, have become well established within the primary sector. In central and eastern Europe, as well as in Spain, Italy, Denmark and Iceland, there is a marked increase in the percentage of children in primary education who are learning at least one foreign language. English is the language most frequently taught, with German learned as the first foreign language in primary schools in the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia (Eurydice, 2005). This commitment has not traditionally been the case for languages in state maintained schools within England, where, apart from the pilot scheme French from Eight (see page 4), modern languages have been the preserve of either the secondary sector or independent schools.

Having noted this broader perspective, the nature of early language learning in England and its expansion now need to be considered in order to fully understand Primary Languages.

What does Primary Languages mean?

For the purposes of this book, we need to distinguish between a learner’s first language (L1), a second language (L2) and a foreign language (FL).

• A first language (L1) is the first language a child acquires, or the dominant language the child uses. It is sometimes called the learner’s native language or mother tongue. Bilingual children may be said to have two first languages, or a first language and a strong second language.
• A second language (L2) is not the mother tongue of the learners but is a language spoken by a significant group in a community. So, an English speaker in parts of French-speaking Canada will learn French as an L2, on account of the significant population of French speakers in areas such as Quebec.
• A foreign language (FL) is the term used to refer to the learning of a language, typically through classroom instruction, which is spoken outside the boundaries of the country in which the learners live, and thus generally not widely used within the particular community. For most people in England, French, Spanish and German are foreign languages. Foreign languages tend to be limited to in-curriculum time and are rarely used outside the classroom.
• Primary Languages (PL) is the term given to the teaching of a language other than a child’s first language (L1) or mother tongue, within curriculum time, in primary schools in England. It is important to note that the expression Primary Modern Foreign Languages (PMFL) is now less frequently used to describe language teaching in this phase. This has come about for a variety of reasons:

– the need to ensure that Primary Languages are seen as something special, and quite distinct from language learning within the National Curriculum at secondary school, traditionally known as Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)*;

– the need to be inclusive and ensure that all languages, including community languages and non-European languages, have their rightful place;

– the desire to make language learning something normal and accessible, not strange and ‘foreign’.

*It is noteworthy that the term ‘languages’, employed for some time for the primary phase, is now currently the recommended term for the secondary sector. Thus you will increasingly see references to the ‘new secondary languages curriculum’ (www.all-languages.org.uk), although Qualifications and Curriculum Authority documentation related to the Programme of Study and Attainment Targets for Key Stage 3 is expressed for the time being, at least, as Modern foreign languages (curriculum.qca.org.uk).

Primary Languages is separate from English as an Additional Language (EAL), because EAL learners in multicultural Britain are operating within the target language culture, and for them, English, the host language, which is also the medium of school instruction, is an L2 (second language) rather than a foreign language.

Exposure and motivation to learn languages

We need to bear in mind the contextual differences between young learners of English in other parts of Europe, and indeed, the world, and primary learners of foreign languages such as French, German and Spanish in UK school settings. Johnstone reminds us that:

. . . one of the major problems that foreign language teachers in the UK have always had to face has been that they have not only had to teach the language but in addition have had to accept responsibility for exposing their pupils to it.

(Johnstone, 1994, p3)

In contrast, teachers of English as a foreign language in mainland Europe, in countries such as Holland for instance, know that children will also be regularly exposed to English out of school, through the internet, TV, pop songs, DVDs and CDs.

Furthermore, in countries such as Sweden or Norway, whose language is less widely known, the motivation to learn English is particularly high, as there are strong cultural, political and business reasons for learning it. As we saw earlier, native speakers of English, especially, often have difficulty perceiving a need to learn any other language, as ‘everyone speaks English’.

We should also note, when comparing developments on the continent of Europe, that children enter primary school at age six (for instance, in France, Germany, Spain and Italy), at age seven in Norway, Sweden and Finland, and at age four in the Netherlands. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the school-starting age is five.

A short history of Primary Languages

There were a number of post-war initiatives to introduce language learning, the most influential in England being the Nuffield Foundation/Schools Council pilot scheme French from Eight. The proposal to introduce languages in the early 1960s was a radical one, since it involved the extension of languages teaching in pilot schools down the age range, to 8–11 year olds, at a time when languages were considered an elite subject, offered only to the top sets in secondary grammar schools. In addition, it widened the scope to embrace children of all abilities, again at a period when there was no experience of teaching languages in mixed ability classes. Some 17,000 children participated in the scheme, which took place in selected primary schools and local authorities (LAs). This was also the first major intervention by government in the school curriculum.

This initiative was the subject of a long-term evaluation between 1964 and 1974 by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). Children typically learned French for three years between the ages of 8 and 11. At the age of 13, their performance was compared with that of a control group of the same age who had started languages in secondary school at the usual age of 11. The children in the experimental group performed better in listening and speaking but those in the control group did better in reading and writing. By age 16, the latter group was still superior in reading and writing, and the experimental group had lost their advantage in the oracy skills. These findings, combined with others, led the NFER team to conclude that no substantial gains in later attainment in secondary school could be demonstrated.

Burstall and colleagues stated unambiguously that:

It is difficult to resist the conclusion that the weight of evidence has combined with the balance of opinion to tip the scales against a possible expansion of the teaching of French in primary schools.

(Burstall et al., 1974, p246)

Consequently, the pilot scheme was not extended, although the validity of the findings were disputed (Gamble and Smalley, 1975; Buckby, 1976; Hoy, 1977). With the exception of areas where LAs were particularly committed to Primary Languages, as in Sussex and Surrey, or in a few schools where individual enthusiasts carried on, primary French died out.

However, the modern story of Primary Languages starts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, at a time when a number of fresh projects were being launched both i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• The Author
• About this book
• 1 Setting the scene
• 2 Is younger better? Towards a rationale for teaching and learning languages in primary schools in England
• 3 Finding your way around the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages
• 4 Addressing the Oracy and Literacy strands
• 5 Putting the Key Stage 2 Framework into practice: starting to plan
• 6 Exploring the notion of Intercultural Understanding
• 7 Continuity and progression, transfer and transition
• 8 Implementing the languages entitlement: decisions for Primary Languages Co-ordinators
• 9 Looking forward: becoming a Primary Languages professional
• Appendix 1: Intercultural Understanding – suggestions for classroom activities
• Appendix 2: Developing your own Intercultural Understanding
• Appendix 3: Guidelines for teaching grammar and KAL
• Appendix 4: European Language Portfolio activity
• Appendix 5: A new paradigm for languages 7–14
• Appendix 6: Useful website and links
• Glossary
• References
• Index