In Asia, most children learn an official version of their native language or learn a local major lingua franca (for example Mandarin, Hindustani) in Asia-Pacific countries, and all subjects are taught in that lingua franca language except for foreign language lessons. Singapore, in which English is taught as a first language, is an exception. In India, Hindi and English are both official languages of the Government of India and are both compulsory languages to learn in many schools. Many students also study official regional Indian languages along with English. English is the most-studied foreign language in the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan), Singapore and Hong Kong. In China, English is a required language starting in third grade, although the quality of instruction varies greatly. In Nepal, all subjects can be taken in a choice of Nepali or English, except the respected language subjects.
Hong Kong
Native Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong children commence learning English and maybe also Mandarin from age 3 when they go to kindergarten and continue until they finish their secondary education.[citation needed] The Hong Kong government's language policy is to produce people who are biliterate in English and Written Chinese and trilingual in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. In order to enter university in Hong Kong, students must pass both English and Chinese exams, or in the case of those who did not learn Chinese at school, due to having studied at an international school, another foreign language.[citation needed]
In Pakistan, English has the status of an official language and is widely used within the government, by the civil service and the officer ranks of the military. Pakistan's Constitution and laws are written in English. It is also taught extensively in both public and private schools. Studying of English is compulsory in Pakistan along with Urdu (the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan). Regional languages of Pakistan are open to choice and a student is free to either pursue them or not. Nearly all schools, colleges and universities use English as the medium of instruction.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, Malay and English are taught as compulsory languages from the first year of primary school with the exception of publicly funded vernacular schools (known as national type schools). In the latter, either Mandarin or Tamil are taught as additional compulsory languages. In non-vernacular schools, all subjects with the exception of the sciences and mathematics are taught in Malay. In vernacular schools, all subjects with the exception of the sciences and mathematics are taught in the primary language that is used in the respective schools. The sciences and mathematics are taught in English, although some Mandarin vernacular schools have dispensation to teach those subjects concurrently in Mandarin.
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, where the official state languages are Sinhalese, Tamil, and English, all government schools instruct either in Sinhala or Tamil. A few higher-level government schools (national-level schools) also offer instruction in English. All students studying in Sinhalese or Tamil are also taught English as a second language. All students studying in Sinhalese are also taught Tamil as a second language, and vice versa.
Europe
In all European Union school systems, it is mandatory to study at least one foreign language at some stage during the school career; there is a tendency for this to start earlier, even in the first year of primary school. Additional languages can be chosen as an optional subject. The most common foreign language chosen is increasingly English (the most popular first foreign language in 23 of the 25 member states of the European Union which do not have English as the language of instruction), followed by French and German. Some 90% of pupils learn English as a foreign language, whether the choice of language is obligatory or parental.[1] Teaching is largely provided by generalist teachers in primary school and by specialists in middle and secondary schools. An exception to this is Ireland, where Irish Gaelic and English are the only mandatory languages, although the majority of students also study a modern language as it may be compulsory to do so at second level.
Foreign language education
1995 European Commission’s White Paper "Teaching and learning – Towards the learning society", stated that "upon completing initial training, everyone should be proficient in two Community foreign languages". The Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills.
On average in Europe, at the start of foreign language teaching, pupils have lessons for three to four hours a week. Compulsory lessons in a foreign language normally start at the end of primary school or the start of secondary school. In Luxembourg, Norway, Italy, Malta and Spain, however, the first foreign language starts at age six, in Denmark at age seven and in Belgium at age 10. About half of the EU's primary school pupils learn a foreign language.
English is the language taught most often at the lower secondary level in the EU. There, 93% of children learn English. At upper secondary level, English is even more widely taught. French is taught at lower secondary level in all EU countries except Slovenia. A total of 33% of European Union pupils learn French at this level. At upper secondary level the figure drops slightly to 28%. German is taught in nearly all EU countries. A total of 13% of pupils in the European Union learn German in lower secondary education, and 20% learn it at an upper secondary level.
Despite the high rate of foreign language teaching in schools, the number of adults claiming to speak a foreign language is generally lower than might be expected. This is particularly true of native English speakers: in 2004 a British survey[which?] showed that only one in 10 UK workers could speak a foreign language. Less than 5% could count to 20 in a second language, for example. 80% said they could work abroad anyway, because "everyone speaks English." In 2001, a European Commission survey[which?] found that 65.9% of people in the UK spoke only their native tongue.
