Evaluation of the Key Stage 2 Language Learning Pathfinders

however, instances of schools where the teacher taught French one year and German thenext, with no apparent rationale.Pupils reacted to the dominance of French in a variety of ways. Many pupils learning French(and enjoying it) expressed a strong interest in learning Spanish, and some would havepreferred to do so. Where KS2 pupils have been learning two foreign languagesconcurrently, some perceived this as confusing (however, the same pupils expressed adesire to learn a third foreign language). There were instances of pupils who have beenexposed to more than one language having the capacity to compare their ability in learningdifferent languages:‘I found Spanish easier to pronounce, French is more complicated.’ (pupil)Teachers could understand the pragmatic reasons for choosing French, but sometimesquestioned its dominance:‘The issue is, which language? Why always French? Why not Chinese?’ (languagesteacher)It is important to consider the implications arising from the dominance of French. The historyof language teaching in England leads to a ‘French as default language’ approach, where ifa primary teacher has a language it is likely to be French. This therefore is the languagewhere they feel the most confident (although the level of confidence may not be very high).Consequently, there is the risk firstly that KS2 pupils would equate languages solely withFrench; not with languages more widely and language learning strategies and approachesas well as a more global appreciation of plurilingual speakers. Secondly, if French remainsthe dominant language in KS2, the cycle will repeat itself, in that the supply of languageteachers will comprise predominantly French speakers.3.1.3.3. Year groupsPredominantly, languages were focused in Years 5 and 6. In many schools where this wasthe case, the intention was to move the language further down the age range as itembedded itself in the curriculum. This model of working backwards down the key stagehad proved problematic, as both primary and secondary have had to change schemes ofwork each year. Where this had occurred, working up from Year 3 was often consideredmore practical, as progression could be developed. Furthermore, in some schools, although26