[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
(Foucault, 1979) result in very embodied identities.
As indicated this study represents the first principled move to explore
the boys foreign languages relationship to have originated in Australia,
although as also noted above recent years have seen the beginnings
of critical attention to the issue in the United Kingdom, where concern
has manifested at official policy as well as at more scholarly levels.
In 1998, the then British Minister of Education, Stephen Byers, signalled
the government s recognition of boys underperformance in modern
foreign languages as a problem, committing government support to
investigate the issue. A project was designed and implemented, carried out
by Homerton College, Cambridge (Jones and Jones, 2001), on behalf of
The Gendering of Languages Education 47
the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The impetus for the
study grew out of the findings of the Office for Standards in Education in
the United Kingdom some years earlier (OFSTED, 1993) which had iden-
tified two main areas in which there was clear evidence that boys were
performing less well than girls (Arnot et al., 1998). One was the earliest
stages of literacy development, when girls were seen to get off to a better
start in literacy; the other the 11 16 age stage, in which girls outperform
boys quite markedly in language-related areas. The main evidence for
these trends came from the English curriculum, but there was a similar,
though less publicised, pattern in relation to modern foreign languages
(Jones and Jones, 2001). The OFSTED Report had identified various pos-
sible explanations for gendered differences in performance outcomes,
which included many of the issues which emerge from our data. These
include: gender socialisation and educational practice; gendered patterns
of classroom learning; gendered interaction patterns in classrooms; the
nature of learning tasks and of teaching styles; the gendering of the cur-
riculum; the impact on educational experience of wider societal and cul-
tural changes. The Homerton College team examined how these various
issues impacted on the foreign language context (ibid.).
The one-year study involved the collection of data from both students
and teachers. It took as its starting point the statistical evidence that
showed a gap of 16 per cent over the previous four years between the
achievement outcomes of female and male students; and evidence that
fewer boys than girls choose to continue with language study to senior
level, or to enrol in specialist language degrees at tertiary level. Two age
groups were targeted for the study, Years 9 and 11, in seven comprehen-
sive schools in the United Kingdom. Data were gathered via individual
interviews and focus groups. The key findings were unsurprising in
some respects, confirming more informally collected impressions; and
aligning closely with our data (this connection will be discussed in more
detail in later chapters when we analyse our own data).
The recommendations for policy and practice formulated in the
Homerton Report relate closely to the findings. The initial stated inten-
tion of the project had been very specifically to listen to learners , and
recommendations clearly reflect the tenor of boys commentaries. Many
connect directly with the relationship between boys, teachers and class-
rooms, with suggestions that content be made more engaging and rele-
vant; that connections be established where possible with native
speakers and the target culture; that the role of the teacher be made less
central, and more ownership of the experience be accorded to students;
that learning tasks be more interactive and challenging (ibid.). Such
48 Boys and Foreign Language Learning
recommendations sit comfortably alongside pedagogical models cur-
rently informing educational reform in Australia, (see, for example, the
New Basics Framework in Queensland, 2001), and there are clear reflec-
tions of the project s intention to accord priority to students perspec-
tives. As Hodgkin (1998) advises, students have a central contribution to
make as active players in the education system and in educational
reform, and educational researchers around the world currently insist
on the inclusion of the pupil perspective too often missing in the
process of school improvement (e.g., Ruddock, 1999).
The Homerton Report recommends that discussions take place with
students of all ages about what makes or could make foreign language learn-
ing a more positive, productive and worthwhile experience (Jones and
Jones, 2001:48). It argues that such discussions must involve not only can-
vassing students views, but also providing clear explanations to students
of teacher and programme intentions; clarifications of how certain activ-
ities or tasks fit into overall learning strategies; explicit discussion about
the process of learning a second or foreign language and the relationship
between learning a first and a subsequent language. This kind of explicit
work is similar to the move to develop a language awareness dimension to
first language and literacy which is now well established in Australia and
the United Kingdom. The argument now being made is that a similar
dimension to foreign language work is equally important.
An earlier United Kingdom project, jointly conducted by the Centre
for Information on Language Teaching and Research (CILT) and the
Barking and Dagenham Local Education Authority in 1998, provided
comparable data to the Jones and Jones study. The focus of this project
was the invisible child in the language classroom: the student who is
neither the star nor the problem in the average language classroom; [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
(Foucault, 1979) result in very embodied identities.
