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Document : 505
Title    : Teaching Secondary Modern Languages in Scotland
Author(s): Brian C Templeton

Copyright holder(s): University of Glasgow: re-use of Crown Copyright
material

Text

Teaching and Learning in Modern Languages

Communicative Competence

Since the mid 1970s, the main aims of teaching and learning a modern
language have been expressed as the development of communicative
competence. The following four main components combine to contribute to
communicative competence:
1. Grammatical competence (including phonology, orthography, vocabulary,
word formation, sentence formation)
2. Sociolinguistic competence (expression and understanding of social
meanings appropriate to different sociolinguistic contexts, and of
grammatical forms appropriate to their expression)
3. Discourse competence (knowledge of different linguistic genres, together
with their related devices for cohesion and coherence)
4. Strategic competence (ways of coping with grammatical, sociolinguistic,
discourse and performance difficulties).

Although there is still a need for grammatical competence, this
communicative approach to language teaching promotes the use of real
language in realistic contexts and as such represents a significant move
away from the traditional, linear grammar-based methodology which had
characterised previous approaches to foreign language teaching in Scotland.
Much of the educational theory that underpins communicative methodology
emanates from research into how children acquire their own mother tongue.
It advocates that the communicative approach to the teaching of a second
language should attempt to replicate in the classroom situation the
processes and conditions under which acquisition of the mother tongue takes
place. 

Curriculum Design and Assessment Techniques 

Alongside the development of the communicative methodology, several
initiatives attempted to make the teaching syllabus more relevant to the
real-life needs and interests of the learners. The identification by Van Ek
(1975) of ‘The Threshold Level’ as part of the Council of Europe’s
1971-1981 Modern Languages Project was very influential in the area of
curriculum design. By identifying both the most essential contexts in which
a learner needs to operate and the elements of the language required of the
learner in those contexts, Van Ek provided a model of a functional and
notional syllabus design, which was and continues to be influential
throughout Europe.

In Scotland the influence of the development of a functional and notional
syllabus, allied to the development of a communicative approach to the
teaching of modern languages, was seen most clearly in the Tour de France
project (1975-1984), organised on a national level and convened by a team
led by Richard Johnstone of Stirling University. 

The thinking behind the Tour de France initiative influenced greatly the
form of Standard Grade assessment in Modern Languages. The Standard Grade
Arrangements Document for Modern Languages (1985) describes a functional
and notional syllabus built around topic areas of ‘relevance and interest
to the pupils’ and drawing upon authentic materials. The contexts within
which the language learning will take place have as their purpose the
preparation of the pupils for direct contact with speakers of the target
language, whether this involves the pupils travelling to the foreign
country or the speaker of the foreign language coming to Scotland. 

The weighting accorded in the S Grade assessment arrangements to each of
the four language skills reflects the perceived importance of each skill
for a relative beginner, seeking to communicate in realistic situations.
The skill of Speaking is weighted at 50% of the total mark, Listening is
weighted at 25%, as is the skill of Reading, while the skill of Writing is
not part of the compulsory assessment and therefore does not contribute to
the overall aggregate grade for the subject. For those pupils for whom the
assessment of Writing is an appropriate task, an optional paper in Writing
is offered at General and Credit levels and, if successful, a Grade 1-4 is
recorded separately for the skill of Writing on the candidate’s
certificate.

Although the influence of the communicative approach to language teaching
has been most pronounced in the developments associated with Standard
Grade, it can also be seen in the documentation which lays out the aims of
language learning in the other stages at which modern languages are taught.
In P6-S2, the document Modern European Languages 5-14 sets out the aims of
modern language learning as follows:
• to develop the ability to communicate in the foreign language and in
doing so
• to contribute to knowledge about how language works
• to contribute to learning about ways of life in other countries.

Moreover, a strong resonance of the above-mentioned four components of
communicative competence can still be found in the Subject Guide for Higher
Still Modern Languages, where it is stated that language competence will
depend on the learner’s progressive development in:
• knowing about language – its nature, its grammatical structure and
the purposes for which it is used (grammatical and sociolinguistic
competence)
• interacting with others and being aware of the ‘rules’ of
interaction or of textual structure (discourse competence)
• successfully using strategies to cope with situations (across all
skills) where a breakdown in communication has occurred (strategic
competence)
• being aware of the cultural context in which the foreign language
exists (cultural competence).

Recent Developments

The last decade of the twentieth century has seen the expansion of the
teaching of modern foreign languages both in the secondary sector, where it
became a core subject in S3 and S4 in 1992 (SED Circular No. 1178), and
also into P6 and P7 of the primary sector, as a result of a favourable
evaluation in 1993 of the extensive national pilot project: Modern
Languages in the Primary School (MLPS). However, at the same time as the
base for the teaching of modern languages was broadening, annual statistics
issued by the former SEB indicated a significant decline in the number of
pupils being presented at Higher Grade in a modern language. They also
suggested there was a less positive correlation in modern languages than in
other subject areas in terms of performance in Standard Grade and the grade
achieved the following year at Higher. 

