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Language education is the Teaching and Learning of a Language or languages, usually as Foreign Language s. Because English is the most widely studied language in the world, there is a lot of material, from research to commercial resources, about English As A Foreign Language in particular. METHODS OF TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES There are several methods in wide use:
LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN EUROPE Foreign language education In 1995 the European Commission ’s White Paper "Teaching and learning – Towards the learning society", stated that "upon completing initial training, everyone should be proficient in two Community foreign languages". The Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills. In fact, even in 1974 , at least one foreign language was compulsory in all but two European countries ( Ireland and the United Kingdom apart from Scotland). By 1998 nearly all pupils in Europe studied at least one foreign language as part of their compulsory education, the only exception being Ireland, where primary and secondary schoolchildren learn both Irish and English , but neither is considered a foreign language. Pupils in upper secondary education learn at least ''two'' foreign languages in Belgium 's Flemish Community, Denmark , Germany , Luxembourg , Finland , Sweden , Cyprus , Estonia , Lithuania , Poland , Serbia , Slovenia and Slovakia . On average in Europe, at the start of foreign language teaching, learners have lessons for three to four hours a week. Compulsory lessons in a foreign language normally start at the end of Primary School or the start of Secondary School . In Luxembourg, Norway , Italy and Malta , however, the first foreign language is learnt at age six, and in Belgium's Flemish Community at age 10. Half of the EU's primary school pupils learn a foreign language, on average. English is the language taught most often at lower secondary level in the EU. 93% of children there learn English. At upper secondary level, English is even more widely taught. French is taught at lower secondary level in all EU countries except Slovenia . A total of 33% of European Union pupils learn French at this level. At upper secondary level the figure drops slightly to 28%. German is taught in nearly all EU countries. A total of 13% of pupils in the European Union learn German in lower secondary education, and 20% learn it at an upper secondary level. Despite the high rate of foreign language teaching in schools, the number of adults claiming to speak a foreign language is generally lower than might be expected. This is particularly true of native English speakers: in 2004 a British survey showed that only one in 10 UK workers could speak a foreign language. Less than 5% could count to 20 in a second language, for example. 80% said they could work abroad anyway, because "everyone speaks English." In 2001, a European Commission survey found that 65.9% of people in the UK spoke only their native tongue. Since the 1990s, the Common European Framework Of Reference For Languages has tried to standardize the learning of languages across Europe (one of the first results is UNIcert ). Bilingual education See main article: Bilingual Education In some countries, learners have lessons taken entirely in a foreign language: for example, more than half of European countries with a Minority or Regional Language community use partial immersion to teach both the minority and the state language. In the 1960s and 1970s , some central and eastern European countries created a system of bilingual schools for well-performing pupils. Subjects other than languages were taught in a foreign language. In the 1990s this system was opened to all pupils in general education, although some countries still make candidates sit an entrance exam. At the same time, Belgium's French Community, France , the Netherlands , Austria and Finland also started bilingual schooling schemes. Germany meanwhile had established some bilingual schools in the late 1960s. LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES Most students start learning a foreign language in and Arabic . LANGUAGE STUDY HOLIDAYS An increasing number of language students are now combining Holiday s with language study in the native country. This enables the student to experience the culture and tuition of the local people by taking them out their normal school environment and combine learning with a holiday abroad. Language study holidays are popular across Europe with thousands traveling to the UK alone to learn English. With the increasing prevalence of cross country business transactions it is now important to have multiple languages at your disposal. This is also evident in business outsourcing their departments to Eastern Europe. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ''See also: English As An Additional Language for information on language teaching acronyms and abbreviations which are specific to English.''
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