Teaching and Learning Modern Foreign Languages in the United Kingdom – Limitation

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IV. 1. Cultural and political limitations

“David Beckham’s decision to learn Spanish now he has signed to play for Real Madrid next season should help fire children’s interest in learning the language at school, a minister said today. The schools minister Stephen Twigg said Spain was England’s number one tourist destination and Spanish the second most important European language for business (…) He will be a very useful representative to young people about how it can be cool to learn Spanish.”
Even though the Government fails to promote languages using traditional political strategies, they certainly do think of alternative techniques, such as using one of their most eminent role models as a representative abroad, namely David Beckham, a professional football player. Pupils, and mostly boys, who are one of the target groups as far as raising achievement is concerned, are interested in football for the vast majority. Using a famous sport’s figure to give a positive idea of language is indeed a clever turn!

As the minister says, Spanish has recently gained an increased interest, as it is a very common holiday destination for many British people. However, France is still a traditional place to spend holidays, and the impact of this on linguistic skills is yet to be found.

The language that suffers the most from student disaffection is German, which many comprehensive schools do not offer any longer. School Z, for instance is phasing out the tuition of German, and only Years 9, 10 and 11 are still learning this language. Business companies have expressed their concern about German, as it is still placed in priority for business use. According to the Report of the Centre for Information on Language Teaching, published in November 2004, 46% of Britain’s non English speaking markets are in Germany, 45% are in France, 31% in Netherlands and 27% are in Spain. According to the same source, the top three languages causing barriers in efficient business trade are French, German and Spanish, which are the three main languages offered within British schools. Unfortunately, businesses then hire natives of the foreign language needed who are also fluent in English, to help them work with prospective European partners. The lack of proficiency shown by British people in Modern Foreign Languages is a hindrance to business, which to some extent is detrimental to the United Kingdom’s economy. There also seems to be some kind of stigma linked to languages.

“Learning other languages gives us insight into the people, cultures and traditions of other countries, and helps us to understand our own language and culture. Drawing on skills and expertise of those who speak community languages will promote citizenship and complement the Government’s broader work on the promotion of social cohesion” (Dfes: 2002: 12)

Although the United Kingdom has had a tradition of promoting their own culture around the world and has been involved in a huge number of other national communities, transmitting their ethos to the countries of the Empire and then the Commonwealth, the reciprocity of this cultural enrichment has appeared to be a complex process. Today, the United Kingdom is part of the European Union, but the number of Eurosceptics in the country is not decreasing. British newspapers, mainly the tabloids, participate in displaying a negative perception of the European Union. Many British people are unaware of the implications, the organisation, the institutions and the policies of the European Union. Ignorance leads to lack of interest, for the vast majority of the population. It is often claimed that Britons have few cultural links with Europe, and that they feel closer to the group of countries sometimes referred to as the ‘Anglosphere’. This community consists of English speaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Canada and the United States. They share a common language and similar values, due to common historical links, that is to say most of these countries were once part of the British Empire. Moreover, although the British do not want to leave the European Union, recent polls have shown that the British population was against the introduction of the Euro and the European Constitution. As long as the United Kingdom does not feel that they genuinely belong to continental Europe, the poor attitude toward language learning is unlikely to change.

Mixed messages exist amongst the population in the United Kingdom concerning the perception of languages. Pupils in secondary schools do not show great enthusiasm for this school subject, as recent figures published in the Times Educational Supplement show: “in some cases dropout rates from GCSE language courses are extremely high – from 50% to 90%”(tes.co.uk). Pupils often do not see the point in learning a foreign language. English is spoken all around the world as a first, second or third language. Many countries use one language in their everyday life, but English is their official language. In holiday resorts, everything is made to accommodate tourists. Tour operators employ English speaking staff to avoid any difficulties for their customers.

However, a recent survey published by the Centre for Information on Language Teaching suggested that “over 75% of the general population think that a foreign language is important; and this figure increases to 90% amongst the 15 to 34 year olds”. If this figure is accurate, this means that pupils in Year 10 should, in their vast majority, choose a Modern Foreign Language as an option for their GCSE, which is not the case. At the beginning of Year 10, pupils are 15 years old. The Centre for Information on Language Teaching wants to promote languages in the United Kingdom, and the interpretation of these statistical figures appears to be very optimistic.

Modern Foreign Languages are not the easiest subject in the curriculum for pupils. When it is time for them to decide which option to select for their exams, they have the choice between art, drama, physical education, double manufacturing, cookery and textiles. In larger schools they might also have media, business studies, and as it is a requirement, Modern Foreign Languages are offered. Pupils cannot help but wonder in which subjects they will gain an A* to C, which is the pass rate. It is a very difficult choice to make for a 14 year old teenager.

Often, the attitude about languages that surrounds them is not very encouraging. It is a challenging and very academic subject. Pupils also do not get language support from families. For generations, their families did not have to learn a language. Or, they were not very good at it because of the failure in the educational system in teaching Modern Foreign Languages adequately when schools turned into comprehensive schools.

The way English has been taught for decades has not made it easy for pupils to access a foreign language. Before the Literacy Hour was introduced at Key Stage 2, pupils were no longer taught grammar. Therefore, their Literacy Level was often quite low. Although languages can help tremendously to improve Literacy skills, pupils often feel overwhelmed by the vast amount of new grammatical knowledge they have to acquire. In School X, pupils in Year 10 and 11 left primary school before the English Key Stage 2 Strategy and the Literacy hour were introduced, or they had only been taught under the newly enforced system for a year. When I started teaching them, they did not know what a verb or a subject was, whether in English or in a Foreign Language. They were unable to identify nouns in a sentence. I taught German to some classes and French to other groups, and producing accurate sentences was completely impossible for the pupils. They could not identify any of their errors.

The difference with the pupils who started secondary school in the past three years is very impressive and significant. The knowledge acquired in primary school facilitates their understanding in languages, and Modern Foreign Languages lessons consolidate the learning previously acquired. This is a very good example of the cross-curricular benefits that pupils can obtain from learning a language. This also shows that the initiative made by the Government to amend the way English was taught has had a beneficial impact in several ways, as it has improved pupils’ skills in English grammar and this proficiency has facilitated the learning of Modern Foreign Languages.

