This blog post discusses attitudes towards language learning in the light of a recent HEPI report (2021

Beighton, C.

English

Canterbury Research and Theses Environment

Language Learning in crisis: A dangerous question?A recent report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has announced a crisis in languagelearning in the UK. The report, published in January 2020, is noteworthy because, unlike other HEPIreports, it treats a single discipline.The reason for this choice is not just the serious decline in the study of foreign languages: thesituation appears in fact to be going from poor to worse. Only 32 % of 16-to-30-year olds in the UKcurrently say they are “confident” reading and writing in another language. The EU average is 89 %,with many speaking three or four languages well. Definitions of “confident” doubtless vary, but thistrend is worrying, the report says:The trend towards overlooking subjects which teach us to analyse the humancondition and empathise with others is dangerous.Many feel that the problems starts with schools: a labour government removed the compulsorystudy of additional languages at GCSE in 2004. And certainly, education in languages has long been aproblem, with sporadic teaching, dubious curriculum choices and, speaking from experience teachingFrench in secondary, further and higher education, examining practices that reflect a desire forexpediency rather than efficacy, appropriacy or relevance. I can still remember being asked by mymentor to teach anglicised pronunciation as a novice French teacher.More important, though, is the misrepresentation of languages generally as a tool for enhancingtrade and employability. It’s perfectly true, of course, that speaking a foreign language can enhanceone’s credibility in the global marketplace: collaborators will not just take you more seriously butactually seek you out if you are able to communicate effectively.But being able to communicate effectively means more - much more – than being able to buy abaguette, book a Calabrian hotel room or regurgitate a rote-learned commentary on the history ofglühwein. The promotion of languages must go well beyond the idea that they serve essentially as ameans of transacting business. If you want a business relationship, to understand a foreign market ornegotiate a contract, you will need to feel far more than just “confident” or “fluent” in a foreignlanguage: you’ll need to be able to understand others as people and also express yourself as arounded human being with the kind of broad cultural understanding that can only come from arounded education.If we want commercial success – and the impact of this ideology on our shared resources so far isincreasingly open to question – it’s high time we stopped using our education system as a means ofdelivering bitesize chunks of quasi-knowledge to young people whose future lies exclusively in theirpotential as taxpayers. Languages – ancient and modern – offer one of the best ways of developingthe skills and knowledge that as humans we prize the most: understanding, imagination, empathy.What Richard Dawkins calls our “monoglottish disgrace ” is not just embarrassing, it’s downrightdangerous.

Language learning in crisis: A dangerous question?

https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/download/b5e2ec3948346afb29e337987a0644a66149516b8409161e46f6832318801498/30525/LanguageLearning%20in%20crisisBeighton.pdf

Language learning in crisis: A dangerous question?

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