Language Teaching Trends In British Schools

The last decade has seen an enormous amount of flux in terms of language teaching trends in British schools, stemming from a 2002 change in education policy that had major implications for both primary and secondary schools. At one end, plans were put in place to have all children from the age of 7 learning a language by 2010, in order to improve engagement with foreign languages and address the problem of Britain's monolingual culture. At the other end, learning a foreign language at GCSE level was made non-compulsory in order to give students greater license to choose vocational subjects that better suited them.

So what have the consequences of this change of policy been? One immediately noticeable impact has been the sharp decline in the number of pupils taking a foreign language at GCSE, with year-on-year drops in level of uptake. This decrease has hit the traditional subjects of French and German hardest, leading schools to reduce their foreign language provision in order to adapt to the lack of demand.

It has also had a knock-on effect on the number of trainee teachers specialising in foreign languages, with the profession of language teaching recently described as being in 'decline'. This may be due to a lack of opportunities at secondary school level, and the perceived poor career prospects that come with the decrease in student numbers.

Choosing English Language Courses for Study and Professional Purposes

For those who need to learn English for study or work, the choice of courses can be more than a bit confusing. If you're intending to develop your academic qualifications, you will soon find that basic English really isn't quite enough. It's a good idea to plan in advance to deal with any possible language issues before they arise.

English language courses and options

For academic and business purposes, the fundamental language standard is fluent, conversation-level of vocabulary, speech and literacy. The other, critically important, requirement is for accredited language courses. If you want to work in the European Union, for example, there is a prescribed standard of fluency in EU languages, including English.

The best way to select an English language course is to start with basic English and progress systematically to academic-level English. This is also the most practical approach to learning the language, and provides options within a clearly marked series of academic parameters.