This article concerns the attitudes of the pupils towards modern languages in the primary school (MLPS) in Scotland. Findings suggest that most pupils have a positive attitude to learning a language at primary school P6/7 stages. A significant gender difference was identified, with the girls more positive than the boys. For both P6 and P7, learning a language was of average difficulty for most pupils. There was a significant gender difference in both cohorts with boys finding it more difficult than girls. The reasons for language preference largely remain the same at both stages and among both boys and girls. Spanish emerges as the most popular among both P6 and P7. The reasons for this relate to the obvious utility value of the language with pupils identifying the fact that they go there and wish to speak to Spanish people. The P7 cohort does not identify their impending transfer to secondary school as an important factor in their reason for wanting to learn a particular language. Nor do they see the foreign language as helping their understanding of language generally.
This article considers the attitudes of pupils aged 9 – 11 years in Scotland towards the learning of a foreign language in primary school. It also considers the perception of difficulty, what they tell us causes them difficulty, their language preferences and the reasons for these. The article identifies any significant differences between boys and girls in these areas.
Tierney, D., & Gallastegi, L. (2011). The attitudes of pupils towards modern languages in the primary school (MLPS) in Scotland. Education, 39(5), 483-498