Rationale
The study of modern foreign languages enables students to build on their language learning in primary school and further develops their skills in and enjoyment of using languages. Language learning is accessible to all students and contributes to their cognitive, personal and social growth by enhancing their communicative and thinking skills, as well as their participation in a global society. Being able to communicate in the mother tongue and in foreign languages are also among the eight key
Competences
The sum of knowledge, skills, characteristics, personality traits and attitudes which are called upon to perform actions of all kinds, including language activities. (CoE, CEFR. 2001, p.9)
for lifelong learning identified by the European Union and European Council in 20061.
Language learning develops students’ general language awareness. It enhances their ability to analyse how language works, to compare languages, and to reflect on how they learn languages. This has a positive effect on their first language skills and on future language learning.
In learning foreign languages, students develop the skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in the target language in an integrated way by being actively engaged in activities and tasks2 using the four modes of communication (reception, production, interaction and
Mediation
when using mediation skills and strategies, the user/learner acts as a social agent who creates bridges and helps to construct or convey meaning, sometimes within the same language, sometimes from one language to another (cross-linguistic mediation). The focus is on the role of language in processes like creating the space and conditions for communicating and/or learning; collaborating to construct new meaning; encouraging others to construct or understand new meaning; and passing on new information in an appropriate form. The context can be social, pedagogic, cultural, linguistic, or professional.
). As a result, they communicate with increasing independence, confidence and creativity. As learning is a social activity as well as a personal one and as communication is central to language, learning languages offers students ample opportunities to work with others to develop their language skills and achieve appropriate goals.
A fundamental feature of languages is that they give students access to new worlds and different ways of thinking. Language learning broadens students’ horizons and enables them to develop a lifelong learning skill for education, leisure and work, and to develop a positive attitude towards other languages and cultures. Digital technologies play a key role in making language learning and language use increasingly more accessible and enjoyable for learners, by facilitating access to information and communication with people at a global level.
Young people in Ireland are growing up in a dynamic, linguistically and culturally diverse society. This specification promotes a plurilingual approach to language learning, where learners draw on all their linguistic and cultural resources and experiences in order to fully participate in social and educational contexts. This approach emphasises the fact that as an individual person’s experience of language in its cultural contexts expands, from the language of the home to that of society at large on to the languages of other peoples, the learner does not keep these languages in strictly separate mental compartments, but rather builds up a communicative competence to which all knowledge contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact. The various cultures (national, regional, social), to which a learner has gained access, do not just exist side by side but they are compared, contrasted and they actively interact to produce an enriched, integrated pluricultural competence3.
Studies attest to the benefits of bilingualism and
Plurilingualism
Plurilingualism is the dynamic and developing linguistic repertoire of an individual user/learner in which they draw on all of their linguistic and cultural resources and experiences in order to participate more fully in social and educational contexts.
. Students who have been exposed to language learning from an early age perform better than those who have not; not only in verbal skills, but also in mathematics. They display enhanced abilities in areas such as problem-solving, multi-tasking, creativity and pattern recognition4. The development of socio-cultural knowledge and
Intercultural awareness
An awareness of the student’s own and other cultures, values and beliefs. It builds understanding, empathy, respect, and acceptance of other people and cultures by focusing on the development of specific knowledge, attitudes and skills.
also enhances students’ cognitive development. By reflecting on other cultures and making comparisons they develop a deeper understanding of their own while appreciating diversity.
A common approach was adopted in developing the specification for Junior Cycle Modern Foreign Languages (
JC
Junior Cycle
MFL
Modern Foreign Languages
) across the four curricular languages French, German, Italian and Spanish to support teaching, learning and assessment. Click here for additional support materials.
1. Recommendation 2006/962/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key
Competences
The sum of knowledge, skills, characteristics, personality traits and attitudes which are called upon to perform actions of all kinds, including language activities. (CoE, CEFR. 2001, p.9)
for lifelong learning [Official Journal L 394 of 30.12.2006].
2. Definitions of key terminology can be found in the Glossary of Terms in Appendix A. Throughout this document key terminology has been underlined and hyperlinked to the Glossary in Appendix A.
3.
CEFRCV
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Companion Volume
, Council of Europe, 2020, p. 123.
4. See GarcÃa, Ofelia (2009). Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective. Malden, MA and Oxford, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 93-108.