Worried by the rate of decline and eager to understand better the reasons
for it, the SOEID commissioned in 1996 a team of researchers from Stirling
University to explore why, according to statistical evidence from SEB/SQA,
the number of students entering for Higher exams in modern languages had
declined by 50 per cent over a 20-year period (1976-1996). The report of
the findings: "Foreign Languages in the Upper Secondary School: A Study of
the Causes of Decline", referred to in this paper as FLUSS, was published
by SCRE in January 1999. Appearing so soon after the publication of the
highly critical SQML report, it seemed to confirm the impression of modern
languages as a subject in crisis.

This large-scale survey conducted in 25% of secondary schools in Scotland
sought to uncover the perceptions of students in S4 and S5, entered for
Standard Grade at Credit level, as to their experiences in modern language
learning. Among the many explanations offered as contributory factors for
the decline, two of the most significant were identified as:
• a lack of “instrumental motivation” among the majority of students
• a lack of a feeling of real achievement and confidence in what had been
learned by the end of Standard Grade.

Among the factors identified as contributing to this negative learning
experience were the content of the S3/4 teaching syllabus, the approach to
the assessment of the four language skills at Standard Grade, and how these
in turn affected the teaching methodology used by many teachers. This was a
criticism also made by HMI in the SQML report: “Teachers too often relied
on the weighting of the assessment in Standard Grade examinations to
provide the pattern for classwork, with up to 50% of time devoted to
speaking practice”.

The position of Writing as an optional element in the assessment at
Standard Grade was identified by the FLUSS report as a major factor in the
lack of successful progress to Higher Grade, and again the SQML report
identified the same problem: “The relatively poor performance of pupils
in Writing relates to the extent to which writing is included as a skill in
modern languages teaching in S1-S4, the ways in which it is taught,
pupils’ and teachers’ perceptions of the examination as an optional
extra, the nature of the main examination and the nature of the Writing
examination”.

Closely linked to the neglect of the skill of writing, both reports
expressed concern at the lack of systematic development of the pupils’
grammatical awareness. It is argued that this lack of understanding of how
the language structure operates prevents pupils from creating their own
language and often leaves them with only the knowledge of lists of
vocabulary items and able to communicate only in very tightly structured
role-play scenarios. Such criticism is not restricted to the teaching
approach and teaching materials used in the upper secondary school, as
similar shortcomings were identified in a study of modern language teaching
and the teaching resources used in P6-S2, undertaken on behalf of Glasgow
City Council and the University of Glasgow (Cavani and Birks 1998). 

The swing of the pendulum back towards greater emphasis on grammatical
competence as an essential element in communicative competence, and a more
central role for the skill of writing, has been discernible in literature
on the methodology of the teaching of modern languages in recent years.
Susan Halliwell (1993) encapsulates the problem and tension that has
existed within teachers of modern languages, when faced with the dilemma of
how or if to teach grammar in an explicit manner. Heather Rendall
highlights the pupils’ lack of grammatical awareness of their mother
tongue as a barrier to the teaching of grammar: “As the teaching of
English grammar waned and the terminology to describe parts of language
became as foreign as anything taught as part of a second language, so
pupils understood less and less what they found in the coursebooks”.
(CILT, 1998)

Eric Hawkins would agree that the link between knowledge of the first
language and learning a second language is of crucial importance. However,
he sees the link as being the key to helping pupils gain a better knowledge
of how both the first and second language work. The response advocated by
him in "Awareness of Language: An Introduction", 1984, is the creation of
an Awareness of Language course, the chief aim of which “will be to
challenge pupils to ask questions about language, which so many take for
granted”. Working in collaboration with their colleagues who teach
English, the teacher of Modern Languages can draw upon progress already
made by the pupils in the mother tongue “to develop insight into the
patterned nature of language”, which is required if the pupil is to learn
a second language at an accelerated rate under school conditions. 

The need for a coherent approach to the teaching of Modern Languages across
the three stages, which would identify agreed objectives and agreed
approaches to teaching, is expressed clearly in the following terms by the
Scottish Association for Language Teaching (SALT) in its position paper
"Learning and Teaching Modern Languages in Schools and Colleges in
Scotland" (December 1998): “Unfortunately, in practice, the emphasis on
topic areas, seen as an answer to the problem of relevance, has led to the
crumbling of language study into a large number of relatively random
vocabulary areas, destroying the necessary coherence of progressive
language study. A return to this coherence, as spelled out in the grammar
appendix to the Higher Still Modern Languages documentation, is urgently
required to inform all language learning and teaching from P6 through to
Advanced Higher”.

