Finland: New methods to be introduced inlanguage teaching, English dominates choices among pupils

[Francis Hult]

Via lgpolicy...
 

Professor: New methods to be introduced in language teaching: English
dominates choices among pupils


It is high time to test new methods in language teaching, says
professor Minna-Riitta Luukka from the Department of Languages at the
University of Jyväskylä.

The language skills of Finns are becoming increasingly narrow and
one-sided: Finns are satisfactorily proficient only in English, while
their Swedish skills are weak. When it comes to German, Russian or
French, many students are no longer found at the university level.

      In 2007, more than 90% of pupils in Finnish comprehensive
schools chose English as their first foreign language (A1), which they
normally start studying in the 3rd grade.
      Only 25% of pupils studied a voluntary A2 language in the 5th
grade, and only 6% of them had chosen German as their A2 language.
      The studies of the "B language" or the second native language,
which everybody has to learn, begin in the 7th grade.
      Only 13% of pupils study an optional B2 language in upper
grades. The proportion of German is 6%, that of French is 5%, while
only 0.6% of pupils study Russian.

One method to expand the language reserves and to increase pupils'
motivation to study even so-called uncommon languages would be to
introduce language immersion already in daycare centres and lower
grades.


Full story:
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Professor+New+methods+to+be+introduced+in+language+teaching/1135250158158



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