Spain and English

AN APPROACH TO THE MAIN REASONS WHY SPANISH STUDENTS AREN’T ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH FLUENTLY.

 “Having a president who is able to speak the universal language is a country’s level indicator”

According to recent surveys Spain gets a very low position regarding the learning of English. Only Russia and Turkey are situated at a lower level just behind Spain. EDUCATION FIRST, after examining two million students in 42 countries, concludes that Spain is the European Union country with the poorest level in English. The EF director claims that English is not compulsorily integrated as a first foreign language in the Spanish Education System.

Starting studying English at an early age is not enough and stating it as the first foreign language is not the solution either. Spain has reacted late and without enough energy to get the language integrated in the collective mind of Spaniards.

Although Spain starts teaching English at earlier ages than other countries where levels are higher as in Denmark or Holland, its levels are very poor and low.

The study carried out by Education First (EF) using level tests with two million students worldwide, states that Spain occupies the 24^th position in the world ranking ( low level), which is led by Austria, Belgium and Germany, (high). Only Russia and Turkey get worse results than Spain , being overcome by Italy ( low level), Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic , France , Portugal, Switzerland and Poland  (intermediate  level).

Reducing the age at which children  start studying English is not enough  to raise its knowledge says the survey, which  considers “ very much important ”  the quality of teachers, materials and didactic methods, the number of hours dedicated to language learning and the fact of stating it as the first foreign language.

This survey points out that multilingual culture doesn´t hinder but improves English knowledge as it is shown in countries as Finland, Belgium or Switzerland and points Spanish as an example of the years that must go by until the education system reforms are reflected in the adult population.

   In the middle eighties Spain was situated in the 45^th place of the world ranking regarding education expenses per capita, behind most Western Europe countries.

The question comes by itself: What can be done to rise the level?

Education First recommends to teach the language compulsorily at public schools from 12 years on and encourage its teaching after compulsory studies and for adult students, focusing and giving priority to communicative skills instead of grammar and syntax.

 TV and the media can contribute to get the population used to listening English and other languages in order to improve the population´s level to communicate in a different language than Spanish.

Money should be invested to improve teacher training and to give students the possibility of native to help them at the classroom.

All over the last years bilingual schools have been growing in Spain as the ideal solution but the results are reluctant to arrive in real communication processes. We should look in the highest level countries to try to emulate their system but I think the first thing the government and the country should do would be to persuade population clearly about the need and importance of speaking and understanding English in order to be successful in a great number of jobs due to globalization and modern world concept.

If we start doing these things, the results will arrive soon and our younger generations  will be able to get better jobs and will also be more competitive and ready to face the new age challenges without being considered non-qualified workers anymore.

Antonio Jiménez-Martín Sánchez