Lower achievers cannot always overcome these difficulties in Modern Foreign Languages. During the first few weeks I taught at school X, pupils had to be sent to detention systematically for not producing homework. The Head of Foreign Languages, who had about twenty years of experience in teaching, explained that generally pupils in the United Kingdom have a very negative attitude towards homework, and that if it was not clearly specified that there would be appropriate sanctions if a piece of homework was not produced, pupils would not complete the activity set. To try to counteract these difficulties, various techniques are used by schools. Most schools require that parents sign a home-school agreement which states the responsibility of parents and pupils for their learning. It is not only a teacher’s responsibility to make sure pupils produce the work expected, as parents are required to be as supportive as possible. This agreement also stresses parents’ responsibility for their child’s behaviour in lessons. The home-school agreement is designed to involve parents in their child’s education as much as possible. However, this agreement endorses the lack of motivation on the part of the pupils, and so homework is perceived as a sanction rather than a requisite for steady progress.

The National Curriculum for Languages, in its Programme of Study, highlights the importance of training pupils in becoming independent learners, as does the National Key Stage 3 Strategy. In spite of this, pupils in school Z, are provided with a homework timetable to help them in organising their working time. Pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 are given one piece of homework a fortnight for French when they are taught four lessons in two weeks. This homework should take up to thirty minutes to be completed. It seems that pupils are still not much challenged by this schedule of work.

IV. 2. Structural limitations

In the United Kingdom, a culture of competition and achievement is bred within society, but more specifically within schools. Pupils are encouraged to take part in sports fixtures, in drama production to represent the school in the area, or in talent shows.

This competitive spirit is also rendered in the numerous tests pupils take. Although the infamous “eleven plus” exam was officially suppressed with the birth of comprehensive schools in the 1960s, the current labour Government is considering introducing a new assessment at the end of Key Stage 2. This would have implications for Modern Foreign Languages to some extent. Although languages are not a compulsory feature yet in primary school, prior attainments are taken into account as soon as a child starts secondary school. The assessment that the Government wishes to set up implies that pupils leaving primary school with good results will be more likely to go on the rolls of schools that are on top of the list in the league table. Consequently, it can divide schools into categories, as was the case before the existence of comprehensive schools.

The figures analysed earlier show that the dropout rate in languages is already quite high, and it is even more so in schools which are towards the bottom of league table. “Allowing schoolchildren to drop languages at age 14 is reinforcing an existing class divide, warns a report from national education bodies. Schools with more pupils on free school meals are making languages optional. (…) In some, albeit isolated, cases dropout was extremely high. One school reported 40% of pupils in Year 11 not studying a language (last year’s option choices), rising to 90% for Year 10 (this year’s). This school also reported knock-on effects in Key Stage 3, with curriculum time being reduced for lower ability groups.” Indeed, the United Kingdom seems to move back towards an elitist educational system and this is not the only fact that leads to this conclusion.

Although legally the existence of an examination at the end of primary school should not be relevant to pupils’ enrolment in secondary school, selection still exists under cover of a different name. The Government appears to tolerate 10% of selection. In 1995, David Blunkett, made it extremely clear in his famous speech at the Labour party conference “read my lips: no selection”. Some grammar schools have high expectations of the potential candidates which will be part of their Year 7 pupils, and do not want to rely entirely on the assessments made by primary schools, and therefore have entry tests. Within the catchment area, they choose the local elite of children which will help them carry on to gain the excellent results at GCSE the school aims at, which are largely above national average results. Unfortunately, even some comprehensive schools use the same technique to hand-pick the best from the average pupils. This is known by British society and largely accepted, as many parents wish the best for their children.
However, in some less prosperous households in deprived areas, this competitive ethos is not found. Parents are more likely to lack a culture of self achievement and do not transmit these values to their children. Pupils are sent to comprehensive schools, where the expectations are lower, and it is in this kind of environment that the entitlement to languages at Key Stage 4 is at risk, as shown by the previous figures. To assess whether a school is within the boundaries of a less fortunate area, statisticians use the landmark of free school meals, which are only provided to families who live under the poverty threshold. Donald McLeod’s article on the TES website illustrates this concern: “In 2003, 70% of schools with more than 10% of pupils on free school meals had made languages optional, as opposed to 31% of the rest. Some 67% schools with half or fewer of their pupils gaining 5 A* to C’s at the GCSE had made languages optional, whereas only 38% of schools with higher attaining pupils had done so.”

Pupils in comprehensive schools are set targets in all their subjects. They are set end of year targets, end of Key Stage 3, and GCSE target grades. Besides, in school Z, the Modern Foreign Languages department sets targets for pupils’ levels of achievement for each half term.

Pupils after a few weeks in Year 7 take their CATS tests. The latter consists in a series of papers to assess their logic, Literacy and Numeracy skills. These tests are then used to provide predicted levels of achievement in Maths, English and Science. They are also used in some schools to set children in groups according to their ability, even in subjects like Modern Foreign Languages which are not directly related to these tests, although it seems to be assumed that a correlation can be drawn.
Then, in Year 9, they have SATS, in English, Maths and Science. Their performance is recorded but also used for further predicted grades and thanks to educational software provided by the Government like the ‘Autumn package’ or the ‘Panda package’, an estimate for their GCSE grades is made.

In Modern Foreign Languages, pupils sit end of year exams and end of unit tests in the four basic skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking) every half term. This is a common assessment pattern used in many schools in the United Kingdom. “While the amount of time and money soaked up in the process is an absolute scandal, the effect on our children and their view of what education is about is even more of a worry. Repetitive coaching, training and practice, along with a regime of mocks, trial tests and non-statutory pilots have put children on a treadmill of non-stop scrutiny. They’re the most tested children in the developed world and, as a consequence, subjected to intolerable pressure – and we wring our hands when they seem to lose interest and motivation, leaving education earlier than their European counterparts.”(education.guardian.co.uk). Indeed, it is fair to wonder whether pupils still can enjoy their time at school for the mere pleasure of learning something new and different. According to the same article, there is no evidence that the number of exams improves pupils’ performances.

Besides, teachers have to deliver 21 hour long lessons a week and have four periods dedicated to planning. However, these periods can also be used by the school to cover lessons when colleagues are absent. The numerous assessments imply further time pressure for teachers into delivering the curriculum and to get pupils thoroughly prepared. It also generates a loss in the time dedicated to planning, as most of the non contact time is taken up by marking various assessments.

School management evaluates the instruction provided by teachers according to the results that pupils receive in the various tests. Teachers are themselves set targets by their line manager, who is usually their Head of Department. These can be related to pupils’ performances at examinations. In the United Kingdom, teachers are not civil servants and their capability is related to pupils’ achievement; all of this is directly linked to their opportunities to be promoted and to evolve professionally.

IV.3. Limited resources

In the United Kingdom, comprehensive schools are mainly funded by grants provided the Local Education Authorities which themselves are subsidised by the Government. The way budgets are dispatched between schools depends largely on the system in place for allocating money, which varies according to the Local Education Authorities. Some factors which are taken into account are the number of pupils on roll in the school, the size of the Sixth Form, and the achievement of the school in terms of exam results.

