Learning French from ages 5, 7 and 11: An investigation into starting ages, rates and routes of learning amongst early foreign language learners
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Modern Languages
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
Ayres-Bennett W
(2011)
French Studies in and for the 21st Century
Costley T
(2018)
Multilingual and monolingual children in the primary-level language classroom: individual differences and perceptions of foreign language learning
in The Language Learning Journal
David, A.
(2011)
Receptive lexical knowledge in beginner learners of French : a corpus-based study of 5, 7 and 11 year olds
in AFLS 2011 Book of Abstracts
Florence Myles (Author)
(2010)
Learner corpora and second language acquisition
Mitchell R F
(2016)
Learning vocabulary in the L2 classroom: case studies of learner engagement
Mitchell, R
(2011)
The place of gesture in classroom language learning and teaching
in MEESO 2011 Book of Abstracts
Mitchell, R.
(2014)
Teaching foreign languages in the Anglophone primary school: oracy-led pedagogy, origins and consequences
in ELLTP 2014 Book of Abstracts
Mitchell, R.
(2013)
Second Language Learning Theories
Mitchell, R.
(2011)
The place of gesture in second language acquisition : theoretical issues and methodological implications
in LanGUE 2011 Book of Abstracts
Mitchell, R.; David, A.; Myles, F.
(2011)
Teacher gesture in the L2 classroom and its role in L2 vocabulary acquisition : a corpus based study
in AFLS 2011 Book of Abstracts
| Title | Year 3 French : role play "in the café" |
| Description | A professional film was produced by Newcastle University AVS department, showcasing an edited version of one year 3 class, for dissemination to teachers and teacher trainers |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2012 |
| Impact | this film has been disseminated to teacher educators and has been used in many training events |
| Description | This project compared how children ages 5, 7 and 11 learn French in the classroom. The same French teacher provided similar teaching to Year 1, Year 3 and year 7 groups in two state schools. All lessons were video-recorded and children were tested on various linguistic measures mid project, at the end of the project and two months after the end. Children's English literacy scores were recorded and their working memory measured. Additionally, focus groups and one-to-one interviews took place , to document children's motivation for learning French and their language learning strategies. The data was analysed for the development of vocabulary and grammar, the role of gestures in facilitating language learning, and children's attitudes, motivation and learning strategies, as well as links between linguistic development, working memory and English literacy. In summary, the findings show: - Receptive vocabulary: there is little difference between the groups, although how recently a word has been heard is more important for the younger children. Frequency in the input is the single most important factor for vocabulary learning. - Grammar: older children have a clear advantage - Good working memory and good English literacy support classroom language learning - The older children make use of a wider range of cognitive strategies to aid learning - The younger children are very enthusiastic and intrinsically motivated (learning French is fun) The differences found in children's approach to learning at different ages have important implications for early foreign language learning curriculum development and policy. |
| Exploitation Route | The audiences targeted by this project include teachers, teacher trainers, education specialists and policy makers. To date we can comment with confidence on the interest the work has generated and the enthusiastic feedback we have received. The current state of policy uncertainty regarding primary languages in UK schools has inevitably restricted immediate impact. However we are sustaining our links with teachers professional associations and teacher educators, and expect that as the policy situation becomes clearer our ongoing promotion of the research through teacher-friendly outputs (such as the film and future teacher-friendly versions of the FLLOC website) will build impact in the longer term. |
| Sectors | Education |
| URL | http://www.flloc.soton.ac.uk/primary/index.html |
| Description | There is wide interest among educationalists in the UK and abroad in early classroom learning of foreign languages. Accordingly our project has attracted much interest among teachers and teacher educators. This is evidenced by the many invitations we have had to present our findings to practitioners as well as the general public, and by the broad audience of professionals our project conference attracted. Additionally, the film we produced demonstrating good practice in teaching foreign languages to young children has been used in a wide range of settings. One of the directors (Mitchell) has also participated by invitation in consultations on UK primary languages policy with DFE and government ministers. UK policy on this issue is currently in flux and it is premature to evaluate the practical effect our intensive programme of dissemination activities will have in the future; all we can say at this stage is that practitioner communities have been extremely interested in hearing our findings, and in discussing their policy implications, given the relative dearth of empirical research investigating how children of different ages learn foreign languages in the UK context. Our findings have the potential to inform policy and practice in this area, and we are striving to disseminate them as widely as possible. Update February 2018: We have continued to engage with practitioners, through a number of workshops (at least one per year), and the PI (Myles) has set up a national network aiming to disseminate research findings in an accessible manner and foster dialogue and collaboration between teachers and researchers: RiPL (Research in Primary Languages; www.ripl.uk). Additionally, Myles has set up a series of rolling CPD courses at the University of Essex for primary school teachers of foreign languages. Myles has also contributed to articles aimed at non academic audiences and policy makers, e.g. in The Conversation, and in the journal Languages, Society & Policy (aimed at policy and the public; http://www.meits.org/languages-society-policy). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Title | FLLOC |
| Description | The French Learner Language Oral Corpora (FLLOC) are a resource available to the second language acquisition research community worldwide, for the study of the development of L2 French. The corpora have been gathered through a succession of projects funded by UK research councils. They comprise audiorecordings and accompanying transcriptions of L1 English speakers learning French in UK instructed settings at a variety of levels, and completing a range of oral tasks. To facilitate linguistic analysis he transcriptions have been completed using the CHAT system (for details see http://childes.psy.cmu.edu). For full details including conditions of use see the FLLOC website at www.flloc.soton.ac.uk. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The FLLOC collections have been widely used as a research resource by second language acquisition researchers interested in learner French. |
| URL | http://www.flloc.soton.ac.uk |
| Title | Young learner corpus |
| Description | 503 mp3 files of tests with the children 283 transcripts of tests with children 216 tagged trancripts All available on project website Additionally, 117 hours of video of the classroom teaching (not publicly available) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2011 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This database is used by researchers across the world. Additionally, a film of a typical Year 3 class (7 year olds) is available for primary school teachers and teacher trainers. |
