Today, my post deals with a new report coordinated by a very much admired Departament colleague, Elisabet Pladevall Ballester. The report is called Per què ens costa tant l’anglès?: Propostes per millorar l’aprenentatge de l’anglès a l’escola [Why is English so difficult for us?: Proposals to improve English learning at school] and has been commissioned by the foundation Equitat.org, from whose website it can be downloaded.
In its concise 28 pages, the report offers a quite complete snapshot of a well-known situation: Catalan children start learning English mostly at a pre-school stage (0-3 years), but the evidence gathered suggests that the long years of learning up to the end of compulsory secondary school (or ESO, 16), or the end of pre-university batxillerat (18) do not result in a solid command of English. These modest results, the report notes, are closely linked to the ‘complexity’ of the (public) schools and the socio-economic level of the families for, as everyone knows, results are much better among the children of ethnically homogeneous middle and upper-class families that attend private or semi-private schools and receive further English lessons in language schools. Poor children of low-class, Latin American and African immigrant families have far less chances to demonstrate a good command of English than the children of well-off families (who often are, let’s recall this, the children of wealthy expats). The report shows an evident concern about this manifest inequality in resources, which is why it mainly addresses the need to counterbalance it with better public education that allows all children to learn English. Good!
The issue of why few Spaniards can understand, speak and write English well enough flares up now and then in the press, and in academic circles, with nobody being able to offer an accurate diagnosis and much less a sound solution. The discussion takes it for granted that we must all speak English for reasons of employability (which have little to do, for instance, with the cultural reasons why French used to be popular among the European upper classes, including the Russian aristocrats who hardly ever spoke Russian). It seems obvious, however, that whereas some jobs require interacting with foreign persons in English, many others don’t. And since dubbing and translation facilitate access to culture and to entertainment, there is really not a big inducement to learn English among large segments of the population.
Working-class families do know that English can be essential for social mobility but also that their children might end up employed in service jobs requiring just the basic English you need to interact with tourists. I am not claiming that children know from a very early age what they need to learn English for, but it’s evident to me that families see that need very differently depending on their position. It might well be the case that migrant families in Catalonia regard learning Catalan as a priority for employment purposes rather than English. By the way, and speaking of employment in international situations, Pedro Sánchez is the first Spanish PM to be fluent in English, a fact that says plenty about the skills required for employability.
Back to the report, a main claim that the authors make (and that also relates to the difficulties, I’ll add, that Catalan is facing) is that a language cannot be learned only in the classroom without being accompanied by some type of ‘natural’ practice. Catalan is the native language in Catalonia, yes, but for many newcomers it’s a foreign language never practiced at home, just as English is not practiced. For migrant children struggling to learn Spanish (if they’re not Latin American) and Catalan, adding English to the equation must be a nightmare. Supposing that Spanish and Catalan are perfectly integrated in the learning processes and in the social practice of children in Catalonia, and that’s a lot to suppose, English can never occupy a similar space as a third language, simply because it’s not spoken as a native language in Catalonia.
I’m saying what is only very obvious. Learning a foreign language requires making an extra effort to find occasions to practice it, which is why traditionally the upper classes have hired foreign nannies, governesses, tutors, companions and so on, and the middle classes have employed au pairs. You may teach a child of a less privileged class all the English you want but you’re always going to crash against a major barrier: how are they supposed to practice oral communication in English? I’ll confess here that even my own oral English is becoming quite wobbly for lack of practice: I teach in English, yes, and talk to my students in class in English, but outside that environment, I listen to English, I write in English but hardly ever interact in English (except to give tourists directions…).
The report does see that the lack of opportunities to practice oral English is a major obstacle and recommends investing resources in splitting primary school groups (age 9 and later) into smaller groups for English practice, using also the resources that are wasted on younger children. It also asks for the ridiculously low number of language assistants (145 for all of Catalonia) to be multiplied, to that their presence guarantees the chance to interact in English in the classroom. I can only support and applaud these measures but, still, they cannot undo, particularly among teen students, the impression that interacting in English in class is artificial and, in the worst-case scenario, embarrassing.
