While the first bar chart shows the participation rates of boys and girls (14-16 years old), the second bar chart compares the three top languages studied by those teenagers in an English-speaking country between 1984 and 2007.
Overall, while the engagement of both boys and girls in learning a foreign language underwent a downward trend, girls had a higher engagement rate than boys in both years. In addition, the percentage of students who studied French and German showed a declining trend, while the reverse was true for Spanish, and French was by far the most popular foreign language.
In 1984, about half of the girls allocated time for studying a foreign language, after which this figure decreased considerably to 40% at the end of the period. Similarly, the figure for boys had experienced a decrease by 2007, but the decline was less noticeable compared to girls, from 30% to 25%.
In terms of the three top languages, the disparity between languages had been less recognizable by 2007. Although the interest of teenagers towards learning French decreased significantly from 50% in 1984 to 25% in 2007, it remained as a top language among the three languages. Likewise, while 20% of teenager students learned German in 1984, this had experienced a slight drop of 15% by 2007. Finally, the only language that increased was Spanish, doubling from 5% initially to 10% at the end of the period.