Language learning an ‘at-risk’ activity

The people of the United Kingdom are hurtling towards uncharted waters. Based on current direction, the UK is set for imminent departure from the European Union. This reverses almost half a century of membership.

At times the world has watched with incredulity the unfolding events of Brexit as presented in the media. Earlier this year, the deal that UK Prime Minister Theresa May had struck with the EU after lengthy negotiations, and that EU negotiators had described as “the only deal possible”, was spectacularly rejected by UK MPs. It subsequently received support on the understanding that May would go back to the EU to re-negotiate the deal’s one crucial sticking point – the backstop that would prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. But the EU’s reaction was swift and unequivocal. The agreement is not re-negotiable. What part of ‘only deal possible’ do you not understand?

What is troubling about these recent events is that they appear, to me, to reflect an entrenched, almost jingoistic, mentality – ‘of course the EU will re-negotiate with us … we are British, after all.’ More troublesome for me was the reaction of one particularly staunch Brexit MP to an announcement by the German CEO of Airbus. This CEO spoke of the genuine possibility of relocating UK operations in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Tearing up a piece of paper containing this business leader’s warning, the MP accused him of “Teutonic arrogance” and added, “my father … was a D-Day veteran. He never submitted to bullying by any German and neither will his son”.

But isn’t the arrogance on the other foot? As one British freelance journalist tweeted, it is “pretty rich to accuse Germany of “teutonic arrogance” when we’re the ones thinking we can upturn [a] complicated web of governing and trading arrangements, and come out with a settlement that is tilted entirely in our favour”.

For me as a linguist with a keen interest in the promotion and learning of languages other than English, the unfolding events of Brexit have other serious implications. The UK is renowned for its already ambivalent attitude towards additional language learning. The numbers of students studying an additional language to any serious level have been steadily declining, to the extent that language learning in the UK is genuinely at risk.

Moreover, it would seem from media accounts that Brexit has become a significant contributing factor in this decline. When links with Europe become severed by Brexit, this makes the myth that ‘surely everyone speaks English’ even more appealing.

We might be inclined to think that here in New Zealand we must be doing so much better on the languages front. We are, after all, a bicultural (indeed multicultural) nation; we value te reo Māori as the language of tangata whenua; by implication we value language learning.

However, it appears often the reality is that we too hold on to the ‘surely everyone speaks English’ mantra. As Lincoln Tan reminded us several years ago in a Herald article entitled ‘Fewer Pupils Learning Languages’, only one in five high-school students is studying an additional language – the lowest since 1933.

At the end of last year, National’s education spokesperson Hon Nikki Kaye won the backing of the Labour-led government’s Education Minister to progress a bill that would see language learning strengthened in New Zealand’s primary and intermediate schools. The bill would support both international and Pacific languages and would ensure universal access to te reo Māori.

Kaye is reported to have said at the time that “speaking more than one language has enormous cognitive, cultural, social and economic benefits so this bill is a big opportunity for our country”.

Closer inspection reveals a proposal that is likely not to move students beyond the most basic language competency. The oft-lamented reality of insufficient teacher supply alone would be enough to stifle progress.

As the UK navigates its future relationship with Europe, language learning, it seems, continues to take a hit. As the New Zealand government navigates a new law to support languages in schools, the reality overshadows the rhetoric. In both contexts (indeed, in all contexts where English is the majority language) we need to continually challenge circumstances that might thwart efforts to strengthen language learning. Such learning must be seen not only as a means towards mutually more beneficial and respectful interactions with others across the globe, but also as a vibrant component of education that is worthy of solid and on-going investment.