tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/language-teachers-17458/articlesLanguage teachers – The Conversation2022-04-25T20:01:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1780332022-04-25T20:01:24Z2022-04-25T20:01:24Z3 barriers that stop students choosing to learn a language in high school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456792/original/file-20220407-28761-2dv585.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6148%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fewer students are choosing language electives at school, but contrary to popular perception, it isn’t purely a lack of interest causing the decline. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/RUN5UM5AYKEUR3V3THHH?target=10.1111/flan.12605">My recent study</a> suggests students want to study a language, but can’t.</p>
<p>Language electives continue to have the <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/year-12-subject-enrolments#view1">lowest enrolments</a> compared to other subjects. In 2020, only 9.5% of Year 12 students were studying languages. This is the lowest figure in the last decade.</p>
<p>Learning another language is important in our <a href="https://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/docs/default-source/research-and-policy-pdfs/senior_secondary_languages_education_research_project_final.pdf">globally connected world</a> and has personal, societal and economic <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1182083.pdf">benefits</a>. These include enhanced cognitive functions and cultural sensitivity. Language learners develop more of an understanding of the <a href="https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Languages_-_Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum_new.pdf">nature of language and communication</a> and languages <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/languages/rationale/">can improve</a> employment opportunities.</p>
<p>I conducted an online survey with over 500 students from years 9 to 12, asking about their attitudes to school and learning languages. I found there are three main barriers stopping students from reaping the rewards of language study. </p>
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<h2>1. Lack of options</h2>
<p><a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/stories/archive/saying-yes-to-languages-study-in-years-11-and-12">Not being able to study the language they preferred</a> is a key barrier. Some 55% of students surveyed in my study said their school did not offer their desired language. One boy said, “I want to learn European languages but my school offers none”.</p>
<h2>2. Timetable restrictions</h2>
<p>Students experience barriers from their school’s <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/why-students-are-turning-away-from-learning-foreign-languages-20160610-gpg6ek.html">timetabling arrangements</a>. One boy said he was unable to study French and Chinese because both subjects were scheduled at the same time. Another boy said, “I am interested in continuing with a second language but cannot fit it in around other subject choices”. This is because students often only have room for up to six subjects on their timetable. In Year 12, this can <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4937742">drop to four</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457050/original/file-20220408-25034-30ltb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The main reason students couldn’t study a language was access to their preferred language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Languages are rarely a prerequisite for study</h2>
<p>In senior year levels, students start thinking about what subjects they need for future study, which leads to students prioritising some subjects over others. Although interested in a language, other subjects are seen as <a href="https://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/docs/default-source/research-and-policy-pdfs/senior_secondary_languages_education_research_project_final.pdf">more important</a> for study and career pathways. “I probably would’ve done French, but I needed a science to be applicable for studying to be a pilot,” said one boy. One girl added, “a lot of people do not study a LOTE because other subjects, such as prerequisites are more of a priority”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-languages-early-is-key-to-making-australia-more-multilingual-99085">Learning languages early is key to making Australia more multilingual</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>How to get more students learning languages</h2>
<p>To boost senior secondary language enrolments, languages need to be available and encouraged all the way from early learning to year 10 in order to build a <a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/stories/archive/saying-yes-to-languages-study-in-years-11-and-12">pipeline</a> of language students for senior year levels.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457047/original/file-20220408-22-vyxz3f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students may be forced into subjects required by their preferred university degree.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutter</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Ensuring students are familiar with language learning from an early age will <a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-languages-early-is-key-to-making-australia-more-multilingual-99085">set the foundation</a> for them to continue with languages later.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-kid-studying-a-second-language-at-school-how-much-they-learn-will-depend-on-where-you-live-155219">Is your kid studying a second language at school? How much they learn will depend on where you live</a>
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<p>Additionally, each state needs a language policy that requires schools to teach the recommended hours so students see a commitment to this subject area. The minimum recommended hours by the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority are <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-kid-studying-a-second-language-at-school-how-much-they-learn-will-depend-on-where-you-live-155219">870 across Years 6-12</a>. As this is a recommendation, these hours are not enforced and differ between states.</p>
<p>The most popular reasons for students doing a language are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>speaking the language when travelling</p></li>
<li><p>enjoying the challenge</p></li>
<li><p>liking the language and culture. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Parents and teachers should emphasise these aspects if they want to ensure their children and students reap the benefits of language learning. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-of-taking-a-language-in-year-11-and-12-heres-what-you-need-to-know-164080">Thinking of taking a language in year 11 and 12? Here's what you need to know</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Clayton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Language electives have fewer enrolments compared to other subjects in Australia. New research suggests students are interested in studying languages, but can’t.Stephanie Clayton, Lecturer in Curriculum Studies (Primary), University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552192021-05-05T20:06:08Z2021-05-05T20:06:08ZIs your kid studying a second language at school? How much they learn will depend on where you live<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396211/original/file-20210421-15-pxc36j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-man-learning-different-languages-736268884">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People learn a second language for many reasons, including work, to better understand the world, an interest in the culture of the language itself, and love.</p>
<p>Learning a language has many <a href="https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/287/Cognitive-Benefits-Language-Learning-Final-Report.pdf">benefits</a>. For children, it can improve literacy, maths and science skills. It can enhance social skills and empathy, and give them an appreciation of cultural diversity. Evidence also suggests learning a language can safeguard against cognitive decline in older age. </p>
<p>People in Australia speak more than <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0%7E2016%7EMain%20Features%7ECultural%20Diversity%20Data%20Summary%7E30">300 languages</a>. Learning one of these can enrich participation in our multicultural country. </p>
<p>The federal government pointed to the importance of languages in preparing <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/job-ready-graduates-power-economic-recovery">job-ready graduates</a> by including the subject in the university fee cuts announced in 2020. Yet, this perspective is not consistently reflected in the way languages are taught in schools across Australia’s states. </p>
<p>Languages <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/year-12-subject-enrolments">have the lowest year 12</a> enrolments of all subject areas. Only 10% of year 12 students were enrolled in languages in 2019, compared to 30% in health and physical education, and nearly 50% in the sciences.</p>
<p>Learning languages has a different kind of status across different states. This can be partly be seen in the amount of time each state dedicates to language learning at school. </p>
<h2>How fast can you learn a language?</h2>
