These two programmes by Teachers TV explore how the attainment gap between boys and girls in modern foreign languages (MFL) has been tackled at Horbury School, where it was running at twice the national average. By experimenting with single-sex, broad-ability setting in Years 8 and 9, they have been able to cater for what are perceived as the predominant gender-based learning styles for both girls and boys.
The results at the school have been a rise in National Curriculum levels of 11% for girls and 7% for boys, which, although not reducing the gap in attainment, appears to show that the experiment has benefited both groups. It is not within the remit of these programmes to explore whether other factors may have had a part to play in this; for example, pupils not being distracted by/wanting to impress members of the opposite sex. As a specialist language college, all pupils are required to continue study of French to GCSE, but 25% of them have opted for a second language; it is not clear if this also represents a rise, or if boys and girls are equally represented in this.
The strategies employed for the boys’ classes include: planning for a range of short and varied activities, often with competitive elements and game-like qualities; a focus on content stereotypically relevant to boys (e.g. motorbikes, sport); and a “football league system”, whereby groups of pupils score goals for work completed as a ‘team’. With the help of two MFL experts, the second programme explores these aspects in terms of motivation, which appear to be based largely upon a behaviourist model.
In contrast to this, it is suggested that the girls are motivated by success, and are able to work more effectively towards long-term goals. Although they are presented as being taught in fairly traditional fashion, sitting in rows and working on grammatical exercises, the point is made that an overlap is essential; that both groups need to experience all of the opportunities represented within the National Curriculum Programme of Study. It is important to recognise that, if the notion of preferred learning style for particular groups of learners is accepted and acted upon, the result may be that the need for learners to develop their repertoire of learning styles is often overlooked. The suggestion that, by focussing on different learning styles at key stage 3, the teachers have increased their own teaching repertoires for the mixed classes in key stage 4, is a positive sign in this regard.
Both of these programmes will be useful to teachers and trainees who are looking for strategies to engage the whole class. This is particularly important, now that MFL is no longer compulsory at key stage 4. In addition to the points highlighted above, there are also other issues which the programme raises, which could be explored further:
• The (lack of) status of the target language portrayed within the classroom, in teacher-pupil as well as pupil-pupil interaction, and its possible link to the poor standard of pronunciation demonstrated.
• The impact of what appears to be an all-female MFL department on boys’ perceptions of the relevance of the subject to them; the importance of purpose is also raised by one of the experts, Terry Lamb. Of course, the shortage of male role models within MFL is a national concern.
Reviewed by:
Sue Field