Response to Lord Dearing's report
Language is Everything has responded to Lord Dearing's
interim report on how to increase the take-up of languages
with a call for language learning to be "extended
far beyond the traditional path of French, German and
Spanish".
Background
In 2006, Lord Dearing was commissioned by the Secretary
of State for Education and Skills to review how the
Government might increase the take-up of languages
in Key Stage 4.
Full text of our response to the interim
report
We were struck by the report's observation that:
"... at Key Stage 3 the pupil is given the knowledge
of the basic structure of a language to enable him,
'to fly, but instead he is put in a cage'. This reflects
what many teachers regard as the stultifying effect
of the repetition of Key Stage 3 topics. The present
requirements of the GCSE examinations were criticized
for their dulling effect."
We would argue that pupils are caged more by the
narrow range of languages on offer than by the requirement
of GCSEs.
The report rightly asserts that a language skill "is
an enfranchisement for the individual; for companies
engaged in overseas trade, it helps in opening and
sustaining trading relationships, and for society it
helps to create a people who are both confident in
themselves and able and willing to engage with others
on their own terms, and whose cultural understanding
goes beyond these shores."
Yet, although there are over 6,000 languages spoken
in the world, just 3 of these - French, German and
Spanish - account for 94% of GCSE entries for modern
foreign languages. French alone accounts for 59% of
GCSE entries, although it is not one of the ten most
commonly-spoken mother tongues worldwide. The EU operates
in 23 official languages, yet only 9 of these are available
as GCSEs. Arabic and Chinese are widely tipped to be
two of the four most influential languages over the
next fifty years, but - across the whole of the UK
in 2004 - there were less than 4,000 GCSE entries for
Chinese, and less than 3,000 GCSE entries for Arabic.
More importantly, our experience is that non-west
European languages - particularly those that do not
use the Roman alphabet - can capture young people's
imaginations in a way that French, German and Spanish
simply cannot.
If more children are to become excited about languages,
if more individuals are to be enfranchised in the global
village, and if UK business is to become more competitive,
we believe there needs to be a clear signal that the
adventure of learning a foreign language can - and
must - extend far beyond the traditional path of French,
German and Spanish.
Related links
We are not responsible for the content of external
web sites
The
Languages Review on the Department for Education
and Skills e-consultation website
Notes
1) Language is Everything is an independently-owned,
UK-based provider of interpreting and translation services
to the public and private sectors.
2) In November 2006, the Regional Language Network
for Yorkshire & the Humber announced that we had
been made a 'language champion', in recognition of
our community work with local schoolchildren.
3) Further information about our company, including
our annual report for 2007, is available at www.languageiseverything.com.
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