<p>The amount of time needed to learn a language depends on several factors, including a student’s baseline level of knowledge and the kind of language they’re learning. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://support.cambridgeenglish.org/hc/en-gb/articles/202838506-Guided-learning-hours">the University of Cambridge</a> suggests learning a language for a total of 180-200 hours to be able to interact simply, and a total of 1,000-1,200 hours for fluent, precise expression.</p>
<p>The Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority (<a href="https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Australian_Curriculum_Languages_Info_sheet_Nov_2013.pdf;%20https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Languages_-_Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum_new.pdf">ACARA</a>) recommends language learning for around:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>350 hours from foundation to year 6</p></li>
<li><p>160 hours for years 7 and 8 </p></li>
<li><p>a further 160 hours across years 9 and 10</p></li>
<li><p>and 200-240 hours across years 11 and 12. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Overall, this is a minimum of 870 hours from the beginning until the end of school. </p>
<p>While students in some states do spend around this amount of time learning languages, others spend far less.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elderly man filling in the brain of a man in a jigsaw puzzle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398573/original/file-20210504-24-de8x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398573/original/file-20210504-24-de8x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398573/original/file-20210504-24-de8x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398573/original/file-20210504-24-de8x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398573/original/file-20210504-24-de8x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398573/original/file-20210504-24-de8x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398573/original/file-20210504-24-de8x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evidence suggests learning a language can protect against cognitive decline in older age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/high-angle-view-senior-man-collecting-1776503864">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>For instance, in Victoria, schools <a href="https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/languages-education/print-all">must offer languages</a> from foundation to year 10, with a recommended 150 minutes per week each year. This totals at least 1,203 hours by the end of year 12. </p>
<p>The amount of time students actually spend learning a language in Victoria varies between schools. Data shows 79-98% of students across years 7 to 12 <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/languages/EduState_Languages_Provision_Report_2019.pdf">receive</a> 180 minutes or more of language learning per week.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-time-it-takes-to-learn-a-new-language-depends-on-what-you-want-to-do-with-it-92745">The time it takes to learn a new language depends on what you want to do with it</a>
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<p>But in South Australia, there’s far less requirement for language learning. <a href="https://www.education.sa.gov.au/doc/melc-review-languages-education-policies-australia">Schools are required</a> to teach languages for 80 minutes per week from foundation to year 7, and 128 minutes per week in year 8. There is no requirement beyond year 8, meaning the total amount mandated is 474 hours. </p>
<p>This is similar in Western Australia, where languages are <a href="https://www.education.sa.gov.au/doc/melc-review-languages-education-policies-australia">required to be taught</a> for 120 minutes per week for students in years 3 to 8 (a total of 444 hours). Every student in WA <a href="https://www.education.wa.edu.au/languages">learns a language</a> in years 3 to 6, with a policy to extend this to year 9 by 2023.</p>
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<h2>Teaching also differs</h2>
<p>There are also differences in the expertise required of language teachers across states and territories. </p>
<p>Victorian language teachers, for example, must have majored in the language they teach. Or they must apply for a <a href="https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/languages-education">Statement of Equivalence</a> to verify their linguistic competence is up to the same standard.</p>
<p>By contrast, neither the <a href="https://www.education.tas.gov.au/about-us/teach-tasmania/teach-in-tasmania/">Tasmanian education department</a> nor the <a href="https://www.trb.tas.gov.au/Documents/Employment%20as%20a%20Teacher%20in%20Tasmania.pdf">teachers’ registration board</a> have any specific languages requirement for teacher recruitment.</p>
<p>A non-specialist teacher might manage beginner French, but going beyond that can prove challenging. This may explain the sharp drop in student enrolments beyond year 7 in Tasmania, as shown in the 2019 Tasmania Department of Education Corporate Survey (data that’s not currently publicly available).</p>
<p>Anecdotal evidence also suggests a lack of skilled teachers has led some schools to cut language programs. </p>
<p>Shortage of specialist teachers may also help explain why states such as SA and WA don’t mandate language provision beyond year 8. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Girl and woman communicating via sign language." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398577/original/file-20210504-13-cetjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students in Victorian schools have a choice of 19 languages, including Auslan. In Tasmania, the options are much more limited.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mom-communicating-deaf-daughter-focus-on-1364154689">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In Victoria, <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/languages/EduState_Languages_Provision_Report_2019.pdf">mainstream secondary schools</a> offer 19 languages (including Hindi, Indonesia and Auslan). Meanwhile, only five languages are available for students to learn up <a href="https://www.tasc.tas.gov.au/students/courses/languages/">until year 12</a> in Tasmania — Chinese, French, German, Italian and Japanese.</p>
<h2>What we need to do</h2>
<p>In August 2019, the federal government promised to develop a <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/investing-languages-studies-australia">national strategy for languages</a> “to support language teaching and learning in Australia”. But what the strategy will mean in practice is elusive.</p>
<p>To ensure better language education across Australia, states must adequately resource their language education policy and outline a clear plan for how it should be implemented. </p>
<p>Some states are further ahead with this than others. For instance, through 2019 and 2020, Queensland rolled out a <a href="https://www.mltaq.asn.au/documents/item/1721">series of strategies</a> for language provision in schools. These suggested schools will be required to align with ACARA recommended hours. But the strategy document doesn’t explicitly state how many hours of learning should be provided for languages. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-languages-early-is-key-to-making-australia-more-multilingual-99085">Learning languages early is key to making Australia more multilingual</a>
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<p>A good language policy might consider how much time is to be dedicated to languages, how that time should be distributed, and what criteria should be applied in recruiting language teachers. Development of the policy should also consider what steps will be needed to make policy a practical reality.</p>
<p>Involving stakeholders — such as schools, universities, parents and students — in developing language education policy is central to ensure it’s successfully implemented.</p>
<p>States must carefully consider the professional knowledge required for effective teaching of languages. This should inform recruitment and prompt provision of professional development opportunities to equip teachers with strong knowledge of language and pedagogy.</p>
<p>Collaboration between schools, local universities, professional associations and state government plays a key role.</p>
<p>States also need to have a clear definition of language programs. This is so there is a clear understanding and aligned expectations among government, schools and parents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mairin Hennebry-Leung does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Learning a language to speak adequately requires a minimum of around 870 hours. Some Australian states mandate around 1,000 hours through secondary school, but others require less than half that time.Mairin Hennebry-Leung, Lecturer in Languages and TESOL, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1510962020-12-03T04:33:17Z2020-12-03T04:33:17Z6 unis had Hindi programs. Soon there could be only 1, and that’s not in Australia’s best interests<p>La Trobe University is in talks to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/la-trobe-university-s-hindi-program-at-risk-of-being-axed">discontinue its Hindi program</a>, along with Greek and Indonesian. In the mid-1990s, <a href="https://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/publications/very-short-policy-brief/strategies-to-expand-hindi-education-in-australia/">six Australian universities taught Hindi</a>. If La Trobe ends its program, Australia will be left with just one university (ANU in Canberra) that teaches Hindi. </p>
