A comparison of courses for english in primary education

Early Language Learning: The Impact of Teaching and Teacher Factors

“…The teaching approach learners received, whether oracy or literacy, did not seem to influence their levels of attainment when learners of different English literacy levels were considered together. This finding reflects the conclusions of Edelenbos and Suhre (), and those reported in Blondin et al. () for a large body of European research, that course is less important than other classroom factors.…”

“…By contrast, the primary school teachers’ level of training and their language proficiency were more strongly related to outcomes in Year 7 than in earlier years. The relationship between teacher training and outcomes reinforces the findings of studies in other contexts (e.g., Edelenbos & Suhre, ; Szpotowicz, ), but with regard to learners’ progress over time, teachers’ language proficiency emerged as more important in the present study than their training. This was particularly true for grammar on the PD task, supporting the argument that learners need an adequate model, with input that has consistency of grammatical features in order to acquire them (Murphy, ).…”

“…The teaching approach learners received, whether oracy or literacy, did not seem to influence their levels of attainment when learners of different English literacy levels were considered together. This finding reflects the conclusions of Edelenbos and Suhre (1994), and those reported in Blondin et al (1998) for a large body of European research, that course is less important than other classroom factors. The only tentative benefit found for teaching approach was that learners with lower levels of English language literacy seemed to make more progress as they moved into secondary school and in relation to production if they had received French instruction with a stronger literacy focus at primary school.…”

“…Unsworth et al (2015) noted that their study did not take into account other issues that may have impacted learning outcomes, such as teaching qualifications and the kind of instruction given, which underscores the need to take account of the full range of teaching/teacher factors that may influence learning. An earlier study in the Netherlands by Edelenbos and Suhre (1994) is one of the few to explore the teacher variables of teaching experience and spoken fluency, language teaching qualifications, and teaching time, alongside teaching approach (either broadly communicative or grammar-focused courses, as ascertained through content analysis). Data on reading, writing, listening, vocabulary, grammar, and spoken fluency were collected from 2,116 pupils in 112 schools.…”

Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Competence through Identity Reconstruction and Participation

“…Savignon (1972), for example, found that learners of French who engaged in communication tasks outperformed (in accuracy as well as fluency) those who spent the same amount of time carrying out pattern practice, and in their study of an Irish language programme, Harris and Murtagh (1999) found evidence for the positive effects of a purely communicative orientation. On the other hand, Edelenbos and Suhre (1994), comparing more communicative oriented English courses to ones with a greater emphasis on grammar in primary schools in the Netherlands reported that the communicative courses resulted in no greater improvements in pupils' proficiency than the grammar-oriented ones. They concluded that it is not possible to design the ideal course for foreign language instruction and that the link between pupil proficiency and course design is quite weak.…”