In Local Education Authority A, the main parameter which determines the financial resources offered is the number of pupils following the post 16 curriculum. School Z is within the administration of this Authority. There are about 180 pupils in their Sixth Form. The money available does not enable the Head Teacher to improve the school according to his development plans. The Modern Foreign Languages has had the opportunity of acquiring new resources even if the department exam results are far below the national results; in 2005, only 9% of the pupils gained a grade A* to C in their GCSE exams. However, the budget is dispatched in order to make progress in the areas which need it the most. Although other departments also need to expand their resources, Modern Foreign Languages appeared to be a priority. The Head Teacher’s decision shows a deep interest for this area, which can only be praised considering the latest governmental choices, which relegate languages to an inferior position within the curriculum as it has become a mere entitlement. By making this decision of allocating an increased budget to Modern Foreign Languages, the Head Teacher of school Z makes a statement about his views on the subject. Additionally, the school tries to obtain additional funding by making a bid to gain a specialist status in engineering.

Schools in the United Kingdom have the opportunity to be granted further financial support by becoming specialist schools in varied fields such as sports, art, technology, information technology, business, or languages. Specialist languages schools, whilst making their bid, develop their department in order to show the existing resources and competences, and then, once the status is approved, they can expand the specific area, but also manage to bring general improvements to the school. For instance, Specialist Language School W managed to hire three Modern Foreign Languages assistants and each member of the department was provided with a laptop computer. The classrooms which had been recently refurbished were equipped with delta projectors, and a computer suite was built to fit their needs in Information and Communication Technology.

Their status, however, implies that Languages are compulsory for all pupils at Key Stage 4, and that pupils learn two languages at Key Stage 3. The department consists of eleven members of staff, and offers French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Latin. Two new positions have been created since they successfully made their bid two years ago. Their achievement target for GCSE Modern Foreign Languages is 80% of pupils obtaining an A* to C grade. The school is located in a rather affluent area and the local community is extremely supportive.

In the Times Educational Supplement, 11 March 2005 issue, the efforts made by the Government to multiply the number of Specialist Languages are put forward: “Mr Twigg will announce today that the Government will spend £30m on increasing the number of specialist languages schools to 400 over the next five years. They will receive an extra £30,000 each year to help them to work with other schools. Schools with languages as their first or second specialism will get an additional £30 per pupil”.

It appears that the way schools are subsidised is directly linked with the potential developments of each school, and that unfortunately in some cases, it is increasingly difficult for a school to escape from the vicious circle of the impossibility to expand further. Schools suffer from lack of money, test results do not improve, which places the school at the bottom of the league table, and therefore the school is not attractive to prospective pupils, which implies that the school does not benefit from additional help because the number of pupils on roll in the sixth form does not increase.

Staffing is another issue that undermines Modern Foreign Languages departments. Indeed, there are not enough languages teachers in the United Kingdom at the present time, and the current numbers of pupils taking up languages in post 16 education does not show any sign a potential growth. Universities face numerous closures of languages faculties due to very few applicants. As an incentive, the Government offers the students starting a Post Graduate Certificate of Education a £6,000 grant. And the loans of these students are written off. After Newly Qualified Teachers complete successfully their first year, and obtain their full teaching status, they benefit from a ‘Golden Hello’, which is a £ 4,000 allowance.

In Northern England, schools are so short staffed in Modern Foreign Languages that further incentives have been thought of to attract new staff. In April 2005, the French magazine Marianne published an article explaining that Hull University offered to train Modern Foreign Languages teachers in three and a half months and give them a 5700 EUR allowance to do so. As part of their training they spend a few weeks in France. One cannot help but wonder about the quality of the training received in such a short time frame, and whether the knowledge of the newly qualified teachers will be adequate enough to enable them to be efficient classroom practitioners.

Stephen Twigg, school standards minister, announced in 2005 plans to work towards the deficit in languages teaching staff, which now also need to be trained for primary school teaching, as it is part of the Government’s new strategies for Languages. “More than £100 million is to be rushed into schools to help primary children learn foreign languages and halt the subject’s worrying decline in secondaries” (TES, 2005: 1). On the other hand, as the numbers of pupils learning a language at Key Stage 4 or Key Stage 5 has been on a steady decline since the implementation of the Government initiative to change languages to an entitlement, that is to say an option for GCSE rather than a foundation subject, the number of members of staff Modern Foreign Languages departments has decreased.

Teaching and Learning Modern Foreign Languages in the United Kingdom – Conclusion

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IV. 4 Limited choices

Since September 2004, Modern Foreign Languages are an entitlement, which means, as explained earlier, that schools must offer pupils the opportunity to study one language up to GCSE. However, in practice schools deal with this new governmental policy very differently from each other. Head Teachers of Comprehensive Schools have the possibility to implement the decision in varied ways, and for instance in Specialist Languages School the tuition of Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stage 4 is still compulsory. In School Z, where the number of options offered is limited, pupils who opt for textiles have to take a language. There are timetable constraints, which makes any other combination impossible. Pupils are therefore often resentful, as they feel that what should have been a choice has been imposed on them.

Some other Head Teachers promote the learning of a language and ensure that it is valued in the school and community, and so they manage to keep the number of candidates who decide to enter for a languages GCSE quite high. This is often the case in middle class catchment areas where the benefits of learning a language are understood and supported by families.

The schools that have suffered the most from this decision are Comprehensive Schools in more deprived areas, where there is no understanding of the resource that languages can be, especially to improve Literacy skills. Some schools even withdraw pupils who have Special Educational Needs from Languages lessons, in order to provide them with extra support in English. In school Z, the Literacy Co-ordinator agrees on the importance of offering children the possibility to gain from learning a language, and he has advised the Special Educational Needs co-ordinator to avoid removing them from lessons.

Pupils acquire transferable skills in Modern Foreign Languages, and this should be explained more thoroughly to the general public.

Schools often aim to raise achievement in terms of numbers, and in this concern the actual learning process is not taken into account. Modern Foreign Languages teachers sometimes have to face poor behaviour in lessons, due to the perception of the subject. This is in direct link with the impossibility to practice speaking and listening skills in some contexts, which implies that pupils will perform badly when they are assessed. Pupils are set according to ability in most schools, and the group which is labelled ‘bottom set’ is usually a mixture of low achievers and badly behaved pupils. However, this has also a negative impact on pupils’ self esteem. Very low predicted grades have a negative effect on their motivation.