<p>This would be a significant setback for Hindi in Australia. The decision reflects a COVID-induced <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/hundreds-more-university-jobs-to-go-as-la-trobe-vic-uni-announce-cuts-20200813-p55lbo.html">budget crunch at La Trobe</a>, but also a long-term <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-hawke-to-turnbull-asian-language-learning-in-decline-47163">decline in the study of Asian languages</a> in Australia.</p>
<h2>Good relations with India are vital</h2>
<p>Hindi’s decline may seem strange, since it’s the <a href="https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2014/opinion/is-hindi-indias-new-english">official language of India</a>, with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/hindi/guide/facts.shtml">more than half-a-billion speakers</a>. Australians have a growing interest in India and <a href="https://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Report-Australian-Engagement-Indias-Higher-Education-System-Freeman.pdf">connections between Australian and Indian universities are increasing</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hindi-indias-new-english-28259">Hindi: India's new English</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Given the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-australia-china-relationship-is-unravelling-faster-than-we-could-have-imagined-145836">current tensions with China</a>, Australia’s relationship with India – and other large Asian nations – has never been more important.</p>
<p>Even before the feud with China, the benefits of improving the Australia-India relationship were <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/%7E/media/wopapub/house/committee/jfadt/India/indiach2_pdf.ashx">widely acknowledged</a>. Australia and India have <a href="https://india.embassy.gov.au/ndli/pa5009jsa.html">converging geostrategic interests</a>. There is tremendous potential for mutual benefit by enhancing economic, social and cultural ties.</p>
<p>Here in Australia, the Indian diaspora is large, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/indian-population-in-australia-increases-30-per-cent-in-less-than-two-years-now-the-third-largest-migrant-group-in-australia">numbering around 660,000</a>, and <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/indian-population-in-australia-increases-30-per-cent-in-less-than-two-years-now-the-third-largest-migrant-group-in-australia">growing fast</a>. </p>
<iframe title="Top countries of birth for overseas-born Australian residents" aria-label="chart" id="datawrapper-chart-na9Po" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/na9Po/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In the 2016 census, Hindi was <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/hindi-is-the-top-indian-language-spoken-in-australia">among the fastest-growing languages</a> in Australia. A closely related language, Punjabi, was the fastest-growing.</p>
<p>Community enthusiasm for Hindi is reflected in more than 2,400 community members signing <a href="http://chng.it/SX2NTCjzKF">a petition</a> to save the La Trobe program.</p>
<h2>Language helps bridge diplomatic gaps</h2>
<p>In 2018, University of Queensland chancellor <a href="https://about.uq.edu.au/chancellor">Peter Varghese</a>, a former senior diplomat and public servant, released his government-commissioned <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/india/ies/pdf/dfat-an-india-economic-strategy-to-2035.pdf">India Economic Strategy to 2035</a>. This report sought to guide Australia’s engagement with India for years to come. </p>
<p>Varghese noted Australia has struggled to match its enthusiasm for India with substantive engagement. Efforts to establish connections often fall short due to failures of mutual understanding.</p>
<p>The report argues “people-to-people” links between Australia and India will be as important as political linkages. They will help shape perceptions and foster mutual understanding in ways political delegations could never do.</p>
<p>Varghese was not alone. The Victoria government’s 2019 <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/victorias-india-strategy">India Strategy</a> made its first priority to “celebrate and strengthen our personal connections”.</p>
<p>Most recently, the 2020 <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/india/Pages/joint-statement-comprehensive-strategic-partnership-between-republic-india-and-australia">joint statement</a> on a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Australia and India, signed by their prime ministers, Scott Morrison and Narendra Modi, gives people-to-people connections a prominent place in “enriching all aspects of bilateral ties”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-and-india-some-way-to-go-yet-76085">Australia and India: some way to go yet</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Government talk of “people-to-people connection” has not been followed up with support for this goal. In particular, support for language programs has languished.</p>
<h2>Classes foster people-to-people connections</h2>
<p>Language education cultivates people-to-people connections. These personal connections start from the very first day of a language class.</p>
<p>Hindi classrooms in Australia have immediate positive effects for Australian students and society. Students are immersed in a complex of perspectives that reflect life in all parts of South Asia and in global diaspora communities.</p>
<p>Hindi language teachers capitalise on the bicultural experiences of students with South Asian heritage. These students are already experts in negotiating a relationship between Indian and Australian cultures. These skills make our students the best ambassadors for Australia in the “nooks” of Indian life that evade official state actors.</p>
<p>Equal contributors to our classrooms are non-heritage students who enrol in tertiary-level Hindi courses because of their personal interest in South Asia. Together, heritage and non-heritage students negotiate learning Hindi and understanding Indian culture. They form lasting friendships that deepen the ways in which Australians of many different backgrounds understand each other.</p>
<p>Cultivating culturally literate Indian-Australian and non-Indian-Australian speakers of Hindi depends on providing a learning environment that is found only in university classrooms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/get-ready-to-learn-hindi-education-in-the-asian-century-10394">Get ready to learn Hindi: education in the Asian century</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>La Trobe’s proposal, by halving the national university-level Hindi teaching capacity, would also undermine our capacity for building human connections between India and Australia.</p>
<h2>A blow to the local Hindi ecosystem</h2>
<p>University-level Hindi programs <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=m9QRBwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=van+lier+ecology&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=van%20lier%20ecology&f=false">form part of larger language ecosystems</a>. They depend on thriving primary and high school programs. This ensures a supply of Hindi students and educators at all levels. </p>
<p>In Melbourne, <a href="https://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/publications/very-short-policy-brief/strategies-to-expand-hindi-education-in-australia/">a Hindi language ecosystem was just starting to take root</a>. Two schools, Rangebrook Primary and The Grange College, now offer Hindi as their main language other than English. A number of energetic informal networks and societies focus on Hindi language and literature. </p>
<p>La Trobe’s Hindi conferences and events have been an important focal point for these groups over a number of years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-languages-should-children-be-learning-to-get-ahead-74305">What languages should children be learning to get ahead?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The loss of the La Trobe program is thus not only a blow to students wishing to study Hindi at a university level, but also to this entire emerging Hindi language ecosystem.</p>
<p>While dynamic and engaging curriculums are needed to ensure sustainable Hindi programs at Australian universities, they are not enough on their own. There must also be sustained government support for establishing Hindi ecosystems in clusters around these universities.</p>
