There is much debate around the question of "younger is better" in language learning (Singleton 1989, Gregory 1996, Driscoll 2000, Poole 1999, Sharpe 2001, Martin 2000, Blondin et al 1997). It is argued that pupils are less inhibited and more motivated (Chambers 2001, Dörnyei , Z. (2001). Girls are believed to be more motivated towards language learning (Powell 1986, Callaghan 1998, Taylor 2000, Davies 2004) but there is little evidence whether this is the case among younger pupils. There is also much debate about pedagogy, and in particular the 4 skill areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. (Johnstone 1997, Doye and Hurrell 1997, Driscoll  2000)  Scotland, in line with the rest of Europe, has introduced a language at primary school but, of course, pupils are native speakers of English.

This research set out to investigate the attitude of young Scottish pupils in their final two years of primary school (aged 9 - 11)  to learning a language, either French, German, Italian or Spanish, what motivated/ demotivated them, their attitude to the 4 skilll areas and the activities they did in class. It  looked at their perception of difficulty and what they found difficult. The investigation also looked at whether there were gender differences in respect of early language learning.

Blondin, C., Candelier, M., Edenbelos, P., Johnstone, R., Kubanek-German, A., & Taeschner, T (1997). Foreign Languages in Primary and Pre-School Education: Context and Outcomes. A Review of Recent Research within the European Union. Brussels:The European Commission. Callaghan, M. (1998). An investigation into the causes of boys’ underachievement in French. Language Learning Journal 17, 2-7. Chambers, G.N. (Ed) (2001). Reflections on Motivation. London: Centre for Information on Language Teaching. Davies, B. (2004). The gender gap in modern languages: a comparison of attitude and performance in year 7 and year 10. Language Learning Journal 29, 53-58. Dörnyei , Z. (2001). New themes and approaches in second language motivation research. Annual review of applied linguistics, 43 – 59. Driscoll, P. (2000). Modern Foreign Languages in English Primary Schools: An investigation of two contrasting approaches. Unpublished Ph D thesis, University of Kent. Johnstone R. (1997). Modern Languages at Primary School – the Research Background In Modern Foreign Languages in the Primary Curriculum, Proceedings of a Conference London, 1997. School Curriculum Assessment Authority.