Languages in English Education System are a “Shambles” according to students

According to students on The Student Room the English education system is a “shambles” when it comes to students learning languages. Currently it is not compulsory for GCSE students to study a language, meaning that the number of students studying languages is declining, particularly in state schools.

This discussion on The Student Room highlights the issues that students see as being the problem with the level of languages being taught in schools:

• Poor teaching
• Not enough encouragement or emphasis in learning languages at school – In some schools it is not seen as much of a priority
• Some students see learning languages as pointless and difficult, so therefore they feel demotivated to learn one
• Not seen as a necessary skill
• English is seen to be so widely spoken they don’t need to learn an alternative

Students on  The Student Room, Pencilcasetapper states:

“Here in Britain, entries for GCSEs in MFL are declining. We are a shambles compared to the rest of Europe in language learning. It’s disgraceful – the whole system in fact.”

abc:) says:

“It should definitely be compulsory to learn a second language in school. A lot of people argue that they find it too hard, and it’s true that many students can’t get the hang of it. However in my opinion this is only because there is such a lack of teaching … People don’t find languages hard because they are genuinely difficult, they find them hard because they have hardly been taught them in their lives.”

However there are some positives:

• Some schools are making it compulsory for a minimum of one language to be learned, despite the fact that it’s not compulsory to learn a language at GCSE level
• There is a lot of emphasis being placed on learning certain languages such as French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese for their employment benefits
• Some organisations are promoting learning languages to motivate and influence students into picking them at school