Plans to get every young child speaking a foreign language are on track

[Anthea Fraser Gupta]

I think this report comes under the categories of (a) spin; (b)
misapplication of research.

(a) Until 2004 the national curriculum for England and Wales required
all students to study a 'modern foreign language' from age 11-16. The
current requirement is outlined at:
http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_14633.aspx. In England the study of a language
other than English is now required only from 11-14. The effect of this
change in curriculum has been that far fewer children study a foreign
language 14-16 (what a surprise!). It was recently reported that there
are some schools where no-one is studying a foreign language at 14-16,
and universities (including, most recently, Cambridge), no longer
require qualifications in a language other than English in order to be
admitted
(http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2265449,00.html).
In other words, as a result of dropping the requirement, there has been
a great decline in what was already a low standard of foreign language
learning.  From 2005 there has been an 'entitlement' to learn a foreign
language at age 7-11, but it is not compulsory -- think about the
practicalities of this! From 2010 it will be compulsory age 7-11. This
is the context of failure that the article is referring to. It is hard
to see how making a foreign language at primary school will help things.

(b) There has been a spurious use of the 'critical age hypothesis' to
justify the reduction in foreign language teaching. It is hard to
understand how the ability of young children to ACQUIRE (i.e. pick up in
a social setting) a language will be used in an effort to TEACH it in a
school setting. 11 year olds are far better equipped to LEARN a language
than 7 year olds. As this report indicates, the teachers of the foreign
languages will rarely be able to speak the languages to a significant
extent. And the teaching will have to fit in to an already packed
curriculum. Government-commissioned research (Driscoll et al 2004) into
the teaching of modern foreign languages in primary schools showed that
44% of the schools surveyed were providing classes in a modern foreign
language, and the most commonly reported lesson length was 20-30
minutes, once a week. There is no way this level of exposure is going to
activate children's superior levels of skill at ACQUISITION.
[Driscoll, Patricia, Jane Jones & Gee Macrory. 2004. The provision of
foreign language learning for pupils at Key Stage 2. Research Report No
572. Department for Educatation and Skills.
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/rr572.pdf]


There was a massive inquiry into the teaching of foreign languages in
the UK in 1998, the recommendations of which were totally ignored by
government (see
http://languages.nuffieldfoundation.org/languages/news/nw0000000144.asp)
. By the way, among the things things I suggested in that consultation
were:
**BSL to be compulsory for primary school (good language for small
children to learn -- fun, opportunity for use with Deaf people and in
noisy places; bridge-building; no literacy involved);
** extend teaching of 'community languages' to children not from the
relevant community (e.g. teach Urdu to white children);
** teach Welsh in schools in England.

All of these were described as 'too radical' for the final report!


Anthea
*     *     *     *     *
Anthea Fraser Gupta (Dr)
School of English, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT
<www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg>
NB: Reply to a.f.gupta at leeds.ac.uk
*     *     *     *     *
  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu 
> [mailto:owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of 
> Harold Schiffman
> Sent: 27 March 2008 14:04
> To: lp
> Subject: UK: Plans to get every young child speaking a 
> foreign language are on track
> 
> Plans to get every young child speaking a foreign language 
> are on track By Nick Jackson Thursday, 27 March 2008