Some Languages Schools, but some Comprehensive Schools as well, have decided to disregard the languages entitlement at Key Stage 4 by creating fast track sections in which pupils take their GCSE exams at the end of Year 9. In Year 7, pupils are set by Christmas and the lessons of the fast track groups are immediately tailored to progress at a quicker pace. Other pupils are in mixed ability sets. Pupils who sit their exams at the end of Key Stage 3 are also learning a second language, which follows the mainstream teaching routine, and they are eventually assessed at the end of Year 11.

The policies that the Government is implementing for the 14 to 16 education in Languages also appear to be in contradiction with some development plans for the 16 to 19 provision. The future of the system of assessment has been discussed lately by politicians and educators. Some suggest the introduction of a baccalaureate system which should be based on the existing International Baccalaureate. This would imply the necessity of learning a language in the post 16 education. Although this seems to be the direction favoured by many educators, Governmental plans appear to be different and somehow ambiguous.

The English baccalaureate which is a suggested route seems to be strongly following the lines of the current A Level system. As far as Modern Foreign Languages are concerned, Recommendation 14 included in the “14-19 reform: Inclusiveness, challenge, quality and choice”, published by the Dfes in 2004, states that “the Government should ensure a comprehensive and flexible Modern Foreign Language offer, building upon the National Languages Strategy (…) The existing entitlement to study a Modern Foreign Language at Key Stage 4 should be extended to 16-19 year olds.”

The United Kingdom is aware of the need to raise the profile of Modern Foreign Languages. The necessity to teach pupils languages so that they become proficient users is recognised by the Government. Several business groups have expressed their concern in the last ten years about the lack of skilled employees. Although it is common knowledge, as many studies and enquiries have researched this matter, none of the current or forthcoming educational policies appear to have the potential to change durably the present situation. “Britain is Europe’s foreign languages dunce: only one in three Britons can speak a second language (…) The inquiry into exam reform by the former chief schools inspector, Mike Tomlinson, suggested a foreign language should become a compulsory part of a new style vocational qualification such as Leisure and Tourism” (The Independent, 24/12/2004: 6). The Government strongly focuses on developing vocational studies and might integrate more specialised languages skills within the curriculum. However, the current Programme of Study for Key Stage 3 already focuses on the necessity to provide pupils with a range of appropriate transferable skills. The content of the curriculum, though, would benefit from covering a wider range of needs.

CONCLUSION

Traditionally the educational system of the United Kingdom conveyed first and foremost the national language, values and traditions throughout its curriculum. Modern Foreign Languages were not a priority.

The birth of Comprehensive Schools could have brought some progress. The selecting process to enter Secondary School known as the ‘eleven plus exam’ was suppressed and schools were opened to every individual, regardless of class, gender or ethnicity. Languages teaching had to be adapted to fit the new generation classrooms as the lessons were no longer attended by the elite of students. The process was not without difficulties and the exam results were not encouraging.

To try to improve matters, Modern Foreign Languages became compulsory at national examination level in 1986. At the same time, business professionals and associations promoting languages, such as the Centre for Information on Language Teaching, noticed a shortage of people able to use languages in professional contexts. To research into the reasons for this, the Nuffield Foundation started an inquiry whose final results were published in 2000. The Government was held partly responsible for the absence of coherent policies to promote languages within the United Kingdom.
The Nuffield Final Report suggested some measures which could help to develop the interest and knowledge in Modern Foreign Languages. Most government policies then followed the recommendations of the Nuffield Foundation. A National Curriculum was created in 1999. A new Strategy for teaching Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stage 3 was elaborated in 2003, alongside a Framework for teaching languages. The introduction of Modern Foreign Languages as a foundation subject within the curriculum in primary schools should be implemented by 2012. All these measures aim at enforcing the position of languages within the curriculum, as a subject that provides transferable skills and which is a valuable asset to the development of pupils’ literacy skills. However, alongside all these constructive improvements, the Government decided to change the status of Modern Foreign Languages by removing them from the core curriculum at Key Stage 4. Schools are required though to offer the option, as any student is entitled to benefit from tuition in a foreign language.

The innovations in the educational system between the 1960s and the present mean that the teaching and learning of Modern Foreign Languages have had to face many changes too. The resources available to teach the subject were not suitable after the schools transferred to comprehensive schools, and so the resources had to be adapted. Changes in the examination process with the introduction of the General Certificate of Secondary Education in 1988 also led to necessary adaptations. Publishers had to provide resources that fitted the new standardised curriculum, as Local Education Authorities lost their control in that matter in favour of the central Government. Another evolution is that the plethora of traditional resources meets new competition from the rapidly improving 21st century technology. Information and communication technology, and interactive whiteboards, are now a common feature in classrooms.

Although the future of language teaching should look positive with all these developments, there are still some detractors, but also some deeply rooted beliefs which are detrimental to the progress of this school subject. In the United Kingdom, people still do not feel a sense of belonging to continental Europe as far as traditions, culture and languages are concerned. “In every other school subject, the model of performance is one who has followed the same learning route that both pupil and teacher must take. In our subject, the model is the well educated native speaker, whose mastery neither the learner, nor most teachers, however gifted, can hope to equal.” (Hawkins, 1996: 16). Modern Foreign Languages remains a highly academic subject and the governmental decision to make it an optional entitlement leads many students to drop this subject which is both challenging and demanding. Schools in deprived catchment areas are not encouraging students to pursue the learning of this subject and some Key Stage 3 students are already showing signs of disaffection. School budgets vary tremendously according to the way Local Education Authorities allocate their funds, and if schools do not benefit from additional grants it is increasingly difficult to provide up-to-date resources.

Although the quality of published material has vastly improved, the statutory inclusion policy that the Government expects from schools requires a greater need for differentiation. Schools can hardly afford buying sets of textbooks to suit the needs of every individual student. Modern Foreign Languages are often a department that performs badly at national examination levels, such as the General Certificate of Secondary Education or the A Levels. Achievement is one of the most common decisive factors used by schools management to allocate funding. Therefore even if new technological devices are available, many Modern Foreign Languages departments can not get equipped with them because it is not within their budget. On the other hand, some colleagues who benefit from instruments such as interactive whiteboards are not trained appropriately and do not use them to their full potential. The educational value and actual effectiveness of these new resources are yet to be proven, once the novelty factor has subsided.
Teaching and Learning is the latest governmental focus in its effort to improve national examination results. The latter is many schools’ obsession as it determines their rank in the League Table, which is the way schools are judged by the general public. Some schools strongly guide their students in their option choice to obtain better overall results. Some other schools think about alternative strategies to enforce the government requirements but also develop their students’ languages skills, such as the creation of ‘fast track groups’, so that students can take their General Certificate of Secondary Education in Modern Foreign Languages at the end of Key Stage 3, when it is still a core subject.

