Making modern languages accessible to all

Learning a foreign language can be a fun and life-enriching experience. Being able to read a foreign menu and order a coffee or ice cream on holiday or simply being able to pronounce correctly the name of a favourite foreign football team is a very satisfying achievement.

We can connect with people in almost every country in the world by telephone, text messaging, email and internet. We can even watch foreign programmes via satellite and cable television. 

Many of us encounter foreign language speakers in our everyday lives. Britain is a multicultural and multilingual society. All around us there are exciting opportunities to explore and value our differences. But it is not just the individual who will benefit; there are great advantages for a society whose members can make valuable contributions outwith their own borders. Understanding other cultures is an important asset if our future citizens are to be equipped for life and work in an expanding European community and in the wider world.

Although, according to recent research, around two thirds of 12 to 16 year-olds attending special schools or mainstream bases are following programmes in which foreign languages play a part, some schools are still reluctant to take the plunge. Perhaps it is felt that they should concentrate their efforts on the basic skills or that necessary support staff are not available. Learning a foreign language is a valuable life skill and should be available to all, regardless of ability or disability, but what can be done to make language learning accessible to less able pupils?

In schools today, modern languages are taught in the later stages of primary and in mainstream secondary but generally only the most able pupils are likely to continue past these first stages. Sometimes, children with learning difficulties or special educational needs struggle to succeed in mainstream classes where the approaches in use fail to meet their learning needs.

There are success stories. Some schools have introduced a European dimension into the languages curriculum, providing a wider context for language learning. Pupils compare other communities with their own, making a connection between a familiar environment and those of other countries.

In the late 1990s, with these successes in mind, National Qualification "Access" programmes were developed, to provide programmes and certification for those for whom Standard Grade Foundation Level had proved unsuitable. There are three levels of study. Following the example set by special schools, Access 1 and 2 require students to compare life in the foreign country with similar aspects of life in their own environment, and to be familiar with some related elements of the foreign language. More formal language learning units are also available at Access 2 but, as at Access 3, only speaking, reading, and listening are assessed; writing is treated as support for learning, but not assessed.

Although Access programmes are allowing more children to experience success, they are not suitable for everyone. As growing numbers of pupils with special educational needs are being integrated into mainstream classes, teachers need to be equipped with some of the skills used by learning support specialists if they are to make success in learning a modern language an achievable target.

Developing suitable programmes 

One promising trial has brought together learning support specialists with modern language teachers to develop ways of presenting the modern language curriculum to groups of children with learning difficulties, giving them that route to achieving success.

Four schools in Edinburgh have piloted a project using this collaboration between the two teaching disciplines - 'Working Together: Improving access to the Modern Language Curriculum'.

With finance from SEED's Innovation in Modern Languages fund, the project's aim was to assist schools to improve inclusion and give access to modern languages to those with special educational needs. 

• Groups of pupils thought to be at risk of failing are identified.
• Pairs of learning support specialists and modern language teachers are then brought together to pinpoint the difficulties and obstacles experienced by these pupils.
• New ways of presenting the curriculum are devised and designed specifically to their level of learning.  

As the pilot was drawing to a close, these new approaches were assessed and the most successful initiatives shared with other teaching staff. For the participating staff, one of the major advantages was the luxury of being allocated dedicated time to share ideas, plan as a team and to develop strategies with a real chance of improving these pupils opportunities for success.

The pilot schools chose a variety of approaches: one school looked at ways of combining literacy and foreign language study for less able pupils in S1 and S2; another school explored the use of multi-sensory approaches to keep a class of mixed ability pupils in S2 motivated and on task for longer; a third school linked modern language learning with other areas of the curriculum and used multimedia to support this; and a fourth explored how more active and independent learning could help to motivate their bottom stream French class.

All the schools are now looking for ways to introduce some of their successful strategies into other classes. The modern language and learning support staff felt the projects gave an insight into changes that can be made to give lasting improvements and make a significant difference in children's motivation and achievement. The collaborative process benefits teachers and pupils alike – an excellent example to drawn on in future.

Life in Another Country: Access 1 and 2: Support for Teachers and Students

For students following programmes in Modern Languages at Access 1 or Access 2 communicative competence, often seen as the main goal of foreign language learning, may be achievable only in part. However, there are other potential benefits that can be offered through the medium of the foreign language programme to students working at these levels. This support pack suggests ways of using the unit Life in Another Country to achieve wider goals: it suggests ways in which the use of human and other resources in the local community can provide motivating and confidence-building activities as well as providing a meaningful context for more extended foreign language learning; it provides a useful bridge between foreign language work and more familiar aspects of students' lives.

Life in Another Country: Support for Teachers and Students

This pack provides revised and updated support for teachers and students using the Access 1 and 2 units 'Life in Another Country'. Part A contains support for teachers, including suggestions for delivering the unit. Part B contains customisable materials which can be used to teach this unit according to the suggestions in Part A.

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