In some countries, learners have lessons taken entirely in a foreign language: for example, more than half of European countries with a minority or regional language community use partial immersion to teach both the minority and the state language.
In the 1960s and 1970s, some central and eastern European countries created a system of bilingual schools for well-performing pupils. Subjects other than languages were taught in a foreign language. In the 1990s this system was opened to all pupils in general education, although some countries still make candidates sit an entrance exam. At the same time, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland also started bilingual schooling schemes. Germany meanwhile had established some bilingual schools in the late 1960s.
French, German, and Spanish are taught in most schools, but the UK Government does not mandate the teaching of particular languages.[2]
In England, all local authority-run schools must teach at least one foreign language to pupils between the ages of 7 and 14. At Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11), such schools must teach a modern or ancient language, while at Key Stage 3 (ages 11 to 14) they must teach a modern language.[3] However, academies and free schools are exempt from this requirement. Furthermore, languages have not been compulsory beyond the age of 14 since 2004.[4]
In Scotland, the Scottish Government is implementing a "1+2" policy, giving pupils an "entitlement to learn a language" from the age of 4 or 5 until the age of 14 or 15. As of 2021, the policy intends for all schools to offer one additional language from Primary 1 (ages 4–6) and a second additional language from Primary 5 (ages 8–10). Both are expected to be taught until the end of Secondary 3 (ages 13–15). The government will not mandate specific languages, but rather these will be decided by schools and local authorities.[5]
In Wales, all children at English language medium state schools learn Welsh as a second language until the age of 16, which is mainly taught through the medium of English. Welsh language schools teach mainly through the medium of Welsh.[6]
Language-learning uptake has been declining among UK students for decades, with French and German falling the most in the period 2013-2019.[7][8] In 2020 it was reported that 30% of secondary schools in Scotland were failing to offer even one additional language, even though they are required by government to offer two.[9]
Modern languages are studied in universities and colleges and various degrees are awarded in modern languages.[10] The Modern Humanities Research Association was founded at Cambridge in 1918: after an early change of name to MHRA in 1918, the unincorporated charity became an incorporated company with the same name on 2 October 1997. Its declared aim is to encourage and promote advanced study and research in the field of the modern humanities, which include the modern and medieval European languages, literatures and cultures.
Although there is no official language of the United States,[11] children learn American English as part of their institutional education. As the responsibility of K-12 education sits not with the U.S. Department of Education but with each individual state's State Education Agency (State Department of Education),[12] some public school districts containing large numbers of English language learners (ELLs, notably students who speak Spanish, Chinese, and Navajo) offer bilingual education. This two-way setting uses the student's native language as well as English to impart curriculum, but the National Association for Bilingual Education notes it has been a controversial—and sometimes political—topic for a portion of citizens who advocate for English-only education.[13] The U.S. also hosts many English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for people who have not learned English in school (most frequently immigrants to the U.S.).
As the global world economy makes knowledge of a world language a valuable work skill, a growing number of elementary and middle school school districts now offer modern language courses, usually on an optional basis. Students are increasingly advised (and at times required) to study a foreign language in high school, and more frequently at the college or university level. In 2006, "the most commonly studied foreign language[s] in the U.S., determined by the number of students enrolled in foreign language classes in colleges and universities" were, in order of popularity: Spanish, French, German, American Sign Language, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, Russian, and Arabic.[14]
In most school systems, foreign language is taken in high school, with many schools requiring one to three years of foreign language in order to graduate. In some school systems, foreign language is also taught during middle school, and more recently, many elementary schools have been teaching foreign languages as well. However, foreign language immersion programs are growing in popularity, making it possible for elementary school children to begin serious development of a second language.
