A potential library for primary MFL pedagogy: the case of Young Pathfinders

As readers of this journal will know very well, 2010 will see all KS2 (ages 7-11) pupils in England entitled to learn a modern foreign language in normal curriculum time. This development of the commitment to primary language learning should provide an excellent opportunity and experience for pupils, whilst at the same time requiring some radical changes for many teachers, schools and much of the wider language learning community. Recent research has indicated general trends suggesting an increase in primary languages already, in anticipation of this development and even beforehand. One of the most recent studies indicates that 43% of primary children currently learn a foreign language at KS2, either in class or as an extra-curricular activity, although the extent of this learning varies considerably (Driscoll, Jones and Macrory, 2004). It has also been suggested (Muijs et al, 2005) that there are certain aspects of the process that will be particularly demanding if the challenge of providing this entitlement are to be met

Self-access learning programme: analysing students' language learning needs and evaluating learning metarials

Today's job market does not only demand for graduates who are knowledgeable but who are also skilful and versatile. To help students to be equipped with the necessary skills, the Department of Modern Languages has incorporated Self-Access Learning(SAL) programme into its English proficiency courses. Since the Self-Access Learning programme is still quite new to the Malaysian student, a research was carried out to: i) to investigate and gauge students attitude towards Self-Access learning programme, materials used and Self-Access Learning laboratories, including the ways in which it affects students learning, and ii) to identify areas where the programmes’ design and execution can be improved. About 1200 participants who took part in the programme were asked to fill up the questionnaires, needs analysis and learning contract for the self-access learning programme that they went through. Analysis on the feedbacks received from the students showed that the self-access programme was beneficial and have helped them developed interests in learning English and encouraged them to be active learners. The feedback also revealed several areas which need further improvement. With regard to the self-access learning materials, the feedback given was not very positive as they suggested that the materials should be more attractive and interesting with more attractive designs for the future. These feedbacks were essential because they provide useful information that reflect i) the overall quality of the programme, ii) the effectiveness of the Self-Access Learning, and iii) the areas that need improvement as well as loopholes or weaknesses. Besides that, it also proved the students readiness for autonomous learning and this readiness can be optimised for the benefit of both the students and lecturers

Moffett and rhetoric

This examination of Moffett's contribution to a theory of school English concentrates on his understanding of rhetoric. It is suggested that the impetus for Teaching the Universe of Discourse is dialectical: he was running against currents in English teaching at the time that were literary and technical, as well as the specific practices of sentence combining and embedding. His introduction of rhetoric into debates about school English was a key move, as rhetoric had been seen by American contemporaries as related to higher education and public discourse (and drawing on classical models). Moffett's more generous notion of rhetoric as the ‘arts of discourse’ helped him chart a ‘larger rhetoric of behaviour’ and map out his curriculum and development model. It is a rhetoric that moves beyond the definition of the ‘art of persuasion’ to one based in drama, dialogue and dialectic

Studies on the teaching of German as a foreign language in Maltese schools : a survey

The scope of this article is to present a short Forschungsbericht or research report on some of the contributions towards the improvement of the teaching of German in Maltese schools made by students in their dissertations as part of their B.Educ. (Hons.) course. Due to the prevailing conditions, little or no research in this field was published in other form. The available studies can however reflect to some extent the work which is being done and might help to identify areas which require further investigation, especially in view of ongoing changes and the challenges accompanying them.peer-reviewe

Review of the book CLIL activities : a resource for subject and language teachers (with CD-ROM)

CLIL Activities may be taken as a handbook focused on practice as more than half of its pages do offer wide-ranging activities. The authors state that the book is targeted at subject and language teachers probably with the intention of showing that both content and language are equally important and interrelated