<p>One of us made this point in a co-authored <a href="https://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/publications/very-short-policy-brief/strategies-to-expand-hindi-education-in-australia/">policy brief</a> published in 2018. It echoes <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Unlocking-Australias-Language-Potential-Hindi-Urdu-Marika-Vicziany/9781875578474">commentary</a> by others on the decline of Hindi education in Australia since the mid-1990s. Current events in Australia and in the Indo-Pacific should make it clear why we need to reverse this trend.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Update: In the months after publication of this article, La Trobe University announced its <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/la-trobe-s-greek-language-program-saved-by-community-cash-injection-20201217-p56ofa.html">Greek</a>, <a href="http://www.southasiatimes.com.au/news/?p=12112">Hindi</a> and Indonesian programs would be retained for the time being.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher L. Diamond is affiliated with the School of Culture, History, and Language in the College of Asia & the Pacific at the Australian National University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trent Brown is affiliated with the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne and the Australia India Institute. </span></em></p>Hindi is the most widely spoken language of India and of the many people of Indian origin in Australia. The teaching of Hindi has been in decline at a time when the need for it has never been greater.Christopher L. Diamond, Lecturer in Hindi, Australian National UniversityTrent Brown, DECRA Research Fellow, School of Geography, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1440372020-11-10T16:22:18Z2020-11-10T16:22:18ZLanguage learning in Canada needs to change to reflect ‘superdiverse’ communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367017/original/file-20201102-21-1uhbyyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C183%2C3600%2C2155&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">English language teachers should encourage students to draw on their own mother tongues. Here, children participate in learning to help Syrian refugee youths prepare for school at the H.appi Camp in Toronto, July 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As <a href="https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/wmr_2020.pdf">people moving across territorial borders continues to drive globalization</a>, our society needs to reflect on the linguistic identities of students who are learning English and French, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/official-languages-act-1969">Canada’s two official languages</a>. </p>
<p>In language classrooms, where English as a Second Language (ESL) and French as a Second Language (FSL) programs reflect <a href="https://www.cmec.ca/154/Overview.html">Canada’s bilingual mandate</a>, how we teach languages has not evolved much from the traditional grammar-based mode of instruction. </p>
<p>Students are generally presented with a language structure (say, the <em>passé composé</em> in French), are encouraged to practise it in the classroom and are ultimately asked to present the language structure in the correct social context — all for a grade.</p>
<p>In these dated language teaching and learning contexts, the everyday ways people communicate — that go against the rules and bounds of language — aren’t taken into account. Research shows that in language learning, when students feel that teachers dismiss their prior linguistic knowledge and experiences, <a href="https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/Identity-and-Language-Learning/?k=9781783090549">they lose interest, become disconnected and may become set for failure</a>. </p>
<h2>Fixed rules</h2>
<p>The everyday ways people communicate and that we hear in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Metrolingualism-Language-in-the-City/Pennycook-Otsuji/p/book/9780415831659">streets, cafés, malls and marketplaces</a> typically do not follow traditional grammar rules (subject, verb, noun, for instance). </p>
<p>Particularly in what have become known as Canada’s “<a href="https://superdiv-canada.mmg.mpg.de/">superdiverse cities</a>” like <a href="http://ccmhs.ca/stories/Vancouver-CCMHC-2012-full.pdf">Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal</a>, it’s common to hear people using multiple languages (say English and Greek, or Arabic, French and English) at the same time. Such mixing and switching of language constitute authentic ways of communicating that reflect people’s geographical and cultural backgrounds — their lived histories and their identities.</p>
<p>This means teaching languages only by old fixed rules is not realistic in superdiverse schools across Canada. The lived experiences of students are shown in the mixed and hybrid ways they use language that go against the rules of grammar. In language learning we call this <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/english-or-englishes/66027">plurilingualism</a> <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137385758">or translanguaging</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j8xT1XKZ14c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Li Wei, professor of.
applied linguistics at University College London in the United Kingdom explains translanguaging.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Multiple modes of communication</h2>
<p>Today, we commonly see plurilingualism in people’s social media posts and texts that combine images, emojis and words in multiple languages. For example, in my own experience teaching FSL in inner-city schools in Toronto, grade 7 and 8 students text emojis and truncated words across two or three languages — just to signal where they’ll have lunch. </p>
<p>These plurilingual and multi-platform social exchanges mimic how students communicate with friends and family, outside of school. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-emojis-and-hashtags-should-be-part-of-language-learning-123943">Why emojis and #hashtags should be part of language learning</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>If teachers limit students’ identities by limiting the languages students are allowed to use in the classroom, their disengagement could lead to lower marks and marginalization at school. In the global job market, in the long run, disengagement in language learning may also importantly mean a lower payout — because learning the dominant language of a <a href="https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783658197353">society is a form of social and cultural capital</a>.</p>
<h2>Open-ended language tasks</h2>
<p>Languages are ways of being, ways of knowing and ways of acting in the world. To acknowledge this truism is to acknowledge that languages are more than the sum of their parts. They are more than a skill to which an exchange value (dollar signs) can be attached.</p>
<p>This is why plurilingualism has proved to be such rich teaching and learning tool in language learning. Students can use more than one language to communicate a given message at any one time. And they can do it using multiple platforms (pen and paper, online apps, emojis or even role play). Integrating plurilingual language practices in FSL and ESL classrooms engages language learners because they use language they can relate to, language that expresses who they are.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-change-the-way-we-teach-english-109273">It's time to change the way we teach English</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This begins with teacher modelling. Teachers can teach through traditional grammar-based instruction, but they can do so by integrating plurilingual and translingual practices that allow students to draw on their own mother tongues. In this way, students can integrate expressions or words in their preferred languages alongside the target language.</p>
<p>This explicit strategy can then be integrated into more open-ended language tasks that allow students the latitude to draw on personal experience and different ways of communicating that include multilingual language forms and practices.</p>
<p>This can be done through the use of technology and online learning apps. <a href="https://edu.google.com/intl/en_ca/products/gsuite-for-education/">Google Suite</a>, <a href="https://edu.google.com/teacher-center/products/jamboard/">Google Jamboards</a>, <a href="https://blog.flipgrid.com/gettingstarted">Flipgrid</a> and <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-twitter-world-language-classes">Twitter</a> all allow students to tell personal stories through words, images and body language that cross traditional linguistic and cultural boundaries.</p>
<h2>How languages are actually used</h2>
<p>Policy-makers need to take into account how language learners actually use languages, and then prescribe the most appropriate way to learn and assess students that takes into account their lived histories, identities and experiences.</p>
<p>Language teacher education and teacher professional development must include anti-bias training that extends beyond equity issues of race, gender, class, religion and ethnicity to address <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=4jVeGWtzQ1oC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=linguicism+phillipson&source=bl&ots=MVbqu_nOif&sig=TM8dEZ7nAhzNqcd3I3Dmoxq0jKk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8-YeItpHPAhWqz4MKHUgnDYIQ6AEIVTAJ#v=onepage&q=linguicism%20phillipson&f=false">the suppression of other languages</a> in the language learning classroom. In this way, we can ensure teachers understand that affirming students’ linguistic identities is integral to their engagement and to their future success.</p>
<p>Finally, in the classroom this would allow for more democratic ways to assess language competence where teachers and students could co-create assessment criteria that explicitly focus on multilingual ways to communicate.</p>
<p>Educators would then both be able to acknowledge the linguistic diversity of their students while affirming their present identities and equipping them for globally competitive job markets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ria Angelo teaches grade 7 and 8 French Immersion for the Toronto District School Board. During her doctoral research at the University of Bath, she received funding from the Bond University Global Alumni Scholarship.
