Case study investigation of a videoconferencing experiment in primary schools, teaching modern foreign languages

摘要

The MustLearnIT European-funded research project with partners in Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Finland and the UK aimed to investigate ways of teaching and learning modern foreign languages (MFL) to early learners in small/remote primary schools where there were no specialist MFL teachers. This was to be carried out through new technologies such as videoconferencing. In the UK, distance was less of a problem, whereas lack of linguistic expertise (subject knowledge and pedagogy) for primary school teachers was likely to prove more challenging, given the government's plan for all pupils in England to study a foreign language throughout Key Stage 2 (ages seven to 11) from 2010. This article firstly examines a number of background issues in teaching MFL in primary schools in England and reviews two UK-based projects from the emerging literature on videoconferencing. It then reports on the MustLearnIT project conducted in the UK, which investigated the use of secondary teachers to teach French to primary school children through videoconferencing, and explores the perceived benefits in terms of pupil learning and staff development. The MustLearnIT project findings suggested that this approach, making expert subject and pedagogical knowledge available through current technologies, can be effective. The article ends by considering implications for the future.View full textDownload full textKeywordsRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09571731003790508