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

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views of the authors only, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein.

Notes

1. Initially, we used a different videoconferencing ‘end piece’ in one of the primary schools. The lack of total compatibility meant that the quality of connection was so poor that the lessons were suspended until better equipment could be used.

2. The publicity for Centra describes the system as ‘a synchronous web delivery solution for conducting virtual classroom events through the internet’. More information on the Saba Centra Suite is available at www.saba.com/products/centra/.

3. Such equipment (videoconferencing ‘end-pieces’) is widely available from a range of companies; the UK project described here used Tandberg equipment from the Tandberg ‘Set-top’ series. More information is available at www.tandberg.com/products/video_systems/tandberg_set-top_series.jsp.