The bar charts illustrate the percentage of 14-to-16-year-old students learning a foreign language in an English-speaking country, alongside the proportions of the top three languages chosen in 1984 and 2007.
Overall, there was a general decline in the total proportion of students learning foreign languages over the period. Females consistently showed a higher interest in language studies than males, while French remained the most popular language despite a significant drop in its popularity.
Regarding student participation by gender, approximately 50% of girls studied a foreign language in 1984, compared to 30% of boys. By 2007, both figures had experienced a downward trend, dropping to about 40% for girls and 26% for boys.
In terms of specific subjects, French was the dominant language in 1984, chosen by exactly 50% of students. However, this figure fell sharply to roughly 34% in 2007. In contrast, German and Spanish both saw increases in popularity. The percentage of students learning German rose slightly from 20% to 24%, surpassing French’s growth rate. Meanwhile, Spanish experienced the most significant relative growth, more than doubling from a mere 4% in 1984 to 10% by 2007.