Richard Johnstone

Context-sensitive assessment of modern languages in primary (elementary) and early secondary education: Scotland and the European experience

Although much more limited in scope and intensity than second language (L2) immersion, MLPS (Modern Languages at Primary School; known elsewhere as FLES, Foreign Languages at Elementary School) is being extensively implemented across the European Union as a reflection of national and European Commission (EC) policies. Despite an increase of research interest in the area, issues of MLPS assessment have not been widely addressed. There are good reasons for developing such assessments: • gauging the return on a massive public investment; • feedback to parents and the public; • informing national policy development; • self-evaluation at the level of institutions, departments, teachers and learners. There are, however, major problems at present in doing so across schools: • variability of context; • embeddedness of children’s language in a flow of events; • their relative lack of cultural knowledge; • unfamiliarity of teachers with concepts of L2 testing; • lack of consensus concerning what MLPS proficiency might mean. Examples are given from Scotland of how some of these problems were addressed in the pilot phase of the national MLPS initiative of the early to mid-1990s, leading to the development of more comprehensive and standardized assessments in the national Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) intended for the late 1990s and early years of the twenty-first century.

Annual review of research

The present review refers to studies published in 2002 in leading research journals. It focuses in particular on learning, teaching and policy in respect of second, modern foreign or additional languages. The comments offered about particular studies are not intended to summarise them (for that, it is best to refer to the actual abstracts which the present journal publishes). What is on offer is a personal selection made because some aspect of a particular article seemed to be of particular interest or to reflect an important trend, and I have attempted to link such elements together to form a narrative. Compared with previous years, two important themes seemed to gather particular momentum in 2002: first, the role of ‘frequency’ in acquisition; and second, the impact of complex and contradictory global factors on everyday pedagogical practice, thinking and attitudes. As in previous years reference is made to the abstracts. Thus, Tarone (2002: 03-158) refers to an article by Tarone published in 2002 and reflected in the 2003 series of this journal as abstract 158. In previous years I have discussed ICT (information and communications technology) in a separate section of its own but this has now been integrated into other sections, reflecting a process of ‘normalisation’.

Research on language teaching and learning: 2001

As is customary in this annual review, the focus is on research which has been published mainly in international research journals and which has a bearing on the teaching of languages and on those aspects of languages learning and use which seem to have implications for teaching. For the most part, it is additional languages which are under discussion, whether of the second, (third, fourth) or modern foreign or some other variety. 2001 yielded a large number of valuable articles of this sort. Rather than seeking to mention them all, I have made a selection in order to allow certain themes to be developed. Three themes seemed to me to be of particular interest in 2001: ‘Focus on form’, ‘Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and languages’ and ‘Early language learning’. None of these of course represents a new area of research, but in 2001 they seemed to play strongly. My review begins with a discussion of each of these in turn. In the sections to follow, cross-reference is made to the abstracts in Language Teaching . Thus, Haley (2001: 02–253) refers to the article published in 2001 and appearing as abstract 253 in the 2002 volume of the journal.

Review of research on language teaching, learning and policy published in 2004 and 2005

Most of the annual reviews which I have prepared for the present journal discuss roughly 100 articles published each previous year in top international research outlets. Even with such a high number per year, considerable selectivity has to be applied – the number of abstracts appearing up to the end of the October 2005 edition of Language Teaching, for example, amounts to 601, mostly published in 2005 and with still more to come for that year. The task of covering 2004 as well as 2005 within the one review, necessitated by personal circumstances, is therefore doubly daunting in its selectivity. For comprehensive coverage then, there is nothing in my view which can compete with the abstracts themselves as published in the present journal. I should therefore begin by stating that there is a large number of excellent articles published during these two years which do not find a place in my text. This is something I regret, but at the same time it would not make much sense to push inclusion to the point of attempting coverage of (say) 200 articles in the one paper. The 120 or so articles I have chosen are all of high quality but in selecting texts for inclusion I have borne other considerations in mind too, in addition to ‘quality’, and have attempted to draw on a reasonable range of journals, agegroups, languages, themes, research approaches and countries. Let me also fit in a brief further disclaimer about the ‘languages’ criterion. The languages which I read most easily are English, French and German, and I always make it my business to include reference to some articles written in the latter two languages. At present, however, I am participating in an ECfunded study in collaboration with colleagues from a number of EU states, and through this collaboration it has become even clearer to me than before that a substantial body of very good research is published in quite a wide range of languages. For my present review, there is nothing much I can do about this, and I greatly applaud the present journal for its policy of periodically commissioning reviews which reflect research in particular countries, in order to raise the

Review of Research on Language Teaching, Learning and Policy Published in 2007.

The format for the present review is similar to that of previous years, though the number of references to research published before 2008 has been somewhat increased in order to identify a few key studies which have influenced some of 2008s published output. In selecting the texts for discussion, I have sought to offer the reader what I consider to be an overview of key themes emerging from the 2008 research which are in one way or another related to the teaching and learning of additional languages, and policies pertaining thereto. In doing so, I have tried to draw on a fairly broad range of journals, languages, countries, sectors of education and research approaches. However, in the space available (which is generous) I find it possible to discuss only some 80–90 articles out of a field of well over 1000 that would be available, if I had the time and the energy to read them all. Accordingly, there is no sense in which I am claiming that those selected are the cream which has risen to the top. There must be many articles not included in the present review which are equal in quality to those I have been able to include.

Nationally-sponsored Innovations at School in Scotland: Issues of Evidence, Generalisability and Sustainability

Scotlands tradition of strong national support for languages at school has led to a number of nationally-sponsored innovations, four of which have been particularly prominent in recent years: the introduction of modern languages at primary school, Gaelic-medium primary education, early partial immersion in a modern foreign language, and the creation of a real and virtual community of students in the upper secondary school. These four innovations are brought together by presenting the key features of each, considering research-based evaluation evidence of their impact on uptake, attainments, motivation and other aspects, and by further considering each in respect of its potential for generalisability and sustainability. Despite certain as yet unresolved issues of generalisability and sustainability, it is concluded that these national initiatives have served to generate a number of potential alternatives to mainstream provision which have been at least provisionally tried and tested on the ground and which schools increasingly might wish to consider in their attempts to make a success of modern languages at school in an environment dominated by English as international language.

Evidence-based policy: early modern language learning at primary

My commission is to examine critically current research evidence on early language learning (ELL) at primary school and its relationship to policy-making. While priority is given to developments in England, developments in Ireland, Scotland and the continent of Europe are also discussed, as is the extent to which all of them are informed by research evidence. Then, drawing on wider research, a range of factors (societal, provision, process and individual/group) are outlined which are at play in ELL, along with the sorts of learner outcome to which clusters of such factors might lead. A number of key concerns arising from ELL policy development initiatives are identified which thus far have not been resolved, and an analysis of two specific factors (‘societal attitudes’ and ‘motivation’) illustrates how research evidence might contribute to improved ELL policy development.