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EarlyforeignlanguagelearninginEurope
1.EarlyforeignlanguagelearninginEurope
Englishlearnersaregettingyounger
DavidGraddol
Thecontext
Thelastdecadeshavewitnessedincreasedinterestinteachingforeignlanguagesinpri-
maryschoolsandkindergartens.Thisinterestisvisibleamongparents,teachers,school
authoritiesandpolicymakersatlocalandEuropeanlevel.Allofthemseemtoshareone
belief:startinglanguageeducationearlierprovidesbetteropportunitiesinthefuture.
Asaresultthereisanobservedtendencytolowertheagewhenobligatorylanguage
educationisintroduced.AcomparisonofKeyDataonTeachingLanguagesatSchools
inEurope,whichpresentsdataonyears2002/2003and2006/2007,showsthatnineout
of28Europeancountrieswhereforeignlanguageteachingwasalreadypartofprimary
curriculaloweredtheageofmandatoryteachingofthissubject.InmanyEUcountries
childrenstartlearninglanguagesoncetheystartschoolandthusthemajoritybegin
aroundtheageof6–8years.TheearliestlanguageprogrammesareimplementedinSpain,
where3-year-oldchildrenareofferedforeignlanguageinstructioninkindergarten.The
lateststartisprovidedintheUnitedKingdomattheageof11,buttheBritisheducatio-
nalauthoritiesarealreadypilotingearlylanguageprogrammestopreparefortheofficial
introductionofforeignlanguagefromtheageof7in2010.
SinceSeptember2008,Polishlearnersalsohavehadanopportunitytolearn
aforeignlanguagefromthestartoftheirprimaryeducation.AsinmanyotherEuropean
countries,Englishistheprevailinglanguageselectedbyschools.Itiscurrentlytaughtin
over80percentofPolishprimaryschools.
Thechangesnotedatthelevelofschoolorganizationhavedeeperunderlyingre-
asonsandarepartofasubstantialshiftinnationalforeignlanguagepoliciesineducatio-
nalsystemsworldwide.InEurope,aneedforcommonforeignlanguagecompetenceat
acommunicativelevelbecameapparentaftertheestablishmentoftheEuropeanSingle
Marketin1992andthefurtherexpansionoftheEuropeanUnion(EU)boundaries
(2004/2007).Europerecognisedtheimperativeofcreatingaflexible,mobileworkforce
andprompteditsmemberstatestointroduceFLlearninginthefirstfewyearsofformal
schooling.ThisneedwasexpressedintwodocumentsissuedbytheEuropeanCommis-
sion.Thefirst,theEuropeanWhitePaper,recommendedthedevelopmentofproficiency
inthreeEuropeanlanguagesforallcitizens(EuropeanCommission,1995),whereasthe
second,ActionPlanfortheperiod2004–06(EuropeanCommission,2003),identified
thegoalof‘mothertongueplustwootherlanguages,.Inpracticethisshouldmeanthat
citizensoftheEuropeanUnionshouldbeabletospeaktwolanguagesalongwiththeir