In 2008 the Center for Applied Linguistics conducted an extensive survey documenting foreign language study in the United States.[15] The most popular language is Spanish, due to the large number of recent Spanish-speaking immigrants to the United States (see Spanish in the United States). According to this survey, in 2008 88% of language programs in elementary schools taught Spanish, compared to 93% in secondary schools. Other languages taught in U.S. high schools in 2008, in descending order of frequency, were French, German, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, American Sign Language, Italian, and Japanese. During the Cold War, the United States government pushed for Russian education, and some schools still maintain their Russian programs.[16] Other languages recently gaining popularity include Arabic. The Center for Applied Linguistics also conducted a study that concluded that while the number of schools from the elementary to secondary level offering foreign language instruction are on the rise, a pitfall of the curriculum is that students are not becoming proficient in the target languages.[17] Researchers also note that American students of foreign languages significantly underperform in comparison to their European and Asian counterparts. It has been suggested that a system where foreign language instruction is required from PK-12 should be implemented in order to fix this problem.[18]
Australia
Prior to the British colonisation, there were hundreds of Aboriginal languages, taught in a traditional way. The arrival of a substantial number of Irish in the first English convict ships meant that European Australia was not ever truly monolingual. When the gold rushes of the 1850s trebled the white population, it brought many more Welsh speakers, who had their own language newspapers through to the 1870s, but the absence of language education meant that these Celtic languages never flourished.
Waves of European migration after World War II brought "community languages," sometimes with schools. However, from 1788 until modern times it was generally expected that immigrants would learn English and abandon their first language.[19][full citation needed] The wave of multicultural policies since the 1970s has softened aspects of these attitudes.
In 1982 a bipartisan committee of Australian parliamentarians was appointed and identified a number of guiding principles that would support a National Policy on Languages (NPL). Its trend was towards bilingualism in all Australians, for reasons of fairness, diversity and economics.
In the 1990s the Australian Languages and Literacy Policy (ALLP) was introduced, building on the NPL, with extra attention being given to the economic motivations of second language learning. A distinction became drawn between priority languages and community languages. The ten priority languages identified were Mandarin, French, German, Modern Greek, Indonesian, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Spanish and Aboriginal languages.
However, Australia's federal system meant that the NPL and ALLP direction was really an overall policy from above without much engagement from the states and territories. The NALSAS strategy united Australian Government policy with that of the states and territories. It focused on four targeted languages: Mandarin, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. This would be integrated into studies of Society and Environment, English and Arts.
By 2000, the top ten languages enrolled in the final high school year were, in descending order: Japanese, French, German, Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, Spanish and Arabic. In 2002, only about 10% of Year 12 included at least one language other than English (LOTE) among their course choices. In 2009, Lo Bianco and Slaughter, recommended a new approach, stating that “What is needed is a universal apprenticeship in learning how to learn languages”.[20] An apprenticeship language is a relatively easy language which is taught to overcome the limitations of monolingualism, in preparation for later mastery of a different language or languages.
Reasons to use an apprenticeship language are:[citation needed]
To make a start when target language teachers are unavailable.
To master a whole foreign language, for motivation and effective subsequent learning.
To combat procrastination in the face of diverse priorities in Language education.
To normalize bilingualism and promote flexibility.
To model creative problem solving, ethical behaviour and global citizenship.
A resource and method has been devised to implement the ALL approach by equipping generalist primary (elementary) teachers to teach the simple designed language Esperanto as a first, fluent, intercultural, foreign language.[21]
The syllabus taught in schools highly depends on the state. Most of the states follow a 3 language policy in high schools. Three languages usually include the local language of the state and English as a first and third language and Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit as a second language (or recently some other foreign languages like French, German, Italian and in some schools, Arabic). Hindi-speaking states have recently started offering other regional languages in India as a second language. Primary and middle schools mostly only teach two languages, the local language of state and English. In medium and large cities, most private schools use English as the medium of instruction. Currently India has launched NEP. According to this education policy for urban and rural has become same. Now all the school studies will be in local language and can also learn English. So now if you want to learn any foreign language you have to join language institute. In India there are many online courses to learn foreign languages. One of the famous foreign language in India is Russian. You can easily learn to speak Russian.[22] With NEP Indian Education System is targeting students to learn technology knowledge. They have included many computer related languages and points from very lower classes.
