The first bar chart illustrates the proportion of 14-16-year-olds learning a foreign language in an English-speaking country between 1984 and 2007, whereas the second chart shows the top three languages studied in those years. Overall, the percentages of both boys and girls learning a foreign language decreased, with girls constantly overtaking boys. French was the most popular language and remained the same over the whole period, followed by German and Spanish.
Focusing on the first chart first, while the proportion of language learner girls was around 65% in 1984, boys accounted for approximately 47%. While a figure for girls experienced a slight decline to about 51%, the percentages of foreign language learner boys saw a subsequent drop to 40%.
As for specific languages, French was by far the most commonly studied in 1984, with every second student learning it, making up nearly 65%. Although it was still common in 2007, its share had halved. The percentage learning Spanish increased from around 4% to 20%, while Spanish remained unchanged.