Abstracts - Earli

Early language learning in Ireland: a comparison of pupil attitude-motivation in relation tolearning a minority indigenous language versus one of the main languages of EuropeJohn Harris, Trinity College Dublin, IrelandIrish, a minority language, is the first official language in Ireland. It has been taught to virtually allprimary-school pupils since the foundation of the state about 85 years ago. In the vast majority ofcases, it is taught as a second language and as a single school subject in ‘ordinary’ mainstreamschools to pupils whose home language is English. More recently, modern European languages(French, German, Spanish or Italian) have been introduced on a pilot basis to about 10% ofprimary schools. The present paper examines the experiences and attitudes of pupils to learningthese two kinds of languages at primary level in addition to English – a second indigenouslanguage, Irish, and a third foreign (modern European) language. It focuses in particular on theextent to which pupils attitudes reflect (1) the different societal attitudes to indigenous minoritylanguages and to the main languages of Europe and (2) pupils’ direct experience of the languagelearning process. Attitudes are also related to variables such as pupil gender, socioeconomicbackground, parental support, disadvantage and urban rural location.Short term and long term effects of early language learningJelena Mihaljevic Djigunovic, University of Zagreb, CroatiaThe impact of the age factor on foreign language learning continues to be one of the mostimportant issues in applied linguistics. It is not only interesting from the theory and research pointof view but is highly relevant in a more pragmatic sense as well: it should form the basis for asound language education policy in any context. This paper will describe findings obtained incomparative longitudinal studies in which four foreign languages (English, French, German andItalian) were introduced at age 7 as part of an early foreign language learning project in Croatia.Data were collected from three generations of young foreign language learners, whose languagelearning was observed for eight years. Close to 1,000 learners were involved in the project.Control groups were drawn from learners who started foreign language learning at age 10, theusual starting age at the time. Data were gathered by means of observation, questionnaires, oralinterviews and language tests. Results on the following aspects of their language learning processwill be described: phonological development, morphosyntactic development, speech production,use of learning strategies, use of communication strategies, cognitive and affective learnercharacteristics. These will be discussed from two perspectives: that of the language learningcontext (foreign vs. second language context) and from the broader second language acquisitionperspective.Sixth graders’ achievements in English and German: a study of macro factorsMarianne Nikolov, University of Pécs, HungaryKrisztián Józsa, University of Szeged, HungaryThe paper analyzes a large database collected in an assessment project on Hungarian learners’achievements in the two most widely taught modern foreign languages: English and German. Anationally representative sample of about 10,000 year 6 learners was involved in a surveyorganized by a satellite institution (OKEV) of the Ministry of Education in May 2003 (Nikolov &Józsa, 2003, 2006) and implemented by the Research Group on the Development ofCompetencies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In the paper we discuss the relationships betweenlearners’ achievements and some macro factors influencing them: school type, number of weeklyclasses, years of language study, students’ socioeconomic status, and extra curricular language– 301 –