The two bar charts show the proportion of 14–16-year-old students studying a modern foreign language in an English-speaking country and the top three popular foreign languages. (2023.05.14)
The first bar chart details the proportion of 14-16-year-old students learning a foreign language in an English speaking nation in 1984 and 2007, and the second bar chart illustrates the three most popular languages being studied during the same period. Overall, more females than males studied foreign languages, and the percentages of students of both genders fell over the 23 years in question. Additionally, the proportions for German and French both decreased, though the latter remained by far the most studied language, while the reverse was true for Spanish.
Regarding the first chart, the percentage of girls who studied a foreign language stood at around 50% in 1984, before a considerable fall to 40% by 2007. The data for boys started substantially lower at 30%, and then dropped more moderately to end at approximately 25%.
In terms of the three most chosen languages, in 1984, those who signed up for French courses accounted for a significant 50%, more than double the number for German (20%), and 10 times as high as the figure for Spanish (5%). By the time the 23 years had elapsed, the figure for French had halved to about 25% yet still remained the highest, while the statistic for Spanish had doubled to 10%. Finally, the proportion of those who opted for German fell marginally to 15%, narrowing the difference with French language study.
