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<h1>Give languages a fair shout</h1>
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<p class=""><span class="">4 September 2014</span></p>
<div class=""><p>We need policy to foster foreign language study at all levels of education, says Jocelyn Wyburd</p></div><div class="" style="width:450px"><p class=""><img alt="Language spelled in wooden blocks on pile of books" src="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Pictures/web/k/v/x/language-spelled-in-wooden-blocks-on-pile-of-book_450.jpg"></p>
</div><blockquote><p>The reform ran against the tide of language policy on the Continent, which aims to equip young people with two second languages</p></blockquote><p>We
live in an age of globalisation, and UK universities have embraced this
in many different ways. Yet the perception remains that the status of
English as the global lingua franca makes learning other languages
unnecessary, with potentially disastrous consequences for language
disciplines in our universities.</p><p>The continuing decline of foreign language study in higher education was highlighted in a recent <em>Times Higher Education</em> article (“<a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/demand-for-stem-subjects-holds-up-in-wake-of-fees-hike/2015284.article">Demand for STEM subjects holds up in wake of fees hike</a>”,
21 August), following a warning from the Higher Education Funding
Council for England that student numbers in 2013-14 could be at their
lowest level for a decade.</p><p>Language study is about more than just
the acquisition of a means of communication. It brings numerous
cognitive and educational benefits and is, crucially, a gateway to
understanding the world through the words, thoughts and cultures of
others. The question we must ask ourselves is whether, as a nation, we
can afford to lose such international insight – for that is the certain
consequence if <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/classics-example-any-answers-for-modern-languages-decline/2013859.article">language departments continue to close</a>.</p><p>We
cannot ignore the role played by education policies at secondary school
level. In 2004, the Labour government reduced the number of mandatory
subjects at Key Stage 4 (GCSE level), removing languages. The reform –
designed to give pupils the power to decide their own curriculum and to
curb truancy – ran against the tide of language policy on the Continent
(and now in Scotland), which aims to equip young people with two second
languages, and resulted in a dramatic decline in language learning in
the UK beyond the age of 14.</p><p>At least, it did in the state sector,
which allowed pupils to vote with their feet, or dissuaded them from
studying languages in favour of the “easier” subjects more likely to
enhance the school’s league table position. Independent schools largely
maintained the obligation to study a language, resulting in de facto
elitism, with state school pupils particularly under-represented on
language-based degrees. That elitist image has been further cemented by
the particularly alarming rate of <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/letters/prevent-language-death/2014837.article">closure of language departments</a> at post-92 universities.</p><p>The
coalition government did reinstate languages as core academic subjects
through their inclusion in the English Baccalaureate school performance
measure (EBac), which probably accounts for the sudden increase in GCSE
numbers in 2013, mirrored in this year’s AS-level numbers. But more
recently other measures informing league tables have overshadowed the
EBac, and the risk must be that schools driven by performance statistics
may again marginalise languages.</p><p>One positive trend is the number
of university students taking language courses alongside a specialism
in other disciplines. There is some evidence that many are realising the
extent to which school policies and guidance have let them down.
Increased competition in the jobs market has led them to recognise the
instrumental value of languages, while many postgraduates understand
their necessity in research – whether for using sources in other
languages (yes, they do exist!) or for fieldwork abroad.</p><p>However,
this trend should not be regarded as compensation for the decline in the
deeper, more specialist study of languages, cultures and societies, and
the accompanying linguistic and intercultural competence acquired
through language degrees, residence abroad and postgraduate research in
language-based disciplines.</p><p>The British Academy and the Arts and
Humanities Research Council are concerned about the damage to
scholarship, yet universities do not ask for qualifications in a second
language other than for entry to language degrees. Employer bodies and
economists regularly highlight the damage to the UK’s economy and
diplomacy from a lack of language skills, yet graduate recruiters rarely
seek language skills or degrees either.</p><p>To thrive in a globalised
world, we need a serious policy commitment to languages as key skills
at all levels of our education system, as called for by the All Party
Parliamentary Group on Languages in July. It is time for ministers and
employers to act.</p><p><br></p><p><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/opinion/give-languages-a-fair-shout/2015503.article">http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/comment/opinion/give-languages-a-fair-shout/2015503.article</a><br>
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