The Teaching of English

The editorial of La Vanguardia ‘El inglés básico´ caught my attention this summer with its analysis of the low level of English among 4th. ESO pupils. Proposals to improve the situation were not included, though.

The Department of Education has a programme running called CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). It is based on the theory that languages are learnt through social use. This appears to be a sensible idea since experience tells us that we learned our native tongue by using it to communicate with others who spoke the same language. This is not quite the setting in CLIL but it will undoubtedly boost the number of hours that English is heard in school and is a beneficial option where the appropriate staff resources are available. Equally positive steps would be the promotion of English outside the classroom through subtitling foreign language films instead of dubbing them or creating English summer camps.

One of the reasons put forward by proponents of this new methodology is echoed by the Vanguardia leading article : until now, they say, pupils only learned grammar in English classes. It is certainly true that solid knowledge of grammar is necessary to gain autonomy in a foreign language when learning it in a classroom. On the other hand it is an exaggeration to reduce English classes to grammar exercises. The four skills are included in any English language textbook and complementary material such as graded readers, videos and software are common in English language teaching. Ask any schoolchild which lessons are the most interactive in school. It is more than likely they’ll reply it is the foreign language class.

Pupils leave secondary school knowing how to read, write and understand spoken English in familiar contexts. This has been achieved with only three hours of class a week. Most still lack high fluency. With classes of 30 or more full competence is a pipedream. There is talk of including an oral exam in the foreign language selectivitat in the near future. Perhaps more effort and money could be ploughed into at least one hour of class per week with groups of 15 pupils, at batxillerat level, so that speaking can be properly practised.