The paradoxical political position of the United Kingdom in educational affairs reflects to some extent the country’s public opinion about language learning. According to surveys, the British population appears to regret their lack of proficiency in Modern Foreign Languages but do not transmit this to the younger generation, who is in a position to acquire languages skills at school. Although the decision to introduce Modern Foreign Languages at primary school level as a core subject in the curriculum can only be praised, its actual implementation is yet to be achieved appropriately. Primary school teachers who are not specialists in Modern Foreign Languages might resent teaching the subject, even if they are provided with suitable training. The shortage of linguists at higher level, that is to say studying A Level courses and/or attending University, will generate in turn professionals with no skills at all in this area, including primary schools teachers.

The recent focus that the Government makes on vocational training does not involve Modern Foreign Languages. On the contrary, it has led to their disappearance as a foundation subject in the curriculum at Key Stage 4. Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Education, made the following statement to the House of Commons on the 14-19 White Paper on 23 February 2005: “Historically, our education system has produced a high achieving elite while failing the majority. In today’s global economy, in which our national competitiveness increasingly depends on the skills of each an every person, we cannot afford so much talent to go to waste.” However, Modern Foreign Languages as an optional feature in the curriculum creates a divide in opportunities according to social class. Figures show that in deprived areas the disaffection and the rejection of Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stage 4, and to some extent at Key Stage 3, have already reached high percentages. Other measures, such as the reintroduction of assessments at the end of primary school, will lead to even more segregation in the access to education. Schools which are in the top places in the League Tables are the ones many parents want to send their children to. Some are even prepared to move to live in the catchment area of specific schools to offer the best opportunities to their children. The price of housing is dependent upon many criteria amongst which the proximity of a sought after school is a prominent one.

Besides, restricting access to some schools by selecting on aptitude is against the principle of comprehensive schools. The plan to turn all schools into Comprehensive Schools was never achieved, and the political direction taken by the current Labour Government turns away even more from this plan. Tony Blair announced a focus on developing schools with a ‘specialist status’ in 2000. Schools bidding for this status need to raise £50,000 in business sponsorship, set improvement targets for the school and involve the local community. If successful, schools obtain £100,000 in capital grants and an additional £120 per pupil a year for four years. They are also allowed to select up to 10 per cent of their new applicants. The Government seems to encourage selection and elitism and Modern Foreign Languages are highly affected by this ethos.

The scale of this research is limited and some implications may not have been analysed. Although the elitist approach of the Government is detrimental to Modern Foreign Languages as far as secondary schools are concerned, the introduction of languages at primary school level can generate hope as to a potential for language skills to be developed in the United Kingdom. One might put forward the possibility of outreach work that colleagues from specialist schools can offer to their primary school counterparts. This would improve the quality of the delivery of teaching and the learning outcomes. Besides, the number of students on roll in languages at secondary school level decreases, which implies that some Comprehensive School teachers will become available to teach full time in one primary school or in a consortium of primary schools.

In the perspective that human resources are dealt with adequately, the transition between primary and secondary level will have to be addressed. So far, students who start Year 7 are taught the rudiments of a Modern Foreign Language during their first year of instruction. The content of the curriculum needs to be altered rapidly to fit the level of ability students will have reached at the beginning of Year 7. As pupils come from various ‘feeder’ primary schools, the difference in level of achievement will have to be dealt with. Teaching and learning Modern Foreign Languages at primary school has a huge potential in so far that ‘fast tracking courses’ could become a standard practice, and most students could take their General Certificate of Secondary Education in Modern Foreign Languages at the end of Year 9. Achievement is self perpetuating; pupils who experience success in the early stages of their learning may well be motivated by this and continue to succeed on into Key Stage 4.

The development of vocational strands could also be interrelated with Modern Foreign Languages. Current General Vocational National Qualifications (GNVQ) which are an alternative post 16 route in specialities such as Leisure and Tourism, Media or Business Studies, do not include a module in Modern Foreign Languages. To encourage students to pursue languages at Key Stage 4, a vocational course in Modern Foreign Languages designed to lead on this speciality could be developed.

Teaching and Learning Modern Foreign Languages in the United Kingdom – Statutory and Non – Statutory

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The National Curriculum for Modern foreign languages was updated in 1999, and aims towards giving “teachers, pupils, parents, employers and the wider community a clear and shared understanding of the skills and knowledge that young people will gain at school” (National curriculum, 2003:3).

The structure of the National Curriculum enables teachers to use this working document in order to inform their long-term, mid-term and short term planning. Amongst general guidelines, it contains a Programme of Study defined in the 1996 Education Act as “the matters, skills and processes that should be taught to pupils of different abilities and maturities during the key stage.”(National Curriculum, 2003:6) Modern Languages Departments have the responsibility to decide on how they want this programme to be implemented, and this has to be detailed in their schemes of work for the various year groups.

The Programme of study features five mains strands to address in Key stage 3 and 4: students should acquire knowledge and understanding of the target language, develop languages skills, develop language-learning skills, develop cultural awareness and have a breadth of study. These strands are sub-divided in more specific points, which are no longer topic based, such as “pupils should be taught the principle of interrelationship of sounds and writing in the target language” ( National Curriculum, 2003:16).

The National Curriculum also includes attainment targets and level descriptors which should help to assess the performance of students uniformly across the country. The 1996 Education Act, section 353a, defines the attainment target for Modern Foreign Languages as the “knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils of different abilities and maturities are expected to have by the end of each key stage”. Attainment targets across the curriculum consist of eight level descriptors, which describe the range of abilities and knowledge that students should have when they reach that level. For all the core subjects started in primary school, students have already been assessed using these levels; therefore, secondary schools are provided with prior data for each student new to a school. However, as languages are not statutory in primary school, secondary Modern Foreign Languages teachers are not provided with any information concerning students’ prior learning. This implies that in Year 7 students are in mixed ability groups, amongst which some students have already practised languages, and some other have had no connection with a foreign language. Planning the lessons to suit the needs and skills of each individual student within the group is extremely difficult to achieve.

The National Curriculum promotes cross- curricular teaching and learning in various areas such as spiritual, moral and social and cultural development, key skills and thinking skills. It stresses the importance of the National Literacy strategy, a statutory strategy across the curriculum since 2000, as “Pupils should be taught in all subjects to express themselves correctly and appropriately and to read accurately and with understanding” (Literacy Strategy, 37:2000). Literacy has to be part of a whole school approach, and roles and responsibilities are clearly dispatched throughout the staff. The task of the director of learning is to monitor that the policy is implemented, in each department, and he gives guidance to all the staff as how to teach literacy. Each department is expected to identify literacy skills to focus on, in their department and include suitable strategies in the schemes of work. Indeed, Modern Foreign Languages are directly linked with literacy skills, as pupils are taught a foreign language, mainly through their knowledge of their native language. Besides, Hawkins suggests (1996: 21) that “one of the most effective ways of understanding the structure of a language is to compare it with the structure of another language”.

