The picture is clear – we don’t care what happens in Asia...right?

On October 8^th this year, an article from the Sydney Morning Herald titled “Students stop taking Asian languages in senior years” by Amy McNeilage & Josephine Tovey, discusses upon the issue that senior high school students are not learning an Asian language for the HSC. Figures have shown that students are studying a foreign language at a lower rate than ever before. While high school students must complete a 12 month language course during years 7-8, less than 8% of students choose to study a language course during their HSC. In particular, Asian languages are the least popular, while languages such as French, continue to stay on top and remain prominent for students to select. For example, this year 663 students undertook beginner French, while only 52 students chose to study Mandarin as a beginner.

And so, the question rises. Why is there a lack in appreciation for Asian languages, or Asian culture overall among students?

Our future...hopefully we can do them proud :)

Firstly, what must be stated is the necessity to learn another language and in particular, an Asian language. As stated by Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd (2007), languages are important as they carry meaning and differing perceptions on numerous things, which thus relates back to culture because languages are required to communicate with others (Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd, 2007:10). As our world gradually becomes more globalised, our education system becomes increasingly market-based, meaning that our Australian students must be designed to be potential marketing products in order to both stimulate and ensure a working economy within the country and across the globe. By studying another language and culture apart from your own, many students not only can ensure a successful future career, but can also become educated to be accustomed to new cultures, ideas and traditions - it would provide an individual a broader mindset about the world around them.

However, what seems to be more evident is the fact that students don’t really care about any of this. As the article suggests, it quotes from the president of the Board of Studies of NSW, Tom Alegounarias, who states that “it was likely students were not convinced a language gave them the competitive edge it once did” (McNeilage & Tovey, 2013). This is probably due to the progressive adoption of English as the global language, and as Tom Alegounarias continues to state “Everyone that goes to China knows you can get around pretty well with English” (McNeilage& Tovey, 2013). Despite the limitless amount of knowledge and understanding that can be offered to students, they are not enticed by it at all, due to the lack of encouragement to learn a language.

I sincerely hope that more encouragement can be given from family and teachers for students to learn a second language. If more students were educated about the many benefits an extra language can lead to, definitely more students would be enticed to learn.

References:

1.  McNeilage, Amy & Tovey, Josephine (October 8th 2013) "Students stop taking Asian languages in senior years", Sydney Morning Herald, accessed 9th October: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/students-stop-taking-asian-languages-in-senior-years-20131007-2v4cu.html
2. Wadham, B., Pudsey, J., & Boyd, R. (2007). "Chapter 1: What is Culture?" "Culture and Education" Sydney: Pearson Education