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DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 The Linguist 21
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languages, others are following it in Years 3
and 4, and then focusing on one language
for the last two years.
The model involves the primary class
teacher (a non-specialist language teacher)
learning the rudiments of a range of foreign
languages alongside their pupils. It is
recommended that these are selected from a
range of language families. Examples would
be French, Spanish and/or Italian from the
Romance languages; German, or perhaps
Dutch, from the Germanic languages; an
Indian language, e.g. Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi or
Gujarati; Welsh as an example of a Celtic
language; Arabic; Russian or Polish from
Eastern Europe; and Japanese or Chinese
from the Asian language families. Latin is also
recommended since it illustrates many
important features of language structure.
Teachers are guided towards commercially
produced resources intended for non-
specialists, including videos and DVDs
showing aspects of life in the countries where
the languages are spoken. The resources are
selected to enable the teacher to take a
cross-curricular approach, bringing in
geography, history and citizenship, and to
provide pupils with some intercultural insight.
For instance, the inclusion of Latin as one
of the languages studied enables teachers to
make links with the history curriculum, which
includes a topic on the Romans. Japanese
materials emphasise cultural differences as
well as linguistic features, and contribute to
citizenship (understanding and respecting
other cultures). Punjabi materials highlight
issues of bilingualism and multicultural
integration in the UK. German and Spanish
videos, filmed on location in Germany and
Spain, highlight cultural and geographical
features of the countries.
One of the main criteria for the selection of
materials is their ease of use for teachers who
have either limited or no knowledge of the
languages. All of the materials have audio
links, which provide an accurate model of
pronunciation for teachers and pupils, and
have been produced for primary-aged pupils.
Evaluating effectiveness
The project was launched in September 2004
in seven state primary schools in three local
authorities. 374 children in these schools
embarked on a programme involving limited
exposure to five languages in Years 5 and 6.
A longitudinal evaluation of the original
programme was carried out in three phases
by a team, which I led, based at the
University of Manchester. This allowed us to
gain some insight into the attitudes of pupils
and teachers, and pupils' achievements at
One of the main
criteria is ease of use
for teachers who have
limited knowledge
of the languages
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