Can Early Foreign Language Learning Contribute to the Shared Emotional and Motivational Landscape of a Primary School?

The government's stated intention is that all KS2 learners will have an entitlement to foreign language learning by 2010. Disquiet about motivation for language learning in the secondary sector led to the reduction in status of ML in 2003 to an option subject in KS4. We should not simply consider how best to assure motivation among primary learners of MFL but, in addition, explore what early foreign language learning can contribute to the whole school. There are grounds for claiming that learning a foreign language can contribute to children's overall enjoyment of, motivation for and self-esteem in learning. In its early implementation, it can create a shared curricular experience for a whole school, which can be built upon subsequently. The strength of language learning is sometimes seen as being because it is different, but this article also explores the framework and approach needed to ensure that it is strongly embedded in the whole-school curriculum. In addition to a literature-based rationale for this proposal, the article also contains quotations from four interviews conducted at a primary school in the East Midlands with a headteacher and three small groups representing pupils in Reception, Y3 and Y6 classes.