Although the main decisions as to format and changes to existing practice
had been taken well in advance of the publication of the SQML and FLUSS
reports, the Higher Still Development team for Modern Languages was aware
from briefing inputs by SQA and HMI as to the issues of concern. In
particular the development team was eager to make changes which would lead
to an increase in the number of students continuing the study of a modern
language into S5/6 and improve the level of attainment in modern languages
at this level, among pupils of all levels of ability. In this way it was
intended to begin to address and dispel the “climate of negativity”
identified in the FLUSS report. A reading of the Higher Still proposals, as
set out in the documents "Higher Still: Arrangements for Modern Languages"
(1997) and "Modern Languages: Subject Guide" (1997), will show how the
development programme identifies and seeks to address the following
concerns:
• Progression and Continuity
• Intellectual Content and Relevance
• Balance of Skills and Role of Grammar
• Clear expectations and a sense of achievement.

There is a clear attempt in the proposals issued for consultation on the
review of Standard Grade (1999) to articulate with developments in these
areas introduced in the Higher Still programme. This can be seen most
clearly in the decision to redistribute the relative weighting attributed
to each of the language skills. The following table illustrates and
compares the proposed redistribution with the current weighting at Standard
Grade and with the weighting of the skills at Intermediate 1 in the Higher
Still framework: 

[NOTE: Table here in original]

In this proposed redistribution, it is acknowledged that at this level
there should be equal weighting given to the oral/aural skills
(Speaking/Listening) and to the written skills (Reading/Writing), which
mirrors the weighting of the four skills at Intermediate 1 (benchmarked
against General level).

At the same time, it is acknowledged in the revision of Standard Grade that
there needs to be articulation with the proposals which will result from
the revision of the Modern Languages 5-14 National Guidelines. The official
publication of the precise details of the revision at 5-14 are likely to
follow shortly once the Minister has responded to the report on the
Ministerial Action Group on Languages, and the general trend can be deduced
from the Consultation Draft issued in September 1999. The most significant
revisions are likely to include:
• the need to develop all four language skills, including writing, from
the outset
• the inclusion of Knowing about Language as a strand, which permeates
all of the four language skills or modes
• the development of a mutually supportive relationship between the
learning of a foreign language and the skills acquired in learning a first
language. This is referred to as "Language to Languages" and requires that:
“Effective learning strategies developed in first or second language
across the four modes should be used and further developed in the learning
and studying of a foreign language”. (SCCC, 1999)

Although much work still needs to be done to develop and exemplify
performance at this level, the following comment from the Consultation
Draft indicates the shift that is being proposed and highlights the areas
of articulation with developments being implemented in the upper secondary
school: “Writing helps pupils to make sense of their learning, to see
connections, to find out what they know and do not know. Moving from
identification of the similarities and differences between the first
language and the foreign language, the pupils will be increasingly aware of
language patterns and structures from their reading and listening and will
develop a range of strategies for accurate writing in the foreign
language”. (SCCC, 1999)


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Information about document and author:

Text
Text audience
Adults (18+): Specialists: Audience size: 1000+

Text details
Method of composition: Wordprocessed
Year of composition: 2000
Word count: 2514
General description: One of a series of position papers on current educational developments in relation to language education

Text medium
Book: Other: CD Rom of teacher materials (LILT)

Text publication details
Part of larger text: Contained in: CD Rom: LILT Materials
Editor: J McGonigal / C Kay
Part of a longer series of texts: Name of series: Position Papers: CD Rom: LILT Materials

Text setting
Education: 
Text type
Prose: nonfiction: Report: 

Author
Author details
Author id: 721
Forenames: Brian
Initials: C
Surname: Templeton
Gender: Male
Decade of birth: 1950
Educational attainment: University
Age left school: 17
Upbringing/religious beliefs: Protestantism
Occupation: University Lecturer
Place of birth: Newton Stewart
Region of birth: W Dumfries
Birthplace CSD dialect area: Dmf
Country of birth: Scotland
Place of residence: Glasgow
Region of residence: Glasgow
Residence CSD dialect area: Gsw
Country of residence: Scotland
Father's occupation: Baker
Father's place of birth: Colmonell
Father's region of birth: S Ayr
Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Ayr
Father's country of birth: Scotland
Mother's occupation: Shop Assistant
Mother's place of birth: Dumfries
Mother's region of birth: E & Mid Dumfries
Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Dmf
Mother's country of birth: Scotland

Languages:
Language: English
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Work and home
Language: French
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: At work and on holiday
Language: German
Speak: Yes
Read: Yes
Write: Yes
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: At work and on holiday
Language: Scots
Speak: Yes
Read: No
Write: No
Understand: Yes
Circumstances: Visiting family, relatives