1. 18th World Congress of Applied Linguistics Rio de Janeiro, July 2017
Dr.Gee Macrory, Faculty of Education,
Manchester Metropolitan University

2. Literacy in the primary languages classroom: a challenge for teacher education
Background and rationale:
Motivation and attainment in language learning (Coleman, 2009;Tinsley, 2013; Board & Tinsley, 2015; Ofsted, 2015; Hagger-Vaughan, 2016 )
Primary languages in England and teacher supply (Driscoll et al 2004; Enever, 2011)
Literacy and language learning (Erler, 2004;Erler & Macaro, 2011; Graham et al,2014; Woore, 2009, 2010)
Previous research at MMU on relationship between university and school input (Macrory & McLachlan, 2009)
Phonics in primary school – Rose 2006 and impact
New languages curriculum: england-languages-progammes-of-study/

3. Aims of study To explore opportunities to:
Observe and teach MFL on placement in general
Observe and teach MFL phonics
To find out:
Student teachers’ views of the place of MFL phonics (and of reading and writing more generally)
Their perceptions of primary school teachers’ views

4. Work in progress: small-scale study of MFL primary specialists in ITE
Total of 55 specialist trainees:
- 23 postgraduate (2 placements)
- 32 undergraduate (3 or 4 placements)
Data collected Spring/Summer 2015, and Spring 2016
Questionnaires (N=55) – Likert scale + open text questions
Interviews (N=10) – pairs and individual

5. Opportunities to observe PL teaching

6. Opportunities to practise PL teaching

7. Opportunities to observe FL phonics

8. Opportunities to teach FL phonics

9. Importance of FL phonics

10. Themes emerging from open text comments and interviews
Perceptions of place of primary languages
Insights into pedagogy
Lack of training

11. Perceptions of place of primary languages
Low priority
‘no presence’
‘It was just thrown in at the end of the day. I don’t think it was valued in the curriculum’
I think that because of the attitude of the whole school they (the children) struggled to get into my enthusiasm
I’ve spoken to a few teachers and it doesn't really seem that it’s at the forefront of their thinking’
I think MFL scares most teachers

12. Confidence and subject knowledge
I have experienced little MFL when in placement. I feel this is down to it not being of value to teachers. It is also due to confidence. Little writing in MFL as teacher subject knowledge is not strong.
I think that generally teachers are not confident in MFL phonics themselves so are wary of teaching this to the children in case it is not correct
the teachers see languages as a very discrete topic because it is foreign and it is something that they’re not that confident on so it’s not in the same area, I think they just see it as something totally separate because maybe their experiences are, oh well we’ll teach them the colours one week and the animals next week or whatever, it’s not seen as we’re teaching them a language, like we’re teaching them a few French words

13. Pedagogy
More attention given to oral skills: ‘there was very little reading or writing’
Word level /vocabulary/repetition
I’ve seen mainly repetition, which is pronunciation, but not actually breaking it down, just repeating it lower or higher or in different voices….they just throw some words at you, but they wouldn't do that in English …it’s easier just to say ‘repeat after me’ instead of breaking it down
they think ok, vocabulary, words, let’s go and just teach them all the words, just throw the words at them without thinking about how do they learn those words in the first place

14. Approaches to FL phonics
I think she took a very target language approach to it so I don’t think they were necessarily aware of different sounds, they just knew how you say this word but had never explicitly broken it down into the sounds and then, like, decoding it and encoding it again.
even the teachers who think that MFL could be important don’t focus on phonics specifically but I guess it would help with decoding for reading and writing…….if we need phonics to learn English surely you need phonics to learn another language.
funny, isn’t it that in English we’ve had this big push for phonics, but not in MFL?
‘teachers think that they pick it up without saying anything’
if the children have limited language skills, I find that they like having it written down because that’s how they learn everything else… with visual stimulus and often something written, but then we take it away in MFL

15. Training
‘when they heard I was a language specialist they said oh you can do that so they threw me in and I took over’
‘the teacher was kind enough to say “if you want 20 minutes a week to do some German, have it” ’
if there was a spare minute or a spare slot I would say like could I teach MFL please…but it was never suggested to me, it was never really given to me as an option, I just volunteered….. I had to request to do it and they were like oh yeh you can do that but a bit surprised when I said it almost, because it’s not a priority in the school
(with A level French) I was able to observe them, but they never gave any responsibility to me….. In year 2 I taught a little bit, about families, words for mum, dad, sister.

16. Implications and challenges for ITE
Current context unconducive to the development of pedagogy
Challenges?
Course content and school-based tasks?
A role for HE?
A different approach to teaching reading – pluriliteracy?

17. References
DfES (2006) Independent review of the teaching of early reading (Rose Review). London: H.M.S.O.
Driscoll, P., Jones,J. and Macrory,G. (2004) The provision of foreign language learning for pupils at KS2, DfES Report ISBN
Coleman, J.A. (2009) Why the British do not learn languages: myths and motivation in the United Kingdom. The Language Learning Journal, 37:1,
Enever, J. (2011) ELLiE, Early Language Learning in Europe. London: British Council.
Erler, L. (2004) Near-beginner learners of French are reading at a disability level. Francophonie 30, 9-15
Erler, L. & Macaro, E. (2011) Decoding Ability in French as a Foreign Language and Language Learning Motivation. The Modern Language Journal, 95:3,
Graham, S., Courtney, L., Marinis,T. and Tonkyn, A. (2014) Primary Modern Languages: the impact of teaching approaches on attainment and preparedness for secondary school language learning. Final report. Nuffield Foundation.

18. Hagger-Vaughan, L. (2016) Towards ‘languages for all’ in England: the state of the debate. The Language Learning Journal, 44:3,
Macrory, G. & McLachlan, A. (2009) Bringing Modern Languages into the Primary Curriculum in England: Investigating Effective Practice in Teacher Education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 32:3,
Ofsted (2015) Key Stage 3: the wasted years? London: H.M.S.O.
Tinsley, T. (2013) The State of the Nation: Demand and supply of language skills in the UK. London: British Academy.
Tinsley, T. and Board, K. (2015) Languages for the Future: which languages the UK needs most and why. London: British Council.
Woore, R.(2010) Thinking aloud about L2 decoding: an exploration of the strategies used by beginner learners when pronouncing unfamiliar French words. The Language Learning Journal, 38:1, 3-17.
Woore, R. (2009) Beginners' progress in decoding L2 French: some longitudinal evidence from English modern foreign languages classrooms. The Language Learning Journal, 37:1, 3-18.