LL-L "Language policies" 2003.11.17 (03) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 17.NOV.2003 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: language education

Isn't there a significant shift in language education policy between
West-European continental countries and Anglo-Saxon countries. I always have
been wondering why learning Spanish thoroughly is not mandatory for kids all
in Texas and in California.

An example of the opposition (cf. annexes below):

1. In an Utrecht school Turkish just failed to become one more of the many
mandatory languages to be learned (excerpts from the "NRC Handelblad"
archive index).

2. In the UK:    scrapping of compulsory foreign language learning
(text pasted from the Guardian website).

I guess the point is: when you belong to the group of the dominant language,
there is no "economical" need for investing in other languages.

Regards,

Roger

--- ANNEX 1 ---

http://archief.nrc.nl:/?modus=m&text=turks+taal&hit=2&set=2
Vmbo-school wil leerling verplicht Turks laten leren
Door onze correspondent
 UTRECHT, 10 NOV.  De rooms-katholieke St. Gerardus Majella mavo, een
vmbo-school in Utrecht, wil komend schooljaar dat in de eerste klas
leerlingen verplicht Turks gaan volgen. Het vak wordt vanaf het tweede
leerjaar...

http://archief.nrc.nl:/?modus=m&text=turks+taal&hit=1&set=2
Mavo ziet af van verplichte lessen Turks
Door onze correspondent
UTRECHT, 11 NOV.  De Utrechtse rooms-katholieke Gerardus Majella Mavo heeft
onder druk van de publieke opinie het voornemen ingetrokken Turks verplicht
te stellen als moderne vreemde taal in het eerste jaar. Dat zegt...

--- ANNEX 2 ---

http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1086852,00.html

Language learning in steep decline

Lucy Ward, education correspondent
Monday November 17, 2003
The Guardian

Modern languages are in dramatic decline in English secondary schools and
universities, with a survey suggesting that 60% of comprehensive schools are
scrapping compulsory language learning as the government moves to make them
optional after 14.

A poll carried out for the government's own languages advisory body also
reveals a gulf opening between rich and poor in language learning.

The research shows an apparent trend for pupils to opt out of languages,
given the choice, with the majority of schools that have ended compulsion
saying that more than half of youngsters this year chose not to study them
after 14. In one school, nine out of 10 pupils opted to drop languages,
while others reported 11-year-old pupils refusing to work hard at the
subject because they knew they could opt out later.

German is being particularly badly hit, and French is also in decline,
though Spanish take-up has risen marginally.

Last night, Barry Sheerman, chairman of the Commons education select
committee, said a steep fall in language study was a matter of deep concern,
and that his committee would consider an inquiry.

He believed there was scope to reform language teaching, but warned against
reducing the pool of linguists so far that there were even fewer language
teachers in future.

The Confederation of British Industry also raised concerns over the
potential impact of fewer language students on the next generation of
teachers. It too suggested the problem might be the way languages are
taught, and urged moves to show young people the value of language skills,
including their effect on employment prospects.

Under the modern languages strategy, which comes into effect next September
but has been anticipated by many schools, languages will no longer be part
of the core curriculum for 14 to 16-year-olds, though schools will be free
to keep them compulsory. Half of those surveyed said they intended to retain
compulsory language study.

Ministers say the change, complemented by the introduction of a modern
language "entitlement" for primary children by 2012, simply acknowledges
that some teenagers would prefer to focus on vocational subjects and helps
avoid turning them off schooling.

Teresa Tinsley, assistant director of CiLT, the national centre for
languages - which advises the government and schools on language learning -
said the reform had never been intended to mean large numbers of pupils
giving up language study.

She said the survey showed some schools were introducing "hasty and
ill-considered changes" which would undermine their capacity to make
languages relevant. Schools needed to give pupils better guidance to ensure
they did not unthinkingly abandon the subjects, she warned.

According to the study, teachers are already worried that many bright
children are dropping languages, sometimes due to option clashes and more
"attractive" subjects.

The survey, compiled jointly by CiLT, the Association for Language Learning
and the University Council of Modern Languages, also reveals the policy is
having a disproportionate effect on poorer and lower ability pupils.

A total of 70% of schools surveyed with more than one in 10 pupils on free
school meals had made languages optional, compared with 31% of schools with
fewer children from low-income families. Two-thirds of schools where less
than half of pupils gained five good GCSEs have ended compulsory languages,
compared with 38% of higher-attaining schools.

Overall, 43% of the 146 schools replying to the survey have made languages
optional at 14.

Today's research, Language Trends 2003, identifies further problems in
higher education, where it says a "free-for-all" in languages is already
having "an alarming effect on national capability".

Three-quarters of universities have axed some language courses over the past
three years, with "disappearing languages" including French, Italian, Dutch,
Swedish and Arabic. Government departments are among employers short of
language graduates.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said the
decline of languages in schools was the inevitable consequence of making
them optional "without any constraints". The SHA wanted the government to
allow the subject to be dropped only in limited circumstances.

A Department for Education and Skills spokesperson said the teaching of
languages in primary schools would ensure pupils had a much greater
motivation for the subject at 14.

