The need for an increase in the learning of foreign languages in
primary schools in Australia was noted by the Senate Standing
Committee on Education and the Arts (Report on a National Language
Policy, 1984, Recommendation 78, p230). The introduction of the
Japanese language program at Macquarie Primary School, ACT, in 1984,
was a response to this need, combined with the expressed wish of the
local community. Within this program it was decided that an
unpublished curriculum developed and used in the ACT by a native
speaker of Japanese, would be trialled.
The purpose of this study, within a Master of Education degree, was to
evaluate Book 1 of this curriculum, and the process by which it was
implemented at the school, during the first year of operation of the
program. The framework around which the evaluation was organised was
Sanders and Cunningham's (1973) Structure for Formative
Evaluation in Product Development.
The evaluation sought to answer five questions which focussed on the
validity, appropriateness and consistency of the broad goals of the
program, and the extent of achievement of those goals by the students;
the effect of the implementation of the program on school
organisation; unexpected outcomes of the program; and revisions and
modifications which were necessary to the program as the curriculum
was trialled. A number of data gathering techniques was used to
obtain the information required to answer these questions.
The results of this study suggest that the curriculum being trialled
was based on an eclectic approach to the teaching of a foreign
language (Prator, 1980; Bell, 1981), selecting from various theories
and methodologies, components deemed appropriate for primary age
students in their first year of Japanese.
The study also provided evidence that, after one year's participation
in the Japanese program all children were, to an extent, achieving
both broad goals of the program. There was some evidence however,
that achievement of the goals was mediated by several learner
characteristics, the most influential of these falling into the broad
category of 'attitude'. It was discovered also, that the
introduction of such a program into an already crowded school
curriculum affected aspects of organisation within the school, and
that all the outcomes of the program were not necessarily planned, or
expected. Finally, certain changes, both organisational and to the
curriculum, were made and implemented during the 'formative interim
evaluation' stage.
The conclusions of this thesis are offered at two levels: conclusions
concerning the evaluation process itself, and those arising from the
teaching of Japanese to primary age students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219186 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Mawbey, Angela, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Angela Mawbey |
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