Schools have the obligation to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all their students. This is one of the key general teaching requirements in England. All students must have equal learning opportunities. There are three main principles for inclusion that teachers need to remember when planning their lessons: setting suitable learning challenge, responding to pupils’ varied learning needs, and providing manageable assessments. Every child has to be treated as an individual, with his pace, needs and desire.

Researches have shown that “subject choice differs in single sex schools from that in mixed schools, and this may relate to boys’ perceived susceptibility to peer pressure… in single sex setting, boys were more keen on languages than in their counterparts in mixed-sex schools” (Morgan and Neil, 2001: 133). If the boys are often achieving well in Year 7 and 8 in languages, it seems that they become disaffected in favour of subjects seen as more masculine, like sciences, from Year 9 onwards. Boys are usually more participating orally, during a lesson. The National Curriculum states that “to ensure that they meet the full range of pupils’ needs, teachers should be aware of the requirements of the equal opportunities legislation, that covers race, gender, and disability” (National Curriculum, 2003: 21). The laws states that teachers should know about are The Sex Discrimination Act, 1975, The Race Relation Act, 1976, and the Disability Discrimination Act, 1995.

On the web site “Teacher Net” regarding equal opportunities and education it is said that “Schools must broaden the opportunities for all pupils to reach their individual potential. The objective is not equality in the absolute sense of everybody achieving the same, but the removal of what are often referred to as “barriers” to educational success.”

II. 2. The National Strategy for England; Languages for all: Languages for life

II.2.a. Rationale

“In the knowledge society of the 21st century, language competence and intercultural understanding are not optional extras; they are an essential part of being a citizen. For too long we have lagged behind as a nation in our capability to contribute fully as multi-lingual and culturally aware citizens. Likewise, in the global economy too few employees have the necessary skills to be able to engage fully in international business, and too few employers support their employees in gaining additional language skills as part of their jobs” (Dfes, 2002:5). This statement made by the Department for Education and Skills certifies their knowledge and understanding of their countries rocky relationship with Modern Foreign Languages. Their answer to this issue is “The National Strategy for England; Languages for All: languages for life” was published on the 18th of December 2002. This document sets out the Government’s plans to transform the countries abilities and views about languages.

The Nuffield Languages Inquiry, ordered by the Government in 1999, has established, as explained earlier, that the Government did not have a coherent approach to languages, and that there was no continuity in the initiatives concerning Modern Foreign Languages from primary school to university.

It is to address this issue and several others raised in the Nuffield Inquiry Final Report that the Government published primarily a Green Paper 14-19 entitled “Languages Learning: Extending opportunity, raising standards” in February 2002. This Green Paper lays the foundations to the National Languages Strategy published later that year. The proposals in this text focus on various concerns that the Government proposes to work upon; entitle students in primary school to study a language by 2012, increase the number of Languages Colleges, augment the number of people studying languages in further and higher education, increase the number of persons teaching languages, and work towards recognition of languages by society in England.

II.2.b Aims and strategies

The audit that the Government made in December 2002 embraces many issues and is extremely straightforward. They are fully aware of the crisis that languages have undergone in the previous 30 years. Their purpose is to change the perception that the nation has about languages and they are conscious that this will not be an easy challenge.
They decided to focus on creating an entitlement to languages for all pupils at Key Stage 2. “Every child should have the opportunity throughout Key Stage 2 to study a language and develop their interest in culture of other nations. They should have access to high quality teaching and learning opportunities, making use of native speakers and e-learning. By age 11 they should have the opportunity to reach a recognised level of competence in the Common European Framework and for that achievement to be recognised through a national scheme.” (Dfes, 2002:15). This involves many constraints which are already listed in the National Strategy, but the Government also suggests pathways to achieve this long term project, which should be operational nationally by 2012. To deliver these lessons, primary school teachers who show interest in Modern Foreign Languages will be trained.

Furthermore, incentives will be given for language specialists to train for the primary level. Schools could also share a specialist teacher within a catchment’s area. Furthermore, the Government advises to use members of the wider community demonstrating abilities in languages, and train them to teach at Key Stage 2 level. Specialist Languages Colleges should share best practice with their primary school colleagues, by doing outreach work. As the results obtained for National examination by students’ attending Specialist Languages School prove to have improved tremendously, the National Strategy advocates increasing the number of schools having this Specialist status from 157 in 2002 to 200 by 2005. This also means that these schools, as they offer a varied range of languages have more staff within their Modern Foreign Languages department. One of the consequences which, is directly linked to the Strategy is that these schools are able to offer their competences to the local community. This can improve the perspective that a whole area has about languages.

Likewise, Advanced Skills Teachers are teachers who have been identified by Local Education Authorities, as outstanding professional within their specialist subjects will be involved in helping primary schools colleagues. Their role consists already in providing support to schools where either the exam results are very low, or in departments undergoing structural difficulties.

In order to increase the number of students taking up languages after 16, the Government insists on improving teaching and learning at KS3 and KS4. Students need to develop better abilities, and achieve better in order to be willing to carry on studying a language at a higher level. The curriculum needs to be increasingly flexible and the range of routes for learning language during the 14-19 phase should expand. The decrease in the number of pupils studying one language or more at A level has obviously had an impact on the provision for languages at universities. However, the National Strategy puts on emphasis on new courses offered which are joined degrees in a language and a more practical skill. Sixty new degrees which embed a language and business, management or tourism have been developed in the past few years. The objective of this specific part of the National Strategy tailors to the needs expressed by industries. Indeed, professionals admit that they lack of competent linguists on their rolls. Often, the proficiency that employees have, does not allow them to carry out a business conversation with a potential European partner. Some companies even admitted that they lost some business opportunities due to the incompetence of their staff in languages.

To motivate adults and to give credit to people for their languages skills, the Government wants to develop a national, voluntary recognition system, to supplement existing qualifications. They plan for the general public to be able to self-assess and record their achievements by using ICT. The Nuffield Feasibility Study commissioned in 2001 suggested the development of “Learning Ladder for Languages” which could be used to recognise and define language proficiency. However, there would be a possibility to take a test for people who would like to gain a certification.

