Skip to main content

So how can we get more young people studying modern languages at university?

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/31/drop-in-university-language-applications?CMP=twt_gu

Apparently, despite tuition fees, university applications in the UK are at record levels. One notable subject area which has struggled in recent years, however, is modern languages. What could we do to get more young people continuing with languages in higher education and thus help to address the shortage of linguists which business reports?
  • Firstly, all the while the A-level/post 16 academic curriculum is so narrow, various subjects will always struggle to attract recruits. MFL is not alone. The last twenty years has also seen a sharp decline in students studying, for example, history and geography. We need bums on seats at A-level to secure a larger number of undergraduates. To address this we need to broaden the A-level curriculum which we failed to do in 2000. A recent report has recommended we do the same, but will fall on governmental deaf ears. The traditional A-level is a protected species and, apparently, a global brand.
  • Secondly, we need to make a qualification in a language prerequisite for entry to at least (and maybe all) some universities. UCL's current policy sets the example. If pupils knew that to go to a Russell Group university, or better a wider pool of universities, then they would flock in greater numbers to GCSE and, one would assume, A-level. 
  • Thirdly, we need to keep ramming home the messages about the benefits to one's personal growth and job prospects of learning a language. We have been building up STEM subjects for years and need to do the same for languages.
  • Lastly, we need to finally address the issue of severe grading at both GCSE and A-level. MFL is nearly half a grade harder than maths and English at GCSE. At A-level it is one of the hardest subjects along with sciences.  Too many schools are reporting that students do not choose languages because it is harder to get a good grade. That's not right or fair.

Two policies which are unlikely to produce results are primary school MFL (too thin, too inexpertly taught, not enough progression) and compulsory MFL at GCSE. The latter would be positive in as far as more students would get to a low intermediate level, but most would still continue to dislike languages and not wish to carry on. Don't forget, languages are hard and will always only attract a minority in the UK which speaks the world lingua franca.

All the while we continue to produce too few linguists at least we will be able, as in other fields, to fill the employment gaps with migrants, but this is not really good enough, is it? Too few young people are reaping the rewards that an education in a second language produce.

Comments

  1. Although I agree with much of what you say Steve (certainly on grading and the importance of increasing the number of linguists) there are a few more positive things we should add:

    -the potential for combining language learning with broader communication skills including digital literacies for all levels. We have an expressed requirement from businesses for young people who have better interpersonal and technological skills.
    A broader choice of A level curriculum could help to address this.

    -Emphasising the ease of language learning in today's shrinking world. It has never been easier to organise connections at a distance as we are seeing with e-twinning and #globalclassroom initiatives bringing greater authenticity to the classroom. This is a challenge we need to embrace.

    Speak to the Future http://www.speaktothefuture.org/
    is a cross sector campaign to promote the language capabilities of the UK and to include them in creating a STEM+ agenda, enhancing the core literacies for the future.
    (BTW don't hold your breath on HE entry requirements!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for commenting Teresa. I'm not sure I get your first point. I always thought learning a language improved communication skills along the way. I take the second point, although, for me, it falls into the category of enhancing rather than fundamentally changing, if you see what I mean! I like thew idea of a "STEM+ agenda".

      I'm not quite sure why the traditional "gold standard" A-level seems untouchable. Universities protecting their own subject areas? Fear of dumbing down? (Hard to claim that when we know how challenging IB is.) England/Wales is an outlier in this regard. Yes, not holding breath on university entry requirement. To study French at uni you have to have GCSE maths (is that right?). To study maths you don't have to have a language. This reflects our cultural bias.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the natural order hypothesis?

The natural order hypothesis states that all learners acquire the grammatical structures of a language in roughly the same order. This applies to both first and second language acquisition. This order is not dependent on the ease with which a particular language feature can be taught; in English, some features, such as third-person "-s" ("he runs") are easy to teach in a classroom setting, but are not typically fully acquired until the later stages of language acquisition. The hypothesis was based on morpheme studies by Heidi Dulay and Marina Burt, which found that certain morphemes were predictably learned before others during the course of second language acquisition. The hypothesis was picked up by Stephen Krashen who incorporated it in his very well known input model of second language learning. Furthermore, according to the natural order hypothesis, the order of acquisition remains the same regardless of the teacher's explicit instruction; in other words,

What is skill acquisition theory?

For this post, I am drawing on a section from the excellent book by Rod Ellis and Natsuko Shintani called Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research (Routledge, 2014). Skill acquisition is one of several competing theories of how we learn new languages. It’s a theory based on the idea that skilled behaviour in any area can become routinised and even automatic under certain conditions through repeated pairing of stimuli and responses. When put like that, it looks a bit like the behaviourist view of stimulus-response learning which went out of fashion from the late 1950s. Skill acquisition draws on John Anderson’s ACT theory, which he called a cognitivist stimulus-response theory. ACT stands for Adaptive Control of Thought.  ACT theory distinguishes declarative knowledge (knowledge of facts and concepts, such as the fact that adjectives agree) from procedural knowledge (knowing how to do things in certain situations, such as understand and speak a language).

La retraite à 60 ans

Suite à mon post récent sur les acquis sociaux..... L'âge légal de la retraite est une chose. Je voudrais bien savoir à quel âge les gens prennent leur retraite en pratique - l'âge réel de la retraite, si vous voulez. J'ai entendu prétendre qu'il y a peu de différence à cet égard entre la France et le Royaume-Uni. Manifestation à Marseille en 2008 pour le maintien de la retraite à 60 ans © AFP/Michel Gangne Six Français sur dix sont d’accord avec le PS qui défend la retraite à 60 ans (BVA) Cécile Quéguiner Plus de la moitié des Français jugent que le gouvernement a " tort de vouloir aller vite dans la réforme " et estiment que le PS a " raison de défendre l’âge légal de départ en retraite à 60 ans ". Résultat d’un sondage BVA/Absoluce pour Les Échos et France Info , paru ce matin. Une majorité de Français (58%) estiment que la position du Parti socialiste , qui défend le maintien de l’âge légal de départ à la retraite à 60 ans,