Consultation on (1) the
draft Order making Foreign
Languages a statutory
subject for Key Stage 2;
and (2) a proposal to
require schools teach one
or more of seven
languages at Key Stage 2
Consultation Response Form
The closing date for this consultation is: 16 December
2012
Your comments must reach us by that date.
Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information,
may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to
information regimes, primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data
Protection Act 1998.
If you want all, or any part, of your response to be treated as confidential, please
explain why you consider it to be confidential.
If a request for disclosure of the information you have provided is received, your
explanation about why you consider it to be confidential will be taken into account,
but no assurance can be given that confidentiality can be maintained. An automatic
confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded
as binding on the Department.
The Department will process your personal data (name and address and any other
identifying material) in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, and in the
majority of circumstances, this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed
to third parties.
Please tick if you want us to keep your response confidential.
Reason for confidentiality:
Name
Organisation (if
applicable)
Address:
Professor James A Coleman
University Council of Modern Languages
Department of Languages, The Open University, Stuart Hall
Building, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
If your enquiry is related to the policy content of the consultation you can contact The
Department on:
Telephone: 0370 000 2288
e-mail: Foreign.LANGUAGES@education.gsi.gov.uk
If you have a query relating to the consultation process you can contact the Public
Communications Unit on:
Telephone: 0370 000 2288
Or via the Department's 'Contact Us' page.
Please mark an X in one box below that best describes you as a respondent.
Primary School
Secondary School
Special School
Academy/Free
School
Subject Association
Parent
Young Person
Local Authority
X Higher Education
Organisations
representing school
teachers
Employer/Business
Sector
Other
Please Specify: I am elected Chair of the University Council of Modern Languages,
the overarching national membership organisation which represents virtually all
departments and associations in modern languages, linguistics and cultural and area
studies in higher education throughout the United Kingdom.
1 Do you have any comments on the draft Order attached at Annex 1?
Comments: No comments
2 a) Do you agree with the Government's proposal to require primary schools
to teach one or more of French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish or a
classical language (Latin or Ancient Greek) at Key Stage 2?
Yes
X No
Not Sure
Comments: The University Council of Modern Languages strongly endorses the
notion that children should be exposed to other languages at primary school. UCML
also endorses the idea that both modern and Classical foreign languages, including
Mandarin, are appropriate. However, UCML disagrees with the proposal that offering
just one foreign language in primary schools is acceptable.
2 b) Please explain the reasons for your answer
Comments: Research evidence shows that pupils of primary age lack the cognitive
maturity to acquire the morphosyntax of a foreign language if their only exposure to it
is in the classroom – and especially if they have less than 60 minutes of expert
teaching per week, which has often been the case in recent years. As a result, pupils
reach secondary with very low target language knowledge, yet are demotivated if
they are then expected, because they are joining pupils who have not studied the
same language at primary, to start again from scratch. The excitement, enthusiasm
and fun of early language study, which has been very widely evidenced, is thus
squandered. Authorising the study of just one language at primary school would also
perpetuate the current chaos of transition to secondary, where, in the absence of
national or local agreement on which languages to teach, pupils are put off by the
lack of continuity, and schools have to cope as best they can with the different
experiences which pupils bring to secondary.
There is no convincing evidence that British pupils can acquire worthwhile foreign
language skills through classroom teaching at primary school. However, there is
substantial evidence that at this age they enjoy discovering foreign languages, and
can acquire the oral-aural flexibility which will subsequently enable them to master
foreign languages. Learning another language brings benefits to early learners
through enhanced mother tongue literacy, language awareness and improved
cultural and intercultural understanding. Early learners tend to be less anxious about
language learning than later starters, and are better at acquiring the sounds and
rhythms of other languages. The principal benefits of early language learning for
longer-term language learning lie in enthusiasm, motivation, language awareness
and flexibility, and not in actual acheievement in a single foreign language. Rather
than concentrating on a single language throughout Key Stage 2, UCML therefore
argues that primary provision should give pupils tasters of several foreign and
heritage languages, thus maintaining their motivation, interest and enjoyment and
developing awareness and flexibility. At the same time, such a ‘carousel’ solution
would address the difficult issue of language choice, and facilitate a coherent
transition to secondary.
For any primary language policy to work effectively, adequate resources must be
made available to train teachers, adequate curriculum and materials support must be
provided, and adequate and appropriate timetable provision must be made. Only a
properly resourced national policy can guarantee these prerequisites for successful
primary languages.
Thank you for taking the time to let us have your views. We do not intend to
acknowledge individual responses unless you place an 'X' in the box below.
Please acknowledge this reply
Here at the Department for Education we carry out our research on many different
topics and consultations. As your views are valuable to us, would it be alright if we
were to contact you again from time to time either for research or to send through
consultation documents?
XYes
No
All DfE public consultations are required to meet the Cabinet Office Principles on
Consultation
The key Consultation Principles are:
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departments will follow a range of timescales rather than defaulting to a 12week period, particularly where extensive engagement has occurred before
departments will need to give more thought to how they engage with and
consult with those who are affected
consultation should be ‘digital by default', but other forms should be used
where these are needed to reach the groups affected by a policy; and
the principles of the Compact between government and the voluntary and
community sector will continue to be respected.
Responses should be completed on-line or emailed to the relevant consultation
email box. However, if you have any comments on how DfE consultations are
conducted, please contact Carole Edge, DfE Consultation Coordinator, tel: 0370 000
2288 / email: carole.edge@education.gsi.gov.uk
Thank you for taking time to respond to this consultation.
Completed questionnaires and other responses should be sent to the address shown
below by 16 December 2012
You can respond to the consultation by completing the response form and emailing it
to Foreign.LANGUAGES@education.gsi.gov.uk or sending it by post to:
Send by post to:
Public Communications Unit, Area 1C
Castle View House
East Lane
Runcorn
Cheshire, WA7 2GJ.