II.2.c. Languages at Key Stage 4

The Green Paper “Languages Learning: Extending opportunity, raising standards” takes also a route that seems to be contradicting all the other educational reforms proposed to improve the status of languages in the United Kingdom within this specific document. “We do intend to amend the statutory requirements at Key Stage 4 so that schools will no longer be required to teach Modern Foreign Languages to all pupils. All schools will be required to ensure as a minimum that they are available to any pupil wishing to study them” (Dfes, 2002: 26).

This statement was the first step in which the Government revealed its intention. It was followed by the creation of a Working Group for 14-19 Reform, chaired by Sir Mike Tomlison. A final report was published in October 2004. The Working Group set out a whole new vision for the future of languages learning in Britain, starting the learning process early, by teaching Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stage 2 and entitling students to more flexibility and choice, especially for the 14 to 19 years old.

This decision implies that Modern Foreign Languages becomes a requirement as schools have to cater for each individual student, but also an option. All students in the United Kingdom are given the opportunity to decide in Year 9 whether they want to carry on studying a language. It is not longer a core subject alongside Maths, Science, and English. The status that Modern Foreign Languages had since the 1996 reform “Languages for All” has been completely transformed. This governmental decision has had a huge impact on the Modern Foreign Languages teachers’ community.

The Government is prone to develop the vocational strand of education, and for students to undertake work related learning during Key Stage 4. Modern Foreign Languages are also part of this process, as some new qualifications are developed and currently tested in pilot school. An alternative to the traditional GCSE French is worked upon by the examining body Edexcel. This new generation exam is called GCSE in applied French. The objective of this qualification is to enable students to develop skills which can be applied to professional context such as business, tourism, media and communication. Students are assessed by sitting external examination, which are mainly ICT based. There are 60 pilot schools across the United Kingdom testing this revolutionary exam, and the first formal examination will take place in 2006.

II.2.d. Implementation

Most of the aspects of the National Strategy for Languages are an on-going process that should have reached its climax by 2012, when all primary schools will be expected to provide languages lessons to their pupils. However, in order to launch this Strategy the Government invested £1.2 million to start a Modern Foreign Languages pilot. This was to provide a Framework of teaching objectives and guidance, training and network meeting. An additional investment of £10 million was planned by 2005/2006 to sustain the Strategy. The funding is to be allocated to introduce the primary school entitlement, to increase of the number of Modern Foreign Languages teachers, to provide staff training and development, to promote best practice and to develop international partnerships.

A National Director for Languages was appointed to overview, expand and deliver the Strategy. The Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research lead by Dr Lid King plays also a major role in the implementation of the Strategy. Their knowledge of the evolution of the educational system and also their link with professional makes them a valuable source of information and advice. Local Education Authorities should support the Government in the application of the Strategy. They are closer to schools and communities and are able to obtain more easily feedback about how the decisions are perceived and implemented.

The success of the “Languages for All: Languages for Life; a Strategy for England” is to be measured against a set of outcomes amongst which, whether the needs of businesses are met, and whether the standards of teaching are better at all Key Stages. Other factors that will validate the fulfillment of the scheme are the increase of the demands for adults’ language learning, the flexibility of the routes into learning a Modern Foreign Language, and more importantly the quality of the entitlement provided at Key Stage 2.

II. 3. Framework for Teaching Modern Foreign Languages: Years 7, 8 and 9

The Framework for Teaching Modern Foreign Languages is designed to support most languages taught at Key Stage 3. It is built on a similar pattern to the framework for Primary Schools, which is a recent scheme to enhance the level of achievement of students in English at Primary School level by creating a Literacy hour. This Hour consists in teaching the whole class for 75% of the time, and is shared in 10 minutes of reviewing, consolidating and introducing new objectives, 15 minutes of work on the word level, and 15 minutes on reading and writing. The remaining 25% of the time is dedicated to group work on guided tasks or independent work. The lesson ends up by a plenary session which is included in the time dedicated to the whole class work. This way of managing time appears to set a routine and makes it easier for pupils to make the transition from one year group to the next. A similar framework exists for English at Key Stage 3, which means that the government wishes to bridge the gap between primary and secondary school education.
The National Framework for Modern Foreign Languages is a non statutory document published in spring 2003 and was available nationally from September 2003. The Government provided training for all Modern Foreign Languages colleagues from autumn 2003. In order to achieve this necessity to train all teachers the government provided money to supply cover teachers.

II.3.a. Aims and objectives

“The framework and its objectives are designed to give teachers a mental map of languages learning over Key Stage 3. The framework should not be seen as a dry menu of linguistics. The grammar is not a separate heading but is to support work at various levels. A key function of the Modern Foreign Languages Framework is to encourage a rethink of where the emphasis should be in languages teaching and learning.” (Dfes, 2003:16). The purpose of this framework is to raise standards by improving the quality of teaching and learning.

The teaching has to be focused by planning lessons according to objectives and ensure pupils are fully aware of those. Students need to be challenged and teachers therefore have to set high expectations so that students try to surpass their current level of achievement. The learning needs are to be structured with lessons beginning with a starter activity to catch students’ attention as soon as they enter the classroom. Then, they should be a variety of activities delivered with pace. The lesson should end up with a plenary to ascertain whether the objectives have been met and provide formative assessment in order to inform the planning of subsequent lessons. The learning needs to be motivating and engaging by integrating fun activities where appropriate. Teachers should seek students’ ability to do independent learning by providing frames and learning strategies. It is also necessary to build pupils’ reflection by teaching them to think about what they learn and how they do so. They have to be involved in setting themselves targets whilst they expand their learning. Pupils have to be more aware of the curriculum. It needs to be more accessible so that students are engaged in their learning, and become independent in doing so.

There are five main strands within this Framework which are a focus on the word level, the sentence level, reading and writing, listening and speaking and cultural knowledge and contact. It moves away from topic dependence to concentrate on the skills students need to develop in order to apprehend a language and to master it.

The Framework systematically builds progression and is designed to give the teaching and learning focus for each year; Year 7: foundation, Year 8: acceleration and Year 9: independence. The training programme provides guidance to teachers and Heads of Modern Foreign Languages departments on planning schemes of work, which should be amended and strengthened but not necessarily rewritten.

In the United Kingdom, teachers at different stages of their career are involved in writing schemes of work. This enables them to have a better knowledge of the curriculum. Using the Schemes of Work published as a guidance by the Department for Education and Skills, and merging them with the ones produced by publishers, teachers manage to create a working document that is suitable to their department needs, but which is also respecting the governmental guidelines concerning the Key Stage 3 Strategy and Programme of Study.

