Translating policy into practice: the impact of the KS3 Framework for MFL on language teaching and learning in schools in England

Abstract

The last few years have seen the implementation of fundamental structural and curricular policy initiatives affecting the teaching of languages in schools in England. Several policy initiatives have been introduced by the government affecting the position and status of languages in schools, such as the development of foreign language teaching in primary schools, the growth of specialist language colleges and the introduction of the Key Stage 3 (KS3) Framework for modern foreign languages (MFL) in 2003. With the lifting of compulsory provision of languages at KS4, the three years of language study at KS3 currently constitute for the majority of pupils in England the only period of exposure to instructed foreign language study. Research into the provision and practice of language teaching in this key stage is therefore urgently needed. This paper examines the impact of centralised curricular policy, in the form of the KS3 Framework for MFL, on language teaching and learning in schools. The analysis is situated within the theoretical framework of process‐oriented foreign language education planning. The paper draws on empirical evidence of the impact of the KS3 MFL Framework gathered in a recently completed longitudinal study funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, using survey and case study methodologies during a two‐year period (2006–2008). Findings indicate that there is significant impact of the framework on patterns of classroom language teaching as well as on the thinking of language teachers and pupils about language pedagogy and learning. This impact, however, takes different forms and is heavily influenced by processes of mediation and appropriation.

Keywords:

• foreign language policy
• planning
• KS3 MFL
• language teaching
• language learning

Notes

1. This labelling closely parallels Stephen Ball’s distinction between ‘contexts of practice’ and ‘distributional outcomes’ in researching educational policy (1993). For a recent overview of theoretical distinctions between ‘problem‐solving’ and ‘process’ conceptualisations of educational policy‐making, see Nudzor (2008).

2. For a summary of key preliminary findings see Evans et al. 2008.