It is the worst kept secret that some of our youngsters, including graduates, possess limited language skills. There is the growing perception that their knowledge of foreign languages is poorer than it was in the past.
In the UK, Germany and Japan, among others, companies invest in order to improve the language competence of employees.
What has led to this situation, which has wide ramifications?
Languages open doors. They create opportunities to socialise, to learn about different cultures and to expand our horizons. They lead to better employability and to job mobility.
Very often, we associate language learning with our childhood years and this inevitably takes us back to the time that we spent in class, often learning how to conjugate verbs and to recite poetry by heart.
We may not necessarily be aware that language learning, especially internationally, has moved away from a grammar-based approach and from rote, ‘by heart’, learning.
Meaningful language learning is more like a marathon
Today, greater emphasis than ever is being placed on rendering learning meaningful, thereby improving one’s communicative competence and making language learning an experience which continues to be useful throughout one’s life.
The PN needs people who will stay the course in this hour of need
How can a foreign language be of benefit to us if we can barely understand it when it is being used by native speakers, if we find it hard to read and if we cannot use it to communicate?
Learning languages involves a meaningful process of enrichment: the instrumental value of studying a foreign language to pass exams is limited. In many ways, it is pointless.
Most overseas models adopt varied methods to teach and assess language learning.
These often lead to certification, along the lines suggested in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Methods of continuous assessment are also used, including portfolios, so that value is given to the learning process itself and not merely to the final product that one presents in exams, such as our mid-yearlies and annuals.
Whatever is learnt at school therefore becomes useful in the longer term. This is possibly also reinforced by courses followed during adulthood.
In fact, although research clearly indicates that the most effective period for language learning is indeed childhood, there is also much to gain if one were to start to learn a language, or continues to reinforce what has been learnt at school, at a later stage in life.
Adults who learn foreign languages are generally highly motivated to do so.
In most cases such adults decide to learn them because they are fully aware of the benefits to which this could lead.
These adults would also have the cognitive skills to gain critical insight into their own learning and to self-assess: these advantages are normally not found when foreign languages are learnt at a young age.
Internationally, the language learning market for adults is growing significantly and it does not only involve learning English.
There is a demand for more ‘exotic’ languages, especially Chinese and Japanese. Other languages, which are more familiar to us, do not lag far behind.
Companies are often disposed to invest heavily to provide in-service courses for their employees to gain access to foreign markets. Although English might be a global lingua franca today, knowing the language of a country which one is dealing with creates opportunities for better interaction and provides insights into the cultural background of overseas colleagues. Languages are often learnt for specific purposes, with Chinese, Arabic and German being reportedly among the most sought for this intent.
Locally, foreign language learning is generally associated with compulsory schooling.
Language choice presents many parents of 11-year-old children with a dilemma.
Once the choice is made, most children go on to study the chosen language until they complete their schooling.
Then, regardless of whether they actually sit for an examination in a foreign language or not, this becomes part of their past.
In most cases, they might as well not have decided to study the language at all.
If, on the other hand, foreign language learning is seen as a lifelong process, it may very well continue beyond schooling for many individuals. International research demonstrates that several could benefit from this.
Today, in many of our schools, we treat foreign language learning as if it were a sprint track event: it is a process which most rush through and it ends almost as soon as it has started.
However, meaningful language learning is more like a marathon: it requires time and resilience; a long preparation is necessary to reap results.
And although one may reach the end of this process in different ways, it is the personal satisfaction achieved and the enrichment gained along the way that really counts.
Sandro Caruana is head of department, arts and languages in education and deputy dean of the Faculty of Education.