II.3.c. Cross curricular themes

The framework strongly recommends a link between school subjects in order to provide students with transferable skills and effective learning strategies. Numeracy, Literacy, Citizenship, and a coherent assessment policy are to be developed in the various subjects in order to increase each student’s potential.

“Numeracy is a proficiency which is developed mainly in Mathematics but also in other subjects. It is more than an ability to do simple arithmetic. It involves developing confidence and competence with numbers and measures. It requires understanding of the number system, a repertoire of mathematical techniques and an inclination and ability to solve quantitative or spatial system in a range of contexts. Numeracy also demands understanding of the way in which data is gathered by counting and measuring, and presented in graphs, diagrams, charts and tables.” (DfEE 2001a: 1.9)
Teaching a Modern Foreign Language includes teaching the culture of the countries where the language is spoken. There are various ways in which Numeracy and cultural dimension are merging, as for instance, asking students to read the 24-hour clock, which is the tradition in continental Europe. Often, in role plays, pupils are asked to tell their phone number, which works in pairs in France, and this implies a lot of concentration, as naturally they would be tempted to read the numbers one by one. The postcodes as well are built up differently. Talking about the weather can become an opportunity to use maths, as you can ask the pupils to change from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

“All secondary school teachers have a responsibility to teach key skills in addition to their own subject” (Tanner, Jones and Davies, 2002: 189). If the bridge to be made between Numeracy and Modern Foreign Languages does not appear obvious at first, a thorough knowledge of the curriculum and schemes of work prove the link that Modern Foreign Languages departments managed to build in their teaching. Therefore they respect the government guidelines, but also fulfill their responsibilities as teacher, that is not only teaching a subject but also teaching learning tools.

Literacy is integral to all learning. Every school in the United Kingdom is supposed to have its own Literacy policy. It has to be part of a whole school approach, and roles and responsibilities are clearly dispatched throughout the staff. The task of the director of learning is to monitor that the policy is implemented, in each department, and he gives guidance to all the staff as how to teach literacy. Each department is expected to identify literacy skills to focus on in their department and include suitable strategies in the schemes of work.

Most school policies group four main skills, that is to say speaking, listening, reading and writing, which form the foundation to elaborate principles and precise targets in working upon literacy. For example, pupils should be taught in all subjects to express themselves correctly and to read accurately and with understanding.

Indeed, Modern Foreign Languages are in direct link with literacy skills, as pupils are taught a foreign language mainly throughout their knowledge of their native language. Besides Hawkins suggests (1996: 21) that “one of the most effective ways of understanding the structure of a language is to compare it with the structure of another language”. Examples of elements studied in a language classroom should highlight this idea: basic and advanced grammar skills, grammatical terminology, parts of speech, sentence construction, listening for gist and detail, guess the meaning of a word thanks to the context, ability to use a dictionary and glossaries. In addition pupils are encouraged to read for their own pleasure from KS3 onwards.

Most of these activities are included in the Programme of Study for Modern Foreign Languages. Furthermore, the National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages says simply and clearly that “Since standard English, spoken and written, is the predominant language in which knowledge and skills are taught and learned, pupils be taught to recognise and use standard English”, even if on another hand, target language should be used as often as possible. Also, in the same source, there are specific references to the English programme of study in the areas of grammar, drafting written work and knowing the technical vocabulary of a language (DfEE / QCA, 1999: 16 17).

“Citizenship gives pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding to play an effective role in society, at local, national and international levels. It helps them to become informed, thoughtful and responsible citizens, who are aware of their duties and their rights… it also teaches them about our economy and democratic institutions and values; encourages respect for different national, religious and ethnic identities; develops pupil’s ability to reflect on issues and take part in discussions.” (DfEE / QCA, 1999:183)

The Programme of Study for Citizenship divides in three strands, which are:
– Knowledge and understanding about becoming informed citizens.
– Developing skills of enquiry and communication
– Developing skills of participation and responsible actions.

Each school decides to deliver the statutory and/or non-statutory guidelines for Citizenship, Careers Education and PSHCE in a way that suits them best. In Modern Foreign Languages, several topics can lead to conversations about citizenship. In Year 7, it is already possible to include the concept of “citizen of the world”, when pupils are taught Nationalities. In Year 9, pupils learn about the environment. It can lead to a debate about what they should do to “save the planet”. In Year 13, pupils talk about global matters like politics and racism. They are about to be allowed to vote, and preparing them to the topic “Crime and Punishment” for instance, is a good opportunity to make them think about their own country, through comparing it to France or Germany.

“Assessment is a crucial part of the teaching process… it enables the teacher to gauge whether what has been taught has in fact been learnt by the students. It provides information for the student on his/ her progress. It provides information for the parents”. (Morgan and Neil, 2001: 107).

At the start of a lesson, pupils need to be set clear objectives, in order to know and understand the purpose of their learning. At the end of the lesson, teachers have to check whether these objectives have been met. Plenary activities are useful in this matter, as it is often a way of reinforcing the learning but also evaluating pupils.
The teacher training provided in The United Kingdom advises teachers to set differentiated learning outcomes in three different strands. There are to be expectations for “some students”, which represent more or less the top third of the pupils in a class, and the goals are higher. The group labelled “most students” are the average pupils in term of achievement. Teachers should be more lenient for some pupils experiencing difficulties in learning a new language, or pupil having special educational needs. They belong to the last group entitled “all students” on a lesson plan. “Formative assessment is an ongoing assessment, conducted at regular intervals by the classroom teacher. It enables the teacher to take stock of what the students have learned”. (Morgan and Neil, 2001: 107).

Four main ways of assessing have been listed in Teaching Modern Foreign Languages, Morgan and Neil, 2001: 108 “diagnostic assessment…used usually to identify particular areas requiring work….evaluative assessment is based on feelings and experience rather than objective criteria… motivational assessment is designed to provide learners with short-term achievable goals…summative assessment is the final stage assessment and the term is usually applied to end of key stage tests or GCSE.”

Assessment is vital to ensure an effective learning for pupils. Formal written assessment seems the easiest to handle as it leaves to the teacher more time to think about the performance as he marks the paper. Listening and speaking appear to be more difficult to assess. Every school has its own marking policy and tries to be consistent across the subjects. In school X, students’ book have to be marked every 2 weeks, giving a grade for effort which can be excellent, very good, good, unsatisfactory or weak; and awarding a mark for the content between 1 and 5, 1 representing 90% or more of the task completed accurately. This way of assessing students’ work is used to grade their homework or class work. This enables teachers, alongside with end of unit assessment, to give students a level of achievement, and to set for them long and short term targets.

Teachers are provided with loads of prior data concerning each student in their groups. Students in the United Kingdom take various formal assessments, and schools are provided with Software which ma