The bar charts compare information about the percentage of pupils of English speaking country aged 14-16 who study foreign languages with the most popular languages learnt by them in 1984 and 2007. Overall, girls accounted for by far the largest percentages of those engaged in foreign language study. As for the most preferable languages, although French experienced a considerable decline in the ultimate year, it maintained its upper position, while German and Spanish negligibly changed.
Examining the percentages of students immersed in foreign language studies, it becomes evident that females dominated there not only in 1984 but also in 2007, with around 49% and 40%, respectively, whereas males amounted to considerably lower figures at 30% in 1984 and went down by approximately 5% in 2007.
Speaking of the ranking of the three most popular languages among students, the majority of them gravitated towards French, with 50% in 1984, while in 2007 the preference of French consituted half as much (around 25%). The trends of the two remaining languages diverged in 2007: German comprised 20% in 1984 and fell to 15% in the end of the period, whereas Spanish was at 5% in in beginning and increased by 5% in 2007.