Exploring young learners' foreign language learning awareness

The present study explores young learners' awareness of foreign language learning and of their learning conditions. The participants were 76 Catalan-Spanish children who were learning English at primary school. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal data were collected by means of two different interviews that contained questions related to pupils' views about themselves as learners, their learning of English, the difficulty of English language learning, the classroom layout and the learning activities with which they learnt most. Pupils' answers showed an early awareness of foreign language learning and learning conditions as well as the influence of the learning environment and experience on the changes that reshaped their views as they pass through primary education.