| Description | Age and foreign language learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk to all staff at the primary school where the research was carried out Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Gesture in Support of Meaning Making |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Workshop for teachers at the Primary Languages Show workshop very well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Interview for Independent newspaper |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | interview with Richard Garner (Education editor for the independent), which led to an article in the 'i' on 16 December 2014 on foreign languages in primary schools which quoted me extensively (280,000 daily circulation) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Is younger really better? : a comparison of 5, 7 and 11 year olds learning French in the classroom |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Research seminar for trainee teachers and teacher educators at the University of East Anglia very well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Learning French from 5, 7 or 11: the role of age in learning a foreign language (in French) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Talk aroused considerable interest among international audience (Neuchatel) Interest expressed in further follow up |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Learning French from ages 5, 7 and 11 : an investigation into starting ages, rates and routes of learning amongst early foreign language learners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | keynote lecture at the Essex Language Conference for Teachers talk very well received; asked to visit schools. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Learning French from ages 5, 7 and 11 : an investigation into starting ages, rates and routes of learning amongst early foreign language learners |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | public lecture at the University of East Anglia talk very well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Learning a foreign language in the English primary school |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was the first of two linked colloquia each with 3 papers on different aspects of language learning in the primary school, coordinated by Myles and Mitchell at the conference "Early language learning: theory and practice", held in June 2014 at Umea University Sweden. Together the two colloquia sparked discussion of future directions for primary language pedagogy. Ongoing networking with early language learning practitioners and researchers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Public lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Public lecture at the Education University of Hong Kong on 'Learning French in the primary school classroom: the origins of morphosyntax'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | RiPL (Research in Primary Languages) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Setting up of RiPL network, aiming to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers interested in the role of languages in the primary classroom (EAL children; MFL teaching). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.ripl.uk |
| Description | Talk to practitioners and researcher |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Title of talk: The younger the better? What is the best age to learn foreign languages in schools? attended by many teachers, teacher educators and researchers in Sarajevo. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Teacher gesture in early language learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture for Links into Languages at University of Cambridge the lecture generated much interest among participants |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Teaching foreign languages in the primary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | presentation and discussion of the project film with a public audience at a University of Southampton Public engagement day very well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Teaching foreign languages in the primary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | plenary session for 160 trainee teachers at the University of Southampton, including a showing of the project film and commentary very well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Teaching foreign languages to early learners in an Anglophone setting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This was the second of two linked colloquia each with 3 papers on different aspects of language learning in the primary school, coordinated by Myles and Mitchell at the conference "Early language learning: theory and practice", held in June 2014 at Umea University Sweden. Together the two colloquia sparked discussion of future directions for primary language pedagogy. Increased contact with international practitioners and networking opportunities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | The role of age in instructed L2 learning : comparing 5, 7 and 11 year olds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | talk for trainee teachers and teacher educators at the University of Cambridge talk very well received; many questions and lively discussion |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | The younger the better? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | talk in the primary school which hosted the project very well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | The younger the better? : foreign language learning in the primary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Live interview for BBC radio Essex, as part o fthe ESRC's Festival of Social Science A discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of introducing foreign languages in the primary A discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of introducing foreign languages in the primary |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | The younger the better? : foreign language learning in the primary |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Live interview for BBC radio Essex, as part o fthe ESRC's Festival of Social Science difficult to tell |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | The younger the better? Comparing 5, 7 and 11 year olds learning French in the classroom |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The University of Essex interviewed the PI and made a vodcast of the findings of the project. This film is available on utube (nearly 2000 hits) as well as on the university website. this vodcast has been well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | The younger the better? Comparing 5, 7 and 11 year olds learning French in the classroom |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | invited public lecture as part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas very well received |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Year 3 French : role play "in the café" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the project film to a public audience as part of a University of Southampton engagement day Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | interview by Echo and Gazettev(Colchester) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | interview with Louise Howeson, Deputy features editor, Echo and Gazette, on the role of age in primary foreign language teaching, which led to an article |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | public lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | public talk at the Café Scientifique in Colchester on 'the younger the better? What is the best age to teach foreign languages in schools?' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The principal objective of the workshop was to initiate a programme of research which investigates and reports on fundamental issues raised by the introduction in September 2014 of foreign languages as a compulsory part of the National Curriculum in primary schools in England. This programme of research is based on in-depth dialogue between researchers from a range of disciplines and practitioners (teachers; teacher educators; policy makers), and focuses on seven broad themes: 1. the role that age plays in the learning of foreign languages in the classroom; 2. multilingual children in the foreign language classroom; 3. linguistic development and expectations in primary school age children; 4. pedagogy and teacher expertise for this age group; 5. curriculum models appropriate for young children; 6. cultural competence and intercultural understanding in young children; 7. the relationship between literacy, foreign language learning and wider academic achievement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.ripl.uk/events/seminar-2016/ |