Preliminary findings of a format-based foreign language teaching method for school childrenin the Basque Country

Abstract

This article describes the preliminary findings in the Basque Country of a project shared by four European countries to teach a second language or a foreign language to preschool and school-age children. The method used to teach the foreign language – in this case, the third language (English) – is based on the use of dramatized formats (Taeschner, 1992). Here, we examine (1) the level of proficiency attained by the experimental groups (50 pupils) at the end of the first year and at the end of the second year of working with the method and (2) the level of proficiency attained by the experimental groups by the end of the second year compared to that attained by the control groups (20 pupils) working with a different method. Other variables are also considered: specific behavior types (disruptive, withdrawn), intelligence, sex, language achievement, and sociocultural background. The pupils were tested at the beginning of the project, at the end of the first year, and at the end of the second year. The linguistic data were transcribed and analyzed with the CLAN programs of CHILDES (MacWhinney, 1995), and various statistical analyses were carried out. The results indicate significant differences in language proficiency in favor of the experimental group as well as some interesting information about children with specific behaviors learning with this method.