What is the project about?

The Progression in Primary Languages project explores in detail how foreign language knowledge develops in young learners learning French, German, or Spanish in an instructed setting. The longitudinal study, carried out over four years, will look at language learning throughout Key Stage 2 (age 7 to 11) in primary schools in England. The aim is to identify the individual, instructional, and contextual factors that influence language learning in classroom settings in English-speaking countries where exposure to the language being learned is limited. The data generated through the longitudinal study will help to identify realistic learning outcomes and benchmarks for primary languages.

Who is running the project?

This project is led by Dr Rowena Kasprowicz (University of Reading), working in partnership with Dr Rachel Hawkes (The CAM Academy Trust) and the Association for Language Learning, the Research in Primary Languages Network, and Language Driven Pedagogy (formerly the National Centre for Excellence in Languages Pedagogy).

Who is funding the project?

The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation: Future Leaders Fellowship.

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