Learning to Teach Foreign Languages in the Secondary School

A companion to school experience

Norbert Pachler, Michael Evans, Ana Redondo, Linda Fisher

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136592607
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Praise for previous editions: -

'A wealth of theory, research, practical advice, case studies and tasks in one volume…Indispensable for both HEI tutors and mentors, and an important book to recommend to all MFL students.' – Language Learning Journal

'Presenting clear, straightforward, factual information on all current issues facing MFL student teachers... An excellent reference guide during the first years of teaching.' – Mentoring and Tutoring

Learning to Teach Foreign Languages in the Secondary School has established itself as the leading textbook for student teachers of foreign languages in the UK and internationally. The practical focus is underpinned by a theoretical perspective and backed up by the latest research, encouraging you to develop a personal approach to foreign language teaching.

This new, fourth edition, has been comprehensively updated to take account of recent policy and curriculum changes, and now covers a range of relevant statutory frameworks. Fully revised chapters cover the key knowledge and skills essential for becoming a foreign language teacher:

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• What can we learn from research into language teaching and learning?

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• Teaching methods and learning strategies

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• Creating a meaningful learning environment

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• Transition from Primary to Secondary

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• The role of digital technologies

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• Teaching in the target language

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• Receptive skills and productive skills

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• Teaching and learning grammar

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• Planning and reflecting on classroom practice

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• Pupil differences and differentiation

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• Assessment for and of learning

It includes many examples of how to analyse practice to ensure pupil learning is maximised, together with activities and tasks to support you as you analyse your own learning and performance.

Learning to Teach Foreign Languages in the Secondary School provides practical help and support for many of the situations and potential challenges you are faced with in school. It is an essential purchase for every aspiring secondary foreign languages school teacher.

Part 1

Context Related

Chapter 1

Foreign Languages in the Secondary School Curriculum

Introduction

The teaching and learning of foreign languages (FLs) as part of compulsory education, certainly in the UK, remains subject to regular policy swings. This includes not only the question of whether or not FLs should be included in the curriculum and, if so, the age at which the formal study of FLs should start but also which FLs should be offered (European, Modern, Ancient, etc.), how many and how they best be taught.

These swings manifest themselves in the form of frequent changes to the curriculum with new governments and new ministers often wanting to make their mark on the school curriculum. Of late, this has tended to happen in the context of an increasing politicisation of school education as its outcomes have become measures of international competitiveness, for example in relation to the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The ‘National’ Curriculum (NC) in England is a particular case in point. It applies only to England and at the time of writing it is not compulsory for all types of schools. Excluded are in particular those favoured and promoted by government policy in effect at the time of writing such as free schools and academies as well as private schools. The school curriculum reflects particular views of society and what knowledge, skills and understanding it considers important for the next generation (see e.g. Pachler et al., 2007).

Education researchers and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Foreign Language Learning (FLL) specialists have offered varied insights into curriculum design, the processes governing FL learning and have suggested implications for approaches to teaching (see Chapter 3). It is arguably incumbent upon FL professionals to be familiar with at least the most salient findings in these fields inter alia in order to be able to make sense of national guidelines locally or make informed choices about coursebooks and examination specifications and their inherent methodological approaches.

For example, in early 2012, in the context of the consultation around the 2014 National Curriculum, 100 academics took it upon themselves to criticise the Secretary of State’s curriculum proposals in an open letter to the press warning that, if implemented, the strong emphasis on memorisation and rote learning of facts and cramming for the test would be detrimental to educational standards and that much of the proposals, in their view, were too narrow and demanded too much too soon. For the Secretary of State, supported by his Chief Inspector of Schools, such criticism was ‘bad academia’, ideological baggage as well as a manifestation of low expectations and a lack of ambition. As key stakeholders, the outcomes of such debates invariably impact significantly on teachers’ everyday personal professional practice and we consider it important for teacher education programmes to provide ample opportunity to discuss the precepts underpinning curriculum design.

Another example concerns the introduction of languages in Primary education (see Chapter 4), where seemingly common-sense positions (‘the earlier, the better’) appear to drive policy making. Research on the optimum age to start to learn a foreign language is inconclusive and research findings depend on the setting, i.e. whether the focus is on naturalistic or instructed settings, what the first language of the learners is, what research methods are used and which aspects of the language are researched. In the case of instructed settings, key variables can be seen to be curricular aims, the time available, the number of pupils in the class, the content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of teachers and the level of cognitive development of learners. We would argue that Primary language teachers need to be familiar with relevant research findings and possible curriculum models concerning primary languages in order to be able to make the best possible pedagogical decisions taking into account local requirements and conditions.

