Learning a language is seen as too hard by many pupils in Northern Ireland, leading to concerns among teachers about poor uptake of languages at GCSE level.
The finding is particularly galling for languages teachers because it emerges in a new report that shows students who do take these subjects typically find them “fun and engaging”.
These concerns about the uptake of languages echo trends in other parts of the UK, with data from Scotland in August showing a downturn in interest at exam level - despite a long-established policy to teach two additional languages in primary school - and similar worries about GCSE and A-level entries in England.
The report by Northern Ireland’s Education and Training Inspectorate, which looks at languages in the early part of secondary school and how this affects GCSE uptake, concludes: “It is heartening to hear directly from pupils that language learning is engaging and enjoyable, and that they appreciate the creative and interactive learning experiences provided by their teachers.
“The successful strategies, newly introduced approaches, creativity and willingness to change and adopt new ways of working outlined in this insight report are underpinned by a vision in those schools and departments to improve uptake at [key stage 4, which encompasses GCSEs] by making languages meaningful, enjoyable and accessible to all.”
Improving languages uptake at GCSE
However, the report - entitled Modern Languages at key stage 3: strategies that foster positive attitudes to learning languages - stresses that, while early secondary students typically found languages lessons ”fun and engaging”, they and their teachers “articulated several barriers/challenges in relation to language learning”.
These included “timetabling constraints and variation in time allocation” for languages, which “result in an imbalanced language learning experience across their schools”. While “a small number of pupils expressed their disappointment at not being able to continue a language” at GCSE level “due to rigid option blocks”.
However, the concerns are not purely logistical - they also stem from how languages are viewed by students in the early part of secondary school, before they decide which subjects to take at exam level.
“Despite their best efforts to promote languages and make the pupils’ learning experiences at [key stage 3] meaningful and enjoyable, the teachers report that the perceived difficulty of studying, and achieving well in, modern languages is a key reason why pupils do not choose languages at [key stage 4],” the report states.
Other barriers reported by students and teachers include assessment practices - particularly for listening and speaking elements - the volume of work and the relevance of certain topics and themes at GCSE level to students’ everyday lives and interests.
Students who had learned languages at primary school reported that they felt more confident in post-primary language lessons. The 2012 Northern Ireland Languages Strategy sets out recommendations for language learning in schools, including the study of two modern languages as early as possible.
The new report - which involved staff from 12 post-primary schools and discussions with over 100 students across nine of these schools - states: ”It would be timely to test the efficacy and relevance of these [2012] recommendations.”
In Scotland, the national 1+2 policy has, since it started being introduced in 2013, advised primary schools to provide experience of two languages by the time pupils leave to move on to secondary.
However, there are concerns about patchy implementation of the 1+2 policy across Scotland and uncertainty about its impact.