</span></em></p>How we teach languages has not evolved much from the traditional grammar-based mode of instruction, and this approach alone marginalizes students’ existing knowledge and communication abilities.Ria Angelo, Doctor of Education Candidate, Department of Education, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1220872019-09-08T08:11:31Z2019-09-08T08:11:31ZSouth African teachers switch languages in class: why policy should follow<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289642/original/file-20190827-184202-1mhfdjq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children benefit enormously from being taught in their own languages.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">JLWarehouse/Shutterstock/Editorial use only</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you step into a classroom in South Africa’s Limpopo province during a lesson, you’re very likely to hear the teacher speaking more than one language. She might begin a sentence in English, and then switch to Sepedi – the African language most commonly spoken as a mother tongue in the province.</p>
<p>This is a practice known as code switching or <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07908318.2010.515993">code mixing</a>, which can form part of a translanguaging process. And it is not actually allowed in most South African classrooms. According to the country’s official language <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=aIolZ6UsZ5U%20%3D&tabid=767&mid=3184">policies</a>, schools must choose a language or languages of learning and teaching. Most choose English or Afrikaans and not the African language spoken in the area. African languages are then only taught as subjects and are rarely used as a medium of instruction. </p>
<p>But, as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664208.2019.1641349">a recent study</a> we conducted in Limpopo showed, the real daily language policy within classrooms differs significantly from the official language policy document of the school. </p>
<p>Teachers use code switching as well as a translanguaging process, alternating and blending languages to help pupils understand concepts. There is a reason for this: research has <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000002897">proved</a> <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000188642">many times</a> that pupils learn best in their own mother tongues. </p>
<p>This is, of course, not unique to South Africa – it happens in all multilingual societies to a certain degree. Some teachers who answered the questionnaire in Limpopo said they found value in code switching or translanguaging. They also felt that African languages were undervalued in their schools. This is not ideal in a country with <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/images/a108-96.pdf">11 official languages</a> that enjoy Constitutional protection.</p>
<p>A much more flexible and open teaching and language policy would help teachers and pupils to enable a meaningful learning environment in a multilingual and diverse classroom setting. Translanguaging should be embraced and supported as a teaching and learning technique.</p>
<h2>Limpopo data analysis</h2>
<p>The research was conducted among 1 094 teachers at about 110 schools across Limpopo. This large scale quantitative study covered public primary and secondary schools and the questionnaire focused on general teaching conditions, language attitudes and teachers’ language practices. </p>
<p>Only 16.5 % of all participating teachers reported never facing any language related challenges in their work. Others had all dealt with some issues related to language – either in terms of their school’s language policy or how they grappled with what languages to use in class. For some, these were strongly emotional issues. One told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel strongly that learners should not lose their home language in favour of other languages. Home languages are part of their identity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Others thought code switching was a great idea and <a href="http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2018/13505/pdf/KretzerMichael_2018_01_22.pdf">recognised its value</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I fully agree that it would be good for learners to be taught in their mother tongue or at least allow for code switching in the classroom to allow learners better understanding.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290276/original/file-20190830-166019-ry8tgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290276/original/file-20190830-166019-ry8tgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290276/original/file-20190830-166019-ry8tgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290276/original/file-20190830-166019-ry8tgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290276/original/file-20190830-166019-ry8tgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290276/original/file-20190830-166019-ry8tgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290276/original/file-20190830-166019-ry8tgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Setswana in a maths classroom in South Africa’s North West province.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael M. Kretzer (from http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2018/13505/pdf/KretzerMichael_2018_01_22.pdf)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other teachers viewed African languages as having limited use in teaching, especially in subjects like science. They believed these languages were better suited to social situations, and that their use should be limited to these situations. This indicates the importance and influence of language attitudes on language practices and policies. </p>
<p>Importantly, we found that code switching was used in all schools – even those that did not explicitly allow it in their school language policy documents. Teachers used it mainly in oral communication, in classroom situations. Others were afraid to code switch because of their schools’ language policy documents.</p>
<h2>The role of School Governing Bodies</h2>
<p>Individual schools’ language policies are formulated by the School Governing Body (SGB). This is in accordance with the South African legal framework to de-centralise education and also language policies. SGBs consist of the principal and elected members; elected members are the parents or legal guardians of enrolled pupils; teachers; pupils from grade 8 upwards or other school staff members. </p>
<p>Language policies must be set up within the country’s constitutional framework and in accordance with the <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Policies/GET/LanguageEducationPolicy1997.pdf?ver=2007-08-22-083918-000">Language in Education Policy</a>, which came into effect in 1997. Its main aim was to increase multilingualism at schools and to consider the languages spoken in the surrounding area of a school to ensure these were central to language policy and teaching.</p>
<p>Parents or other members of the SGB often have a very biased language attitude that only favours English. They feel pupils should have maximum exposure to English – and this hinders a stronger inclusion of African languages at schools. Despite a large, <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000188642">comprehensive body of research</a> that proves the value of mother tongues, such language attitudes seem to be very deeply rooted and persistent. </p>
<p>A much more flexible and open teaching and language policy would help teachers and pupils to enable a meaningful learning environment in a multilingual and heterogeneous classroom setting. Such an open language policy would and should include code switching or translanguaging to see the unused potentials of teaching in African languages as well as in English in classrooms. </p>
