From bad to worse? Pupils' attitudes to modern foreign languages at ages 14 and 15

Stables, Andrew; Wikeley, Felicity

doi:10.1080/09571739985200231

Cited by 45 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…However, these motives, though strong, seemed to lie too far ahead to instil in these children a real interest in learning French (Stables & Wikeley, 1999;Brumfit, 1999) and in participating more fully in their community. While children had some immediate needs to use German and English, this was not the case when it came to…”

Section: Discussion Of Findings: the Impact Of Children's Goals And Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young Children Learning Languages in a Multilingual Context

Kirsch

2006

International Journal of Multilingualism

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abstract:Luxembourg is a trilingual country where residents communicate in Luxembourgish, French and German concurrently. Children therefore study these languages at primary school.In this article I explore how six eight-year-old Luxembourgish children use and learn German, French and English in formal and informal settings over a period of one year. Their eagerness to learn and use German and English contrasted with their cautious and formal approach to the learning of French. My findings demonstrate that second language learning in a multilingual country is not an 'automatic' or 'natural' process but, rather, children's language behaviour depends on their personal goals, interests, competence, confidence and understanding of what counts as appropriate language use. These factors are influenced by the formal approach to language learning at school. key words:home, school, language learning, motivation p.2As a primary teacher in Luxembourg, I had many opportunities to watch my first and second graders write stories in German and French, the two languages taught at school, and make their first attempts at writing in English, Italian and Portuguese (Kirsch, 1997(Kirsch, , 1999. These stories prompted me to enquire into pupils' experiences of learning languages out of school.Informal conversations with children and their parents revealed the range and richness of their linguistic environment.In this article I investigate the motivation of six eight-year -old native Luxembourgish children to learn languages and explore the ways in which they learned German, French and English at school and in out-of-school contexts over the period of a year. Though these children were surrounded by languages in multilingual Luxembourg, aware of the need to learn languages and knowledgeable of some of the means of doing so, I argue that they nonetheless did not learn languages 'automatically'. The way they went about functionally practising these three languages depended on their personal goals, confidence, competence and an understanding of what counts as valid language learning. These factors were directly influenced by the formal approach at school.

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Section: Discussion Of Findings: the Impact Of Children's Goals And Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Young Children Learning Languages in a Multilingual Context

Kirsch

2006

International Journal of Multilingualism

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“…These results are important when considering the extension of foreign language study to the (Chambers, 1999), and the subject is commonly rated relatively 6 unfavourably compared with others (Chambers, 1999;Stables and Wikely, 1999; Rawlinson, 2001). Some studies show that children have internalised a weak rationale for FL learning, so that FLs are seen as somehow connected with eventual jobs and employment chances, probably unrealistically so (Lee et al, 1998).…”

Section: Attitudes and Motivation For Foreign Language Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mitchell (2003) sums up the research thus: '….. studies generally show Year 7 learners starting MFL study with a positive disposition towards a new National Curriculum subject. Motivation declines over the next couple of years (Chambers, 1999), and the subject is commonly rated relatively 6 unfavourably compared with others (Chambers, 1999;Stables and Wikely, 1999;Rawlinson, 2001). Some studies show that children have internalised a weak rationale for FL learning, so that FLs are seen as somehow connected with eventual jobs and employment chances, probably unrealistically so (Lee et al, 1998).…”

Section: Attitudes and Motivation For Foreign Language Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Development of self-confidence plays a major role and external rewards slowly lose their attractiveness. Instrumental motives emerge but these are balanced by classroom-related motives even at age 14.Other surveys of pupil attitudes to FL learning in the UK relate to pupils at secondary school.These results are important when considering the extension of foreign language study to the (Chambers, 1999), and the subject is commonly rated relatively 6 unfavourably compared with others (Chambers, 1999;Stables and Wikely, 1999; Rawlinson, 2001). Some studies show that children have internalised a weak rationale for FL learning, so that FLs are seen as somehow connected with eventual jobs and employment chances, probably unrealistically so (Lee et al, 1998).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Primary modern foreign languages: an overview of recent research, key issues and challenges for educational policy and practice

Hunt

Barnes

Powell

et al. 2005

Research Papers in Education

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There has never been a UK-wide policy for primary modern foreign language provision.Scotland, which has for many years managed its educational affairs autonomously, introduced foreign languages into its primary schools over a decade ago. Wales has formulated its own primary and secondary curriculum with due respect for Welsh, tending to give greater priority to its national language than other languages. Northern Ireland, similarly, has had to take account of its indigenous language and has never developed a foreign language programme for young learners. Recent government documents relating to England (DfES 2002), however, have outlined an entitlement for all primary school children in England to learn a language by 2012. In order to achieve this the DfES has provided additional funding for 19 LEA-led Pathfinder projects to identify sustainable and replicable models. It is appropriate at this point to review the current situation in order to gauge progress and development. This article, written by a research team funded by the DfES to evaluate the Pathfinder projects, outlines the national and international research context, the current national context and the key issues and challenges facing these local education authorities.Keywords: primary modern foreign languages, early foreign language learning, 2 'A nation's fate will depend, in the end, on the quality of the education its children get in language'. (Comenius, 1630) National and international research context Age and L2 learningThere has been considerable research into the relevance of age in foreign language (L2) learning. The critical period hypothesis (CPH) which has given birth to the "younger the better" claim maintains that young children have a special instinctive capacity including both speech and morpho-syntactic development, that their brain has plasticity before it lateralises and that they can acquire L2 in similar ways to their mother tongue (L1). As a result, it is a common assertion by those promoting early foreign language learning 1 'It should be obvious that, given the conflicting evidence and contrasting viewpoints that still exist, parents, educational institutions or ministries of education should be exceedingly cautious about translating what they read about the CPH research into personal practice or public policy' (Scovel, 2000).(EFLL) that age is an important factor contributing to success at school due to this special capacity. Indeed, this argument is used regularly, for example, by elementary schools in the USA, to justify and advertise their foreign language programmes and has no doubt contributed to the rapid growth of such provision. For example, a survey by Rhodes and Branaman (1999) concluded that 31% of elementary schools there are offering some form of EFLL, an increase of 10% over the decade since the previous survey. However, researchers today are more critical about this hypothesis and recent publications advise caution about the CPH as a valid basis for early language learning policies:There remain, however, widely a...

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“…Studies into learners' attitudes and motivation for MFL (Clark and Trafford, 1996;Lee et al, 1998;Chambers, 1999;McPake et al, 1999;Stables and Wikeley, 1999) suggest that any MFL curriculum in the special English context meets real challenges in persuading learners of the value of sustained MFL learning. Whilst motivation in the primary phase currently appears high (see Muijs et al, 2005), secondary teachers will clearly need to review their language learning menu to retain pupils' motivation throughout KS3 and beyond.…”

Section: Implications For the Futurementioning

confidence: 99%