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Language education refers to the teaching and learning of a languages. It refer to both improving learner's native language or learning a foreign language, the latter being the most usual meaning.

Methods of teaching foreign languages

There are several methods in wide use:

Methods used in schools and universities since the 19th century

  • Grammatic language education instructs students in grammar, and provides vocabulary to memorize. Most instructors now acknowledge that this method is ineffective by itself. This is the method used by many Latin teachers, as Latin is not spoken and has no native speakers.
  • The audio-lingual method has students listen to or view tapes of language models acting in situations. Students practice with a variety of drills, and the instructor emphasizes the use of the target language at all times. The audio-lingual method was used by the United States Army for "crash" instruction in foreign languages during World War II. Despite the documented success of these programs, audio-lingual methods are no longer common.
  • Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. Despite a number of criticisms, it continues to be popular, particularly in Europe, where constructivist views on language learning and education in general dominate academic discourse.
  • Eclectic methods combine the above into a single course of study. These are the most common.

Other approaches

  • Language Immersion puts students in a situation where they must use a foreign language, whether or not they know it. This creates fluency, but not accuracy of usage. See the Berlitz Method.
  • Code switching, switching between languages in the middle of a sentence or utterance, is a commonly used communication strategy among language learners. While traditional methods of formal instruction often discourage code-switching, students place in a Language Immersion situation often revert to code switching, and hence it is in common use. If viewed as a Learning strategy, where-in the student uses the foreign language as much as possible but reverts to their native language for any element of an utterance that they are unable to produce in the foreign language, then it has the advantages that it encourages fluency development and motivation and a sense of accomplishment by enabling the student to discuss topics of interest to him or her early in the learning process -- before requisite vocabulary has been memorized. It is particularly effective for students whose native language is English, due to the high probability of a simple English word or short phrase being understood by the conversational partner.
  • Tutoring by a native speaker is one of the best all-around methods. However it requires a motivated native tutor, which can be a rare, expensive commodity.
  • Directed practice has students repeat phrases. This method is used by U.S. diplomatic courses. It can quickly provide a "phrasebook" knowledge of the language. Within these limits, the students' usage is accurate and precise. However the student's choice of what to say is not flexible.
  • Blended learning combines face-to-face teaching with interactive (and therefore frequently electronic) practice activity which has been a major growth point in the TEFL industry over the last 5 years.
  • Pimsleur language learning system is based on the research of and model programs developed by American language teacher Paul Pimsleur. Over a dozen audio-tape programs now exist to teach various languages using the Pimsleur Method.
  • Learning by teaching a wide spread method in Germany (Jean-Pol Martin)

Language education in Europe

Foreign language education

In 1995 the European Commission’s White Paper "Teaching and learning – Towards the learning society", stated that "upon completing initial training, everyone should be proficient in two Community foreign languages". The Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills.

In fact, even in 1974, at least one foreign language was compulsory in all but two European countries (Ireland and the United Kingdom apart from Scotland). By 1998 nearly all pupils in Europe studied at least one foreign language as part of their compulsory education, the only exception being Ireland, where primary and secondary schoolchildren learn both Irish and English, but neither is considered a foreign language. Pupils in upper secondary education learn at least two foreign languages in Belgium's Flemish Community, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia.

On average in Europe, at the start of foreign language teaching, learners have lessons for three to four hours a week. Compulsory lessons in a foreign language normally start at the end of primary school or the start of secondary school. In Luxembourg, Norway, Italy and Malta, however, the first foreign language is learnt at age six, and in Belgium's Flemish Community at age 10. Half of the EU's primary school pupils learn a foreign language, on average.

English is the language taught most often at lower secondary level in the EU. 93% of children there learn English. At upper secondary level, English is even more widely taught.

French is taught at lower secondary level in all EU countries except Slovenia. A total of 33% of European Union pupils learn French at this level. At upper secondary level the figure drops slightly to 28%.

German is taught in nearly all EU countries. A total of 13% of pupils in the European Union learn German in lower secondary education, and 20% learn it at an upper secondary level.

Despite the high rate of foreign language teaching in schools, the number of adults claiming to speak a foreign language is generally lower than might be expected. This is particularly true of native English speakers: in 2004 a British survey showed that only one in 10 UK workers could speak a foreign language. Less than 5% could count to 20 in a second language, for example. 80% said they could work abroad anyway, because "everyone speaks English." In 2001, a European Commission survey found that 65.9% of people in the UK spoke only their native tongue.

Since the 1990s, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages has tried to standardize the learning of languages across Europe (one of the first results is UNIcert).

Bilingual education

See main article: Bilingual education

In some countries, learners have lessons taken entirely in a foreign language: for example, more than half of European countries with a minority or regional language community use partial immersion to teach both the minority and the state language.

In the 1960s and 1970s, some central and eastern European countries created a system of bilingual schools for well-performing pupils. Subjects other than languages were taught in a foreign language. In the 1990s this system was opened to all pupils in general education, although some countries still make candidates sit an entrance exam. At the same time, Belgium's French Community, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland also started bilingual schooling schemes. Germany meanwhile had established some bilingual schools in the late 1960s.

Language education in the United States

Most students start learning a foreign language in high school or late middle school. Students are often required to take on average two years of foreign language study in order to graduate. The most popular language students choose is Spanish, due to a real or perceived view that it is becoming a secondary language in the United States (see Spanish in the United States). Other popular languages are French, German, and Japanese. Latin used to be more common, but has fallen from favor somewhat. During the Cold War, the United States government pushed for Russian education, and some schools still maintain their Russian programs *. Other languages recently gaining popularity are Chinese and Arabic.

Language study holidays

An increasing number of language students are now combining holidays with language study in the native country. This enables the student to experience the culture and tuition of the local people by taking them out their normal school environment and combine learning with a holiday abroad. Language study holidays are popular across Europe with thousands traveling to the UK alone to learn English.

With the increasing prevalence of cross country business transactions it is now important to have multiple languages at your disposal. This is also evident in business outsourcing their departments to Eastern Europe.

Acronyms and abbreviations

See also: English as an additional language for information on language teaching acronyms and abbreviations which are specific to English.

See also

External links

Language education

Fremdsprachenunterricht | Enseñanza de idiomas | Enseignement des langues étrangères | Иностранный язык в школе | 語言教育

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Language education".

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