<p>Flexible language policies and teaching approaches should be utilised to put each and every individual pupil and his and her individual learning progress at the centre of classroom interactions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael M. Kretzer receives funding from the NRF</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Russell H. Kaschula receives funding from the NRF</span></em></p>A much more flexible and open teaching and language policy would help teachers and pupils to enable a meaningful learning environment in a multilingual and diverse classroom setting.Michael M. Kretzer, NRF SARChI Chair Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, School of African Languages, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/887112017-12-08T15:07:21Z2017-12-08T15:07:21ZSouth Africa has a reading crisis: why, and what can be done about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198282/original/file-20171208-11331-1dvz4ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children must be taught to read for comprehension, not just to parrot what they hear.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The teacher stands in front of her Grade 4 class. The 45 nine and ten-year olds are crammed together at desks, huddled over shared books. Some are sitting on the floor. “Now, class, read from the top of the page,” the teacher says. They comply in a slow sing-song drawl.</p>
<p>“Stop,” says the teacher. “It is not ‘Wed-nes-day’, you say it ‘Wensday’. It is what?” “Wensday,” the class responds. “Again.” “Wensday.” The reading resumes, the teacher frequently stopping to correct her pupils’ pronunciation.</p>
<p>Sometimes the children read aloud in groups. At other times, she calls a child to come to the front and read aloud. Not once does she ask a question about what the story means. Nor do the children discuss or write about what they have read. </p>
<p>This is the typical approach to how reading is taught in most South African primary schools. Reading is largely understood as an oral performance. In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319323408_Finding_the_plot_in_South_African_reading_education">our research</a>, my colleague Sandra Land and I describe this as “oratorical reading”. The emphasis is on reading aloud, fluency, accuracy and correct pronunciation. There is very little emphasis on reading comprehension and actually making sense of the written word. If you were to stop the children and ask them what the story is about, many would look at you blankly. </p>
<p>Pronunciation, accuracy and fluency are important in reading. But they have no value without comprehension. Countries around the world are paying <a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/international-study-concludes-reading-literacy-rise">increasing attention</a> to reading comprehension, as indicated by improving results in international literacy tests.</p>
<p>The problem with the oratorical reading approach is evident in the results of the recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 <a href="http://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/164/ZP_Files/pirls-literacy-2016-hl-report-3.zp136320.pdf">tests</a>. PIRLS’ purpose is to assess reading comprehension and to monitor trends in literacy at five-year intervals. Countries participate voluntarily. Learners write the test in the language of learning and teaching used in Grades 1 to 3 in their school. </p>
<p>The tests revealed that 78% of grade 4 pupils in South Africa fell below the lowest level on the PIRLS scale: meaning, in effect, that they cannot understand what they’re reading. There was some improvement from learners writing in Sesotho, isiNdebele, Xitsonga, Tshivenda and Sepedi from a very low base in 2011, but no overall improvement in South Africa’s performance. </p>
<p>South Africa was last out of 50 countries surveyed. It came in just behind Egypt and Morocco. The Russian Federation came first followed by Singapore, Hong Kong and Ireland. </p>
<p>South Africa also <a href="http://resep.sun.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Spaull-2012-SACMEQ-at-a-Glance-10-countries.pdf">performs poorly</a> in the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality surveys. These show that in reading and numeracy South Africa is lagging behind much poorer African countries such as Tanzania and Zimbabwe.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319323408_Finding_the_plot_in_South_African_reading_education">Our research</a> on reading at a rural primary school and an adult centre in the KwaZulu-Natal province showed that the oratorical approach to teaching reading was dominant both in the school and adult classes. Both adults and children were not learning to read with meaning, and so were not achieving literacy despite attending classes. Our findings confirmed the results of other South African studies. </p>
<p>So where does the problem lie and how can South Africa address it? </p>
<h2>Rote learning</h2>
<p>To understand the situation more deeply we interviewed teachers and explored how they had learned to read. We found that they teach as they were taught; an indication that oratorical reading is a cycle repeated from one generation to the next unless it is broken. </p>
<p>Teachers told us they assessed pupils’ reading ability just as they were assessed by their teachers: by having them read aloud. Marks were allocated for individual oral reading performance. This was based not on understanding the passage, but on fluency and pronunciation. There was no written assessment of reading comprehension. Reading was about memorising sounds and decoding words. </p>
<p>This suggests that the problem in learners’ performance lies in how reading is taught in most South African schools. Learners are taught to read aloud and pronounce correctly, but not to understand the written word and make sense of it for themselves. Another consequence is that the pleasure and joy of discovery and meaning-making are divorced from school reading. </p>
<h2>New approaches</h2>
<p>There are no quick fixes, but there certainly are slow and sure ones. The first is to get reading education in pre-service teacher training right. <a href="http://www.jet.org.za/resources/taylor-iterp-summary-report-on-component-1-feb15web.pdf/view">A report</a> by JET Education Services, an independent non-profit organisation that works to improve education, found that universities don’t give enough attention to reading pedagogies. </p>
<p>Universities need to teach reading as a process that involves decoding and understanding text in its context, not just as a “mechanical skill”. Countries such as India, with its great diversity and disadvantaged populations, have <a href="http://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/University-resource-centre-events-pedagogy-of-early-reading-and-writing.aspx">begun to address</a> the need for this change in how reading is taught.</p>
<p>The second “fix” concerns in-service training. The Department of Basic Education has a crucial role to play here. Teachers need to reflect on how they themselves were taught to read and to understand the shortcomings of an oratorical approach. </p>
<p>Effective reading instruction, such as the “<a href="https://www.readingtolearn.com.au/">Read to Learn</a>” and “<a href="http://edglossary.org/scaffolding/">scaffolding</a>” approaches, should be modelled and reinforced. In a multi-lingual African context, strategies that allow teachers and learners to use all their language resources in making meaning should be encouraged. Teachers’ own reading is vital, and can be developed through book clubs and reading groups. </p>
<p>The school environment is also crucial. According to the PIRLS interviews with principals, 62% of South African primary schools do not have school libraries. These are central to promoting a reading culture, as <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/understanding-reading-engagement/a-school-wide-reading-culture">work in New Zealand shows</a>.</p>
<p>Schools should develop strategies such as <a href="http://dropeverythingandread.com/NationalDEARday.html">Drop Everything and Read</a> slots in the timetable, library corners in classrooms, prizes for reading a target number of books and writing about them, and creating learners’ reading clubs. Learners can draw on local oral traditions by gathering stories from elders, writing them and reading them to others. </p>
<p>Finally, the home environment is vital. The PIRLS research showed that children with parents who read, and especially read to them, <a href="http://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/164/ZP_Files/pirls-literacy-2016-hl-report-3.zp136320.pdf">do better at reading</a>. Our research found that children with parents who attended adult classes were highly motivated to learn and read with their parents. Even if parents are illiterate, older siblings can read to younger children. The <a href="http://www.familyliteracyproject.co.za">Family Literacy Project</a>, a non-profit organisation in KwaZulu-Natal, has done excellent work in creating literate family and community environments in deep rural areas, showing what is possible. </p>
