To be more accurate, they can’t speak Foreign Languages that well it seems, following the recent publication of a report from Ofsted, the UK’s schools inspector.
The study found that British foreign language students are unable to hold a normal conversation. They went on to say that lessons and preparation for language exams has become no more than “an exercise in memorising sentences”.
The report went on to warn that school children are too reliant on textbooks and are unable to relate to the language in any real-life way. It appears that there really is a lack of focus on developing solid spoken and written language schools in England’s schools and this has had a knock-on effect of the popularity of language courses amongst students.
The numbers of students studying for GCESs in subjects such as French, German or Spanish has dramatically fallen from 80% to 48%. This is now prompted the British Government to make language courses compulsory again in schools – a u-turn on their previous decision to allow students to drop language studies when they reached 14 years old.
However, Ofsted’s report was critical of the government’s response to the problem, arguing that secondary school lessons should be made more challenging in order to stimulate interest amongst pupils again.
Christine Gilbert, chief inspector of schools, said: “Learning a foreign language equips pupils with invaluable skills and can also be a very enjoyable experience. Yet many young people are not reaching their full potential, or are deterred from continuing to study languages, because of the way they are taught. One of the ways we can do this is to strengthen pupils’ speaking skills so that they have the confidence to converse independently not only in the classroom but in other situations too.”
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