EARLY LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHER TRAINING: A FOREIGN LANGUAGE SYLLABUS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Abstract

The Decree Law no.59 of 2004 concerning the introduction of foreign
languages in the Italian primary school has led to several nationwide teacher training
programmes with the aim to provide in-service training for teachers employed in all
types and levels of school according to the EU directives contained in Document no.36
of April 2003.
One such scheme is the Training Programme (ex Comunicazione di Servizio
Ministeriale n.1446 of 29th July 2005) to develop linguistic and communicative
competences in English and teaching methodology for primary school teachers which
envisages a concerted effort on the part of the country's educational institutions. The
aim of this article is to review the present training scheme and to suggest possible
outcomes and future prospects. The article is divided into two parts. In part one, to
contextualise the present project, we outline a brief history of the language policies
which have been carried out in Europe and in Italy in the last decades in the primary
school sector. In part two, we describe the operational phases which have led to the
implementation of the current training programme and explain the theoretical and
legal basis of the project as well as the research perspectives underlying the creation
of specific syllabuses for each level of language competence. In the conclusion we
suggest ways of developing our research in order to contribute to the building of a
national framework for foreign language teacher training.