The bar graphs illustrate the percentage of 14-16-year-old girls and boys studying a modern foreign language in an English-Speaking country and top three common foreign languages: French, German and Spanish from 1984 to 2007.
Overall, it is evident that the highest percentage for students studying a foreign language was for girls for both years, while French remained as the most common language over the period.
In the first year, the figure for girls who studied a foreign language was about 58 percent, while it decreased noticeably by reaching 40 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, boys contributed 30 percent in 1984, and this percentage fell minimally to reach roughly 25 percent in 23 years.
At the same time, the rate of French was the highest for 50 percent, and it was halved at the end of the survey. Furthermore, the lowest figure was for Spanish, and remained as the lowest in 2007 for 10 percent, while the contribution of German was 20 percent, and it dropped gradually to reach about 15 percent at the end of the period.