<p>Developing families as reading assets rather than viewing them as deficits can help to strengthen schools and build a reading nation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Rule has received funding from Umalusi to investigate efficacy in adult learning centres. </span></em></p>The problem in learners’ reading performance lies in how reading is taught in most South African schools. Learners are not taught to understand the written word and make sense of it for themselves.Peter Rule, Associate Professor, Centre for Higher and Adult Education, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/426092015-06-17T20:19:00Z2015-06-17T20:19:00ZHow to make Australia more bilingual<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83480/original/image-20150601-17791-18hipfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fewer young Australians are learning languages. Why?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bilingualism has been associated with a range of <a href="http://theconversation.com/should-i-raise-my-kids-bilingually-23508">benefits</a> for young learners, from higher <a href="http://www.bluesuitmom.com/family/education/bilingual.html">test scores</a> to more <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=0">creative thought processes</a> and greater <a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/09/29/could-bilingual-education-mold-kids-brains-to-better-resist-distraction/">mental flexibility</a>. Being bilingual has even been claimed to mitigate the <a href="http://www.science20.com/catarina_amorim/can_bilingualism_help_rescuing_children_poverty-96328">impacts of socioeconomic status</a> on students. However, the numbers of students undertaking language study in Australia is low, so is learning an additional language just too much hard work?</p>
<p>Australia is a <a href="http://www.racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/population/index-Diversit-2.html">linguistically diverse nation</a>, with more than 250 languages spoken in Australian homes. However, many students are opting out of elective language study. In NSW, as of 2013, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/number-of-hsc-language-students-falls-to-record-low-20131002-2usv2.html">less than 10%</a> of HSC students undertook a second language.</p>
<h2>What are we doing wrong?</h2>
<p>Blame some of the difficulty in becoming bilingual in Australia on convenience. Our location has often been cited as the reason Australian students don’t have multilingualism reinforced throughout the school years, like European students. Although increasing numbers of transnational and migrant students are diversifying the linguistic environment of the Australian education system, speaking “the world language” makes it all too easy to forget the opportunities speaking an additional language can afford.</p>
<p>The next problem is a cultural one. Challenging what Professor Michael Clyne once termed the <a href="http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=9919">“monolingual mindset”</a> is difficult not only for Australia, but for other English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. Many Australian monoglots (people who speak only one language) expect newly arrived migrants <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/22/racist-bus-attack-victim-australia">(and even tourists)</a> to learn and communicate in English as a matter of course. For many Australians, monolingualism has become <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/360/monolingual-in-a-multilingual-world/5523058">the norm</a>. </p>
<p>For Australian students who do undertake language learning, it’s not only cultural and social attitudes that can act as a barrier to bilingualism, but also availability and accessibility of language programs in our schools. While federal and state policies on the provision of language programs in Australian schools have led to a number of recommendations in recent years, the enactment of these is a more complex matter.</p>
<h2>Too many languages, and not long enough</h2>
<p>On average, it is recommended that Australian students in non-immersion programs receive up to three hours of second-language instruction per week. In contrast to the amount of second-language instruction found in bilingual or immersion programs, three hours per week of language exposure won’t help many students become bilingual. It takes up to seven years of continuous use to achieve academic proficiency in an additional language.</p>
<p>It is not easy to find schools that offer comprehensive (and continuous) language programs, particularly in the state sector where strict school zoning restricts enrolment. For example, in Victoria, the only state to have mandated the learning of an additional language during primary school, fewer than ten schools offer bilingual programs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85301/original/image-20150617-18867-1psqoa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Australian schools should focus on target languages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Lack of qualified language teachers</h2>
<p>One of the most important problems extends beyond issues of funding: there simply aren’t enough qualified language teachers in Australia, particular those with high proficiency in the target language. As with many areas of the teaching profession, the status of language teachers isn’t high, which discourages many from entering the profession. Targeted professional development programs for language teachers can also be difficult to find.</p>
<p>Recently, the <a href="http://www.studentsfirst.gov.au/teacher-education-ministerial-advisory-group">Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group</a> made suggestions to fast-track graduates of languages into teacher training programs, to ease the shortage of qualified language teachers in Australian schools. This, alongside with <a href="https://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/commrel/about/langschtchrfaqr1.pdf">incentives</a> offered to language graduates to support their movement into the teaching profession, is a welcome suggestion in establishing a wider cohort of skilled language teachers.</p>
<h2>Let’s make language learning compulsory</h2>
<p>The importance of language learning is often overlooked due to the competing demands of a crowded curriculum. Yet immersion programs, such as content and language integrated learning programs, in which Australian national curriculum subjects are delivered in a second language, can help students to become bilingual while also learning a subject such as maths.</p>
<p>Speaking more than one language offers great benefits to students who will emerge into an increasingly connected world. Language learning should be viewed as a key 21st-century skill. The national curriculum authority supports language acquisition, but following a model of compulsory language learning and funding more integrated learning programs in Australian schools could be just some ways to support language learning and enhance bilingualism among Australian students.</p>
<p>If learning a language becomes the norm, there may be a real chance to elevate the status of languages in Australian schools and encourage more people to move into language teaching. Only when this occurs can we continue the discussion around improving methods and resources for language learning, retention and bilingualism in Australian schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Dabrowski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The benefits of bilingualism are clear and pronounced, so why don’t more Australians learn a second language?Anna Dabrowski, Researcher at the Centre for Program Evaluation, Melbourne Graduate School of Education , The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/429132015-06-12T16:08:05Z2015-06-12T16:08:05ZJust how effective are language learning apps?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84851/original/image-20150612-1475-1ycso3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Worth practicing for your holiday?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around <a href="https://testcenter.duolingo.com/faq">70 million people</a> – including <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1416881/pretty-stupid-bill-gates-reveals-big-regret">Bill Gates</a> – have signed up for the language learning app <a href="https://www.duolingo.com/">Duolingo</a>. The app has received plenty of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/08/learning-the-duolingo-how-one-app-speaks-volumes-for-language-learning">media attention</a>, and its creators claim that it can help anyone with a smart phone learn a new language. </p>