The supposition is that Catalan children, being used to speaking or at least understanding the two languages of Catalonia have fewer difficulties to acquire English than monolingual children. The report makes no allusion to this supposition, and whenever monolingual regions of Spain are mentioned (like Madrid) there seems to be little difference in the degree of English that is commanded. The community of Madrid has been more open to embracing CLIL programmes, that is, teaching subjects that have nothing to do with English in that language. The report is less enthusiastic about this practice (which it calls AICLE), warning that English should perhaps be better used in subjects such as music, arts, sports and similar, with less intensive academic content.
To be sincere, I have never understood this idea at all, for I think that children need to acquire general purpose English and not the specific jargon of a certain subject. But, anyway, I teach Literature, so what do I know? The point, to get back on track, seems to be that more effort should be made in the English classroom, but at later ages than currently and when children are better equipped to understand their own learning processes regarding language.
I’ll address now an issue that the report skips: the attitude of the child students and how this is conditioned by social perceptions. I have no idea how this works in Sweden or in the Netherlands, the European countries with the highest percentage of proficient speakers of English, but a few other factors also count. Countries with a national language spoken in many other countries are more reluctant to learning foreign languages (this includes all the Anglosphere, beginning with the US and the UK). And the other way round: Swedish and Dutch people have low expectations that anybody else in the world will want to learn their language, hence their investment in learning English. I assume that in their societies speaking English is seen as a necessity, which is not the case in ours, both Spain and Catalonia. The situation would be very different, of course, if only Catalan were spoken in Catalonia.
We can’t ignore the ‘cool’ factor, either. In sociocultural terms, speaking English has never been considered cool in Spain. It can be considered necessary for certain kinds of employment, a point I have already discussed, but it’s not cool in the sense of giving a speaker extra social points, extra kudos. About a decade and a half ago, quite a few Catalan children starting showing an interest in learning Japanese, attracted by manga and anime, cultural products which gave this language a high degree of coolness. In contrast, what is English for children and teens? A school subject, and that is, definitely, uncool. The same, by the way, applies to Catalan, which has not managed to conquer sufficient space in popular culture and social media to be cool in younger speaker circles and is, let’s face it, slowly dying.
There is something else I’m struggling to define, let’s see if I can. I’ll use Japanese again as an example. Nobody is expected to learn Japanese, whether in Spain or in Catalonia. This means that the persons who have chosen to learn that language are not facing any specific expectations and are learning at their own pace, as their linguistic talent allows them (for not everyone has the same ability to learn a language). I assume that these learners of Japanese want to interact in that language and seek contact with native speakers in language schools but also in other circles, such as clubs, fan associations or, indeed, in social networks.
English is a very different matter. Very few children and teens are inclined to learning the language and its culture for personal reasons, whether they are future employability or pure enjoyment. These truly interested children and teens may eventually get degrees in English. For the rest, the immense majority, English is an imposed choice, something they must learn, such as Maths or Geography. This is not at all the best possible circumstance to enjoy learning a language. Our children and teens hear and read more English than any other previous generation, but why should they have the ambition to be good English speakers? The learners of Japanese will tell you that they want to improve their knowledge of Japanese popular (and maybe elite) culture. But what’s the final aim of learning English? Why make that continued effort for so many years, whether they are six or sixteen? Jobs? They will be taken by the more privileged children. Access to culture and entertainment? You don’t really need English. Travel? Many people get by with no English. So… what for?
As things are now moving in the world, it would perhaps be more advisable in terms of employment and enjoyment to start teaching Chinese in primary school. Mandarin, I assume. The ‘obligation’ to learn English, besides, is relatively new. I myself received English tuition for two years in primary school (at a modest public institution) when I was between 8 and 9, as a rather peculiar extra soon suppressed. Then nothing. I only heard that English was indispensable in 1980, when I started secondary education at 14, for which it was made compulsory. So, the idea that everyone in Catalonia should speak English is not even 50 years old. French, as I have mentioned, used to be the more desirable language until then.
We should research not only why in Catalonia (and Spain) learners have so many problems to speak English but whether the investment in teaching and learning English pays at a national and a personal level. Perhaps we need to diversify, give children more choice, and make room for languages with plenty of speakers already here: Arabic and Chinese to begin with. Just an idea.
Also, I think we need to ask the reverse question: how come English native speakers are generally so bad at learning foreign languages…? If you’ve noticed, not even most of those living among us speak Catalan or Spanish, an issue only raised with other types of foreign residents. I believe these are also pertinent questions that need urgent answers.