----------

From: Mike <botas at club-internet.fr>
Subject: LL-L "Language policies" 2003.11.16 (04) [E]

Hi, Lowlanders,
Críostóir wrote:

> From: Críostóir Ó Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
> Subject: LL-L "Language policies" 2003.11.16 (01) [E]
>
> Roger wrote:
> "What is/was the linguistic position/behaviour of the church [in Britain
and
> Ireland]?"
>
> Although your description of the Church's influence in Flanders and
Belgium
> generally was fascinating, I am not the best source of information on this
> subject, being an atheist.
>
> Apologies!
>
> Criostóir.

I was as fascinated as Críostóir by Roger´s essai and would be very keen to
know the answer to his question. I confess that Roger´s essai has opened a
new perspective for me.
Any knowledgeable people in the area of church/language interaction in
Ireland (or elsewhere for that matter) to help us out?

Greetings, Mike Wintzer

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language policies

Roger (above):

> I always have
> been wondering why learning Spanish thoroughly is not mandatory for kids
all
> in Texas and in California.

You have good reason to wonder.  I am under the impression that there is a
mixture of reasons:

(1) Generally speaking, it is true that speakers of "power languages" see
fewer incentives for learning other languages, and this is by and large
amplified in the case of native speakers of English, the international
lingua franca.

(2) Most people in the world are afraid of learning foreign languages.  This
is particularly so among adults, and they tend to project this fear onto
their children and instill it in their children's attitudes.  There are
numerous misconceptions, including the one that it is very difficult and
requires exceptional intelligence.  So there is this fear factor that
requires all sorts of excuses and probably feeds into policies as well.  I
furthermore suspect that one of the fears that feeds into this is that of
being confronted with foreign, thus alternative, cultures and thoughts,
something that might put into question the status quo based upon the
unquestioned values with which one grew up -- in other words, fear of being
made to look through a window into another, supposedly scary world that
challenges one's philosophy.

(3) In the case of Spanish in the United States, there is a complex of
additional aspects, most importantly:
   (a) racism (against "Hispanics," most of whom, certainly the the
Southwest, are partly American Indian and are by many seen as another
"race")
   (b) the false assumption that Spanish is only the language of immigrants,
especially illegal immigrants, and as such warrants no special attention,
since all immigrants, certainly their USA-born children, are expected to
turn Anglophone sooner or later -- when in reality the southwestern states,
having belonged to Mexico once, have large established indigenous, including
"Indian," communities of Spanish speakers that lived there long before the
areas were ceded to the US
   (c) an awareness of the omnipresence and increasing representation of
Spanish in the United States, particularly in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico,
California, Nevada and Florida, and fear of Spanish eventually "taking
over," any official "concession" to Spanish being seen as a step in that
supposedly dreadful direction

As you may already know, the United States do not have an official language.
Yes, folks, you read correctly.  English is *not* the official language of
this country, nor is any other language.  Those who want to keep it this way
are open to whatever changes may happen in the future, not feeling alarmed
by the thought that the predominant language may become one other than
English.  Among these folks, Americans and their common culture are not seen
as representatives and keepers of the inherited language of another country
(England) -- that being "American" is not defined by language use but is a
more fundamental, profound state of being that is uniquely accommodating of
a variety of languages and cultures.  In other words, the understanding is
that language and cultures may and will change as time goes by but that
being American is fundamentally unchangeable.  (This applies also to
religion, the thought of an official state religion being abhorrent to the
average American, and this is indeed enshrined in the constitution as an
expression of the Founding Fathers' eagerness to free themselves from
church-dictated politics in Britain and the rest of Europe.)

There are several movements to change the (non-existing) language policies
by making English the official first or only language of the United States.
Whilst one of the leaders is Japanese American and there are even some
Hispanic Americans involved in it, these movements are dominated by
Protestant conservatives of North European descent (WASPs) and their
attitudes based upon (1)-(3) above.

Educational policies are up to individual states and counties.  So the
movement to make English the official language and weaken the power of
Spanish and East Asian languages may well succeed here and there, locally or
regionally.  You will notice that the higher the representation of these
"challenging" languages is the stronger these movements are in a given area.

The Christian churches tend to be far more embracing of linguistic
diversity.  The Roman Catholic church of the US caters to the
Spanish-speaking communities, as it used to cater to the Italian-speaking
communities.  Many of the evangelistic churches target immigrant
communities, and Spanish, Korean and Chinese, more recently also Russian and
Ukrainian, are prominently used by them.  Lutheran churches (and there is
more than one here) traditionally conduct services in Scandinavian, German,
Finnish and Estonian, and I do not see much change there, though some do
offer services and counseling in other languages where there is a definite
need.  Orthodox Christian churches of course use Greek, Old Church Slavonic,
Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Aramaic, etc., this being fundamental
and traditional among them.  (This includes use of Russian and Old Church
Slavonic in Alaskan and Alaskan-dominated churches.)   As far as I can tell,
the Episcopelian church (i.e., the American Anglican church, which,
interestingly, seems to be the name the BBC uses ...) does not do much, if
anything, in this area.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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