Middle East and North Africa
Language study in the Middle East and North Africa varies from one country to another, usually depending on the foreign nation that colonized or occupied the country. For instance, in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, French is the most widely studied language besides the native Arabic, while in Egypt and the Persian Gulf countries (such as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Oman), English is the main supplementary language. The teaching of languages other than Arabic, mainly English, is compulsory in all schools in southern and central Iraq and at all levels, being a requirement for graduation from school. In the Kurdistan Region (northern Iraq), the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, English is compulsory at all schools and all levels.[citation needed] In these countries, English and other foreign languages tend to be offered as subjects only in certain, wealthier schools. While Hebrew is the national language of Israel, English or Arabic are compulsory in elementary schools.
Egypt
As Egypt's economy depends mainly on tourism, many modern languages are taught and spoken there. All children learn Arabic in school, but English is also mandatory beginning with the first grade (6 years of age). Another language is mandatory for the last two years of high school (17–18 years); French and German are the most commonly learned. There are also schools that specialize in particular languages. For instance, in French schools in Egypt students learn Arabic, French and then English later on. German schools in Egypt students learn Arabic, German and then English and probably some basic French as well.
Iran
Until 2022 Iran had a couple languages, in July 2023 six new languages have been added Chinese, Russian, French, Arabic , Spanish, German, Italian included.[23]
Venezuela
All children learn Spanish at school, but begin to learn English at the age of six in pre-school. In some other schools, like San Jose de Tarbes in Caracas, children begin to learn French and English when they are promoted from pre-school to middle school. And because of the growing number of Chinese immigrants, in certain areas of the country, there are also small schools for learning Chinese starting at the age of eight.
Related Research Articles
Iran's ethnic diversity means that the languages of Iran come from a number of linguistic origins, although the primary language spoken and used is Persian. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran asserts that the Persian language alone must be used for schooling and for all official government communications. The constitution also recognizes Arabic as the language of Islam, and assigns it formal status as the language of religion. Although multilingualism is not encouraged, the use of minority languages is permitted in the course of teaching minority-language literature. Different publications have reported different statistics for the languages of Iran; however, the top three languages spoken are consistently reported as Persian, Azeri and Kurdish.
Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies.
Gymnasium is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term preparatory high school or the British term grammar school. Before the 20th century, the gymnasium system was a widespread feature of educational systems throughout many European countries.
Education in Singapore is managed by the Ministry of Education (MOE). It controls the development and administration of state schools receiving taxpayers' funding, but also has an advisory and supervisory role in respect of private schools. For both private and state schools, there are variations in the extent of autonomy in their curriculum, scope of taxpayers' aid and funding, tuition burden on the students, and admission policy.
Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including maths, science, or social studies. The languages used for instruction are referred to as the L1 and the L2 for each student, with L1 being the student's native language and L2 being the second language to be acquired through immersion programs and techniques. There are different types of language immersion that depend on the age of the students, the classtime spent in L2, the subjects that are taught, and the level of participation by the speakers of L1.
Seventh grade is the seventh year of formal or compulsory education. The seventh grade is typically the first, year of middle school. In the United States, kids in seventh grade are usually around 12–13 years old. Different terms and numbers are used in other parts of the world.
A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a specific country. Native speakers from that country usually need to acquire it through conscious learning, such as through language lessons at school, self-teaching, or attending language courses. A foreign language might be learned as a second language; however, there is a distinction between the two terms. A second language refers to a language that plays a significant role in the region where the speaker lives, whether for communication, education, business, or governance. Consequently, a second language is not necessarily a foreign language.
A medium of instruction is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the official language, it may be used as the medium of instruction for part or all of schooling. Bilingual education or multilingual education may involve the use of more than one language of instruction. UNESCO considers that "providing education in a child's mother tongue is indeed a critical issue". In post-secondary, university and special education settings, content may often be taught in a language that is not spoken in the students' homes. This is referred to as content based learning or content and language integrated learning (CLIL). In situations where the medium of instruction of academic disciplines is English when it is not the students' first language, the phenomenon is referred to as English-medium instruction (EMI).
The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private board designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance with the recommendations of the New Education Policy 2020 (India), through the medium of English. The examination allows secure suitable representations of responsible schools in their states or territories.
