Band 6+: The two bar charts show the proportion of 14-16 year-old students studying a modern foreign language in an English-speaking country and the top three popular foreign languages. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

The two given graphs provide information about the percentage of students in 14 to 16 age group who studied a foreign language and the top 3 languages chosen by them in 2 different years, 1984 and 2007.

From an overall perspective, the percentage of foreign languages learners witnessed a downward trend in the reported time frame, and also the proportions of students who chose French and German. Otherwise, the number of students who chose Spanish rose during the period.

In 1984, nearly half of the female students decided to study another language, but the figure had dropped to 40% in 2007. The percentage of boys was 30% in 1984 before a slight decrease in 2007, standing at about 25%. Moreover, it could be seen that the proportions of girls were always higher than boys in 2 reported years.

In 1984, 50% of the students chose French to study, but this figure had sharply declined in 2007 to 25%. Despite the dramatic change, French was still the most popular option among students. The German language’s figure had also decreased, from 20% in 1984 to 15% in 2007. On the other hand, the number of students studied Spanish had risen from 5% to 10% in the reported time frame.