Points for reflection (continued) - Implications
Tackling barriers doesn’t solve all the behaviour problems, of course. Many pupils will still struggle with physical, emotional, social and other conditions that affect motivation to learn.
The best that modern language teachers can do for pupils is to ensure that the curricular barriers, at least, are minimised. This can have a marked effect on motivation and attention to learning. Failure to address curricular issues leaves the root cause of some difficulties unchanged. This can cause a downward spiral of depressed self-esteem, poor motivation and low attainment. Repeated failure to succeed inevitably results in disaffection and reluctance to learn.
Benefits
When we recognise the true barriers, we can devise strategies for minimising them or removing them altogether. Then more effective learning can take place.
The striking thing about these barriers is that they often seem to have little or nothing to do with language learning per se, but everything to do with the mechanics of the classroom. Could it be that some pupils do not, in fact have overwhelming difficulties with the language, but only with the difficulty teachers may have in recognising what is hindering their pupils from learning as well as they might? The schools we have worked with show that this may well be the case; that the answer may lie in modifying the approaches teachers use, rather than in changing the level of language on offer.
How support staff can help
Support staff are often adept at identifying potential barriers and can provide a valuable service to modern language departments. They can provide a realistic starting point for planning differentiated strategies which can quickly improve learning, not only of pupils who were obviously struggling, but for many others, too.
Departments which work well with support staff to remove unnecessary barriers report improvements in behaviour and motivation that eventually lead to improvements in attainment.