not yet acquired a generative capacity, but relies This focus on orality results in a number of other
upon specificities.
a
repertoire
of
words
and
formulaic
expressions’ (2018: 46).
Specificity 3: Second language acquisition
contexts
Grade CEFR level Grade 3 Pre-A1 With two hours (often in reality 90 minutes) of
Grade 4 A1 language classes, for language acquisition to even
Grade 5 A1+ begin to take place a number of requisites need to
Grade 6 A2 be in place. Tomlinson (2013: 12-15) highlights the
Table 1: Extended version of CEFR descriptors (Council of
Europe, 2018)
of
several
facilitators
to
second
language (L2) acquisition:
An example of a pre-A1 descriptor for Overall
Listening Comprehension is,
everyday familiar provided
words,
relevance
‘Can
recognise
they
are
delivered clearly and slowly in a clearly defined,
familiar, everyday context’, which fits with the
Metas Curriculares de Inglês (Cravo, Bravo &
Duarte, 2015) for Grade 3: ‘Compreender palavras
e expressões simples’ and the respective list of
situations (p. 9), despite the omission of ‘…
articuladas de forma clara e pausada’ (p. 14),
which appears in Grade 4 only (seen here as an
oversight).
Specificity 2: The priority given to orality
The CEFR guides the National Language Learning
Standards (Metas Curriculares) in all grades and
this requires a focus on five skill areas (listening,
reading, spoken interaction and production and
writing) as well as two domains (intercultural/ lexis
and grammar). Nevertheless, the standards clearly
state the relevance of oral skills in Grades 3 and 4:
Os domínios de referência definidos, para
cada ano, na disciplina de Inglês, traduzem a
visão de uma aprendizagem da língua
estrangeira que, neste ciclo de ensino em
particular, privilegia a oralidade. É uma
aprendizagem que se consolida de forma
gradual, partindo da compreensão oral e da
repetição, para as situações simples de
interação e de expressão em articulação com
a leitura e a escrita. (p. 3).
1) Exposure to rich meaningful language - in
primary
contexts
routines
are
extremely
important in enabling this exposure (Dias &
Mourão, 2005).
2) Activities which require both an affective and
cognitive engagement – these include activities
which
use
memorizing,
elimination,
hypothesising etc. Many game-like activities
allow for these skills and, as they are
enjoyable,
they
lead
to
an
affective
engagement with the language (and often the
teacher).
3) Noticing how the L2 is used, or ‘experiential
discovery’ (p. 13) - Cameron (2001) alerts us
to the relevance of moving from discourse to
grammar using English for routines, classroom
management etc, but also to set up activities
which make language explicit enough to be
noticed by the learners.
4) Engaging in contextualised and purposeful L2
communication – opportunities to find out
information for real include using peers as
sources of information. Activities like surveys,
true/false statements etc. Wherever there is a
gap
in
information
there
is
purposeful
communication.
5) Interacting with others in the L2 – pair work
and group work are all acknowledged in