<p>The app is free, and promises all kinds of cutting edge features, such as adaptive algorithms to suit users’ learning speed, as well as gamification to boost motivation. They also claim that this app can provide members of poorer communities with access to language learning that would otherwise be denied them; a worthy aim indeed.</p>
<p>For those who haven’t tried it, Duolingo works as follows. The user is introduced to some vocabulary, and then every day they spend a few minutes doing language exercises, such as translating sentences. </p>
<p>There is a level of adaptivity: words that you get wrong come up again and again, while words that you get right come up less often – although they do still appear. This recycling and repetition is a core element of the app – it is what the creators hope will eventually lead to acquisition of new vocabulary. As users complete the exercises successfully, they can move up through the “levels”, and unlock bonus lessons on “flirting” and “idioms”. </p>
<h2>Language learning in theory</h2>
<p>As experienced language teachers, we wanted to think about whether or not this technology is really cutting edge. Clearly the delivery mechanism is new, and textbook writers would be amazed at selling 70 million copies. But in a field filled with spirited – and sometimes acrimonious – academic theorising about language learning, it’s worth investigating where Duolingo fits in. </p>
<p>The earliest modern language instruction was called “grammar translation”. It focused on translating sentences and learning the rules of the grammar as the primary goal. This type of rote learning is how many people learned Latin – including Monty Python’s Brian. It is also the method used by the teachers of generations of happy English tourists to France, who ended up knowing how to conjugate a verb, but utterly unable to make themselves understood without shouting in a strange type of pidgin English with a French accent. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IIAdHEwiAy8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Not the dative!</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After World War II, a method called “audiolingualism” took over. This was based partly on the idea that positive rewards reinforce behaviour, and that rules and patterns form the primary systems of language. The drill – where students repeated sentences over and over – became the main learning activity. The American Army claimed great success with one form of audiolingualism, which become known as the “<a href="http://www.didascalia.be/mortality.htm">Army Method</a>”. But it <a href="http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-approaches/teaching-approaches-what-is-audiolingualism/146488.article">has been suggested</a> that the motivation was more important than the method; and a soldier’s motivation is radically different to a school child’s. </p>
<p>In the context of the classroom, generations of school children sat in rows, chanting grammatically correct sentences after their teacher. But when they went to France, they could say little more than “<em>la plume de ma tante est sur la table</em>” (“my aunt’s pen is on the table”). This didn’t help in restaurants.</p>
<p>Through the 60s and 70s a number of new methods started to come to the fore, often based on a holistic, humanistic philosophy. From a contemporary point of view, these range from the charmingly eccentric “silent way” – where this teacher is forbidden from speaking – to the clearly
charlatan “<a href="http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-approaches/teaching-approaches-what-is-suggestopedia/146499.article">suggestopedia</a>” approach, where students and teachers are encouraged to have a parent-child relationship, and read out long dialogues to musical accompaniment. Some students objected to being psycho-analysed in class, and others were still unable to order their meal in a restaurant. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YWSLtlwZ5X8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Charmingly eccentric.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Communication is key</h2>
<p>Over time, a lot of ideas coalesced into what is generally known as the “communicative approach”. This catch-all label refers to methods which prioritise the function of language as communication, not structure. The idea is that, if you are speaking to someone, it’s good to get the grammar right, but it’s OK if you don’t: if you do get the grammar right, but your pronunciation is so bad that the person can’t understand what you are saying, that’s much worse. It’s equally bad if you are so worried about getting the grammar completely correct that you are too hesitant to take part in a conversation. </p>
<p>The great beauty of the communicative approach, or some would say its great failing, is its ability, like language itself, to adapt and adopt new ideas. It brings in ideas and techniques from all the history of language teaching, and as long as they help the students communicate effectively, they are accepted. </p>
<p>So where does Duolingo fit in with this theoretical background? Well, when using the app to learn, say, Italian as a beginner, you are drilled on sentences like “I am the child”, or “I have a bowl”. This is audio-lingual drilling: there is no communication happening. Instead of basic communication, the users are drilled again and again in decontextualised, effectively meaningless sentences.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84850/original/image-20150612-1461-1esy9hf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84850/original/image-20150612-1461-1esy9hf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84850/original/image-20150612-1461-1esy9hf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84850/original/image-20150612-1461-1esy9hf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84850/original/image-20150612-1461-1esy9hf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84850/original/image-20150612-1461-1esy9hf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84850/original/image-20150612-1461-1esy9hf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Unlocking language skills?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.duolingo.com/">https://www.duolingo.com/</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>But there are two things that no theorist would deny about learning a language: the importance of learning a lot of words, and the need for constant effort. And this is where an app like Duolingo really comes into its own: it reminds you every day to practise, and reinforce the words you have learnt, while encouraging you with virtual rewards (if that’s your thing). Since the chunks of time needed are so small, it can be done in the coffee queue, allowing the users to learn without sacrificing other things in their lives.</p>
<p>We believe that apps like Duolingo can be a useful supplement when you are learning a language – but not a substitute. It can help you learn some words, and some basic constructions, but it isn’t going to allow you to leap into a conversation in a new language. It’s better than nothing, but there are plenty of more effective options out there.</p>
<p>But perhaps we are missing the point. Language plays an incredibly powerful gatekeeping role in many societies. Speaking the right language, in the right way, provides a huge number of opportunities: so we maybe shouldn’t be thinking whether this app will help comfortably–off European tourists to better enjoy their holidays. Perhaps the creators are right, and we should be thinking about whether apps like these can provide any <a href="https://www.memyselfandrobot.com/blog/duolingo-education-used-developing-countries/">opportunities</a> for those in the world who otherwise have none. If these apps can be used to tackle issues such as <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/literacy/Pages/data-release-map-2013.aspx">global literacy</a>, then the aims of their creators can only be applauded.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Language experts review how one of the world’s most popular language learning apps measures up against traditional teaching.Mike Groves, Course Leader of Insessional English (EAP), University of BathDiana Hopkins, Course Leader, University of BathTom Reid, Course Leader, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.