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Article published In: Policy and practice in early language learning:
Edited by Janet Enever and Patricia Driscoll
[AILA Review 32] 2019
► pp. 160–177

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THE TEACHER

The impact of teaching quality and learning time on primary EFL learners’ receptive proficiency

Preliminary findings from the TEPS study

 | University of Duisburg-Essen
 | University of Magdeburg
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 7 April 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.00025.wil
Abstract
This contribution presents the preliminary findings from the TEPS study (Teaching English in Primary Schools). The study is situated in Germany where primary foreign language (FL) education has been compulsory since 2004, with pupils beginning FL education – mostly English as a FL (EFL) – in either year 1 or 3. Generally, this introduction of primary FL education has not been empirically evaluated, in spite of various open research questions: (1) Does the receptive EFL proficiency of learners at the end of primary education in year 4 differ depending on their learning time (duration & age of onset)? (2) Is there a correlation between teaching quality (learners’ perspective) and learners’ receptive EFL proficiency as well as their attitudes towards learning EFL? Prior studies (e.g. (2010). Zur Vorverlegung des Fremdsprachenunterrichts am Beispiel des Englischunterrichts in der Grundschule: Evaluative Argumente. Bildung und Erziehung, 63(4), 489–504. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) gave first indications that learners with an earlier start achieve better receptive skills. Yet, findings from these samples cannot be generalized and are altogether inconclusive (e.g. Jaekel, N., van Ackern, I., Schurig, M., & Ritter, M. (2017). Zeigt der Frühbeginn seinen langen Atem? Der Frühbeginn in Klasse 1 und 3 und sein Einfluss auf die Englischkompetenz in Klasse 9: Presentation at the 27th Congress of the Germany Society for Foreign Language Research (DGFF), Sep. 28–30, 2017. Jena, Germany: University of Jena.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Studies investigating correlations between teaching quality and learner achievements in primary school are mainly based in maths and science education (e.g. TIMSS-2015: see Rieser, S., Stahns, R., Walzebug, & Wendt, H. (2016). Einblicke in die Gestaltung des Mathematik- und Sachunterrichts. In H. Wendt, W. Bos, C. Selter, O. Köller, K. Schwippert, & D. Kasper (Eds.), TIMSS 2015 Mathematische und naturwissenschaftliche Kompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich (1st ed., pp. 205–224). Münster: Waxmann.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Thus, the TEPS study situated in both applied linguistics and educational science is addressing some of these research deficits by (a) testing pupils’ receptive EFL proficiency at the end of primary education in year 4 (n = 269) and (b) surveying teaching quality and learner attitudes towards EFL. The study has been conducted in two federal states with different ages of onset (year 1 vs. year 3). Aside from the theoretical background and context of the study this paper will present the complex research design followed by preliminary findings from the pilot study giving insights into the questions raised above (for the main study see Wilden, E., Porsch, R., & Schurig, M. (2020). An early start in primary EFL education and the role of teacher qualification and teaching quality. Language Teaching for Young Learners, 2(1) 28–51. ).
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Political and theoretical background
    • The general context of primary EFL education in Germany
    • The Affordance-Utilization Model of Teaching and Learning
    • Receptive EFL proficiency, teaching quality and attitudes towards learning EFL
  • Prior studies on primary EFL learners’ receptive proficiency
  • Method
    • Research questions and hypotheses
    • Research design, instruments and sample
    • Data analysis
  • Findings
  • Conclusion and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
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