Education in Poland is compulsory; every child must receive education from when they are 6 years old until they are 18 years old. It is also mandatory for 6-year-old children to receive one year of kindergarten education, before starting primary school at 6 years old. Primary school lasts eight years, and students must take a final exam at the end of the eighth grade. After graduating from primary school, people typically go on to attend secondary school, which lasts 4 or 5 years. They can also choose to educate themselves towards a specific profession or trade, and receive work experience and qualifications through apprenticeships. After graduating from secondary school and passing the final exam, called the matura, one can pursue a higher education at a university, college, etc.
The Special Assistance Plan is a programme in Singapore introduced in 1979 which caters to academically strong students who excel in both their mother tongue as well as English. It is available only in selected primary and secondary schools. In a SAP school, several subjects may be taught in the mother tongue, alongside other subjects that are taught in English. SAP schools currently cater only to those studying Mandarin as their mother tongue although theoretically, future SAP schools for other mother tongues are a possibility.
A language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to refer to linguistic barriers to communication, i.e. the difficulties in communication experienced by people or groups originally speaking different languages, or even dialects in some cases.
The education in the Flemish Community covers the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium and consists of three networks (netten): government-provided education (gemeenschapsonderwijs), subsidized public schools and subsidized free schools.
Welsh-medium education is a form of education in Wales in which pupils are taught primarily through the medium of Welsh.
LOTE or Languages Other Than English is the name given to language subjects besides English in Australia, New York City, and other schools. The name evolved from 'heritage language', a term first used to refer to languages other than French and English in Canada. Later modified in relation to Australia to refer to languages other than English. LOTEs have often historically been related to the policy of multiculturalism, and tend to reflect the predominant non-English languages spoken in a school's local area, the idea being to play a part in the maintenance of cultural identities in local communities.
The Latin language is still taught in many parts of the world. In many countries it is offered as an optional subject in some secondary schools and universities, and may be compulsory for students in certain institutions or following certain courses. For those wishing to learn the language independently, there are printed and online resources.
English 31 is a not-for-profit association, based in Toulouse area, providing English education to 6- to 18-year-old bi-lingual students schooled in the French system. It is a voluntary association in France working in partnership with the Éducation Nationale and supported by its principal industrial partner, Airbus. It offers the teaching of English within the French school system to pupils who are fluent English speakers. Four to six hours of lessons a week are given by native English-speaking teachers with British teaching qualifications. The main aims are to develop reading and writing skills and an understanding of English-speaking culture.
In the Netherlands, the English language can be spoken by the vast majority of the population, with estimates of English proficiency reaching 90% to 93% of the Dutch population. Contributing factors for the high degree of English fluency are the similarity of the two languages, the country's small size, dependence on international trade, and the use of subtitles for foreign languages on television, rather than audio dubbing. Dutch children have to start learning English in primary school from age ten at the latest. Additionally, more and more Dutch schools, at all levels of education, have adopted English as a language to teach in.
Singapore embraces an English-based bilingual education system. Students are taught subject-matter curriculum with English as the medium of instruction, while the official mother tongue of each student - Mandarin Chinese for Chinese, Malay for Malays and Tamil for South Indians – is taught as a second language. Additionally, Higher Mother Tongue (HMT) is offered as an additional and optional examinable subject to those with the interest and ability to handle the higher standards demanded by HMT. The content taught to students in HMT is of a higher level of difficulty and is more in-depth so as to help students achieve a higher proficiency in their respective mother tongues. The choice to take up HMT is offered to students in the Primary and Secondary level. Thereafter, in junior colleges, students who took HMT at the secondary level have the choice to opt out of mother tongue classes entirely. Campaigns by the government to encourage the use of official languages instead of home languages have been largely successful, although English seems to be becoming the dominant language in most homes. To date, many campaigns and programmes have been launched to promote the learning and use of mother tongue languages in Singapore. High ability students may take a third language if they choose to do so.
In bilingual education, students are taught content areas like math, science, and history in two languages. Numerous countries or regions have implemented different forms of bilingual education.
↑ The Examination Statutes: statt. univ. Oxon. tit. VI and parts of other statutes; olim Excerpta e statutis universitatis Oxoniensis: titulus XIV, de vestitu et habitu scholastico; titulus XV, de moribus conformandis; titulus XXIII, of women students Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 198-211 "The subjects of examination in the Honour School of Modern Languages shall be the French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian languages together with such other Modern European language or languages as shall have been added to this list in the manner hereinafter provided".
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