Changes in the education system bring greater freedoms for certain types of schools, and greater knowledge about FLs education and the evidence that underpins it can impact on your ability to make decisions about FLs and its role in the curriculum.

Over the years, certain teaching methods have enjoyed varying degrees of popularity – consider, for example, the role of explicit grammar teaching (see Chapter 11) or the use of the target language as a medium for instruction and interaction (see Chapter 8) – and there have been considerable innovations in the field of educational technologies, the affordances of which continue to develop apace (see Chapter 6). The recent normalisation of mobile devices in everyday life and the growth of significance of social networking tools as part of everyday communication as well as the proliferation of applications of mobile devices for language learning are a case in point. These developments can be seen to have significant impact not only on how we communicate but also on the language and related skills we and our pupils need as a prerequisite and they pose questions about the role of formal education and the curriculum in preparing young people for a world dominated by such cultural practices.

In addition, changes occurring in the wider educational context, including legislative requirements and entitlements as well as the nature of education and purpose of schools in society – such as the recent political shift away from education as a public service towards a conception of education as a commodity – are impacting on the curriculum and its role.

After a period of extensive use of supplements to curriculum orders in England in the form of so-called National Strategies, which provided support material for teachers but importantly also prescribed in some detail what and how to teach, such as the National Language Strategy for England (NLSfE) (DfES, 2002), the pendulum has swung the other direction. With some exceptions, such as the teaching of phonics where the government believes a particular approach, namely the systematic teaching of synthetic phonics, is the best way of ‘driving up standards’, guidance documentation has all but disappeared. Even curriculum orders are trimmed right back in a political attempt to seek to reduce ‘red tape’ and create freedom for teachers. The potential importance of such curricular ‘supplements’ in the working lives of teachers must not be underestimated. The NLSfE, for example, contained far-reaching decisions about the future of FL teaching and learning by making its study in Key Stage 2 (for pupils aged 7–11) an entitlement as well as by discontinuing the requirement for pupils to study a foreign language at Key Stage 4 (for pupils aged 14–16). It is important, therefore, to be familiar not only with the core curriculum requirements but also to keep abreast with debates about educational policy more generally. Daily newspapers as well as the educational press tend to offer useful summaries of and commentaries on current debates.

In this chapter we consider the rationale behind teaching and learning FLs (in the Secondary school) and discuss some examples of FL curricula with a focus on England but also going beyond.

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Objectives

By the end of this chapter you should:

be aware of the rationale and purposes of FL teaching and learning in the Secondary school curriculum over time;

have an understanding of some curricular requirements.

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FLs in the Secondary school curriculum – rationale and purposes

One significant reason for the study of FLs is the recognition that it has an important role to play in terms of contributing to the personal, social, cultural and general linguistic development of pupils in preparation for their adult lives, both for work and leisure. This is explicitly reflected, for example, in the 1999 version of the MFL NC Orders for England:

For example, MFL provides opportunities to promote:

spiritual development, through stimulating pupils’ interest and fascination in the phenomenon of language and the meanings and feelings it can transmit

moral development, through helping pupils formulate and express opinions in the target language about issues of right and wrong

social development, through exploring different social conventions, such as forms of address, through developing pupils’ ability to communicate with others, particularly speakers of foreign languages, in an appropriate, sympathetic and tolerant manner, and through fostering the spirit of cooperation when using a foreign language to communicate with other people, whether other learners or native speakers

cultural development, through providing pupils with insights into cultural differences and opportunities to relate these to their own experience and to consider different cultural and linguistic traditions, attitudes and behaviours.

(DfEE/QCA, 1999: 8)

The draft programme of study for languages of the National Curriculum published for consultation in early 2013 reflects such general aims to some extent when it identifies the following purpose for the study of languages as follows: ‘Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures’ (DfE, 2013: 173). However, what follows is a rather less educational and more utilitarian perspective (see e.g. Williams, 1991: 247):

A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understandi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• List of illustrations
• List of tasks
• Introduction
• 1 CONTEXT RELATED
• 2 PEDAGOGY RELATED
• 3 LEARNER RELATED
• References
• Index