As indicated this study represents the first principled move to explore
the boys foreign languages relationship to have originated in Australia,
although as also noted above recent years have seen the beginnings
of critical attention to the issue in the United Kingdom, where concern
has manifested at official policy as well as at more scholarly levels.
In 1998, the then British Minister of Education, Stephen Byers, signalled
the government s recognition of boys underperformance in modern
foreign languages as a problem, committing government support to
investigate the issue. A project was designed and implemented, carried out
by Homerton College, Cambridge (Jones and Jones, 2001), on behalf of
The Gendering of Languages Education 47
the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The impetus for the
study grew out of the findings of the Office for Standards in Education in
the United Kingdom some years earlier (OFSTED, 1993) which had iden-
tified two main areas in which there was clear evidence that boys were
performing less well than girls (Arnot et al., 1998). One was the earliest
stages of literacy development, when girls were seen to get off to a better
start in literacy; the other the 11 16 age stage, in which girls outperform
boys quite markedly in language-related areas. The main evidence for
these trends came from the English curriculum, but there was a similar,
though less publicised, pattern in relation to modern foreign languages
(Jones and Jones, 2001). The OFSTED Report had identified various pos-
sible explanations for gendered differences in performance outcomes,
which included many of the issues which emerge from our data. These
include: gender socialisation and educational practice; gendered patterns
of classroom learning; gendered interaction patterns in classrooms; the
nature of learning tasks and of teaching styles; the gendering of the cur-
riculum; the impact on educational experience of wider societal and cul-
tural changes. The Homerton College team examined how these various
issues impacted on the foreign language context (ibid.).
The one-year study involved the collection of data from both students
and teachers. It took as its starting point the statistical evidence that
showed a gap of 16 per cent over the previous four years between the
achievement outcomes of female and male students; and evidence that
fewer boys than girls choose to continue with language study to senior
level, or to enrol in specialist language degrees at tertiary level. Two age
groups were targeted for the study, Years 9 and 11, in seven comprehen-
sive schools in the United Kingdom. Data were gathered via individual
interviews and focus groups. The key findings were unsurprising in
some respects, confirming more informally collected impressions; and
aligning closely with our data (this connection will be discussed in more
detail in later chapters when we analyse our own data).
The recommendations for policy and practice formulated in the
Homerton Report relate closely to the findings. The initial stated inten-
tion of the project had been very specifically to listen to learners , and
recommendations clearly reflect the tenor of boys commentaries. Many
connect directly with the relationship between boys, teachers and class-
rooms, with suggestions that content be made more engaging and rele-
vant; that connections be established where possible with native
speakers and the target culture; that the role of the teacher be made less
central, and more ownership of the experience be accorded to students;
that learning tasks be more interactive and challenging (ibid.). Such
48 Boys and Foreign Language Learning
recommendations sit comfortably alongside pedagogical models cur-
rently informing educational reform in Australia, (see, for example, the
New Basics Framework in Queensland, 2001), and there are clear reflec-
tions of the project s intention to accord priority to students perspec-
tives. As Hodgkin (1998) advises, students have a central contribution to
make as active players in the education system and in educational
reform, and educational researchers around the world currently insist
on the inclusion of the pupil perspective too often missing in the
process of school improvement (e.g., Ruddock, 1999).
The Homerton Report recommends that discussions take place with
students of all ages about what makes or could make foreign language learn-
ing a more positive, productive and worthwhile experience (Jones and
Jones, 2001:48). It argues that such discussions must involve not only can-
vassing students views, but also providing clear explanations to students
of teacher and programme intentions; clarifications of how certain activ-
ities or tasks fit into overall learning strategies; explicit discussion about
the process of learning a second or foreign language and the relationship
between learning a first and a subsequent language. This kind of explicit
work is similar to the move to develop a language awareness dimension to
first language and literacy which is now well established in Australia and
the United Kingdom. The argument now being made is that a similar
dimension to foreign language work is equally important.
An earlier United Kingdom project, jointly conducted by the Centre
for Information on Language Teaching and Research (CILT) and the
Barking and Dagenham Local Education Authority in 1998, provided
comparable data to the Jones and Jones study. The focus of this project
was the invisible child in the language classroom: the student who is
neither the star nor the problem in the average language classroom; [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]