A 2023 YouGov poll found that only 21% of UK adults can hold a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue. About half of the other 79% regretted not engaging more with languages at school, and more than half of all those polled were interested in learning a new language.

By comparison, some 60% of EU citizens surveyed in 2022 reported good or proficient foreign language skills.

Something is clearly going wrong with foreign language learning in UK schools, and this is not improving. For example, A-level entries in modern languages in England as a percentage of all A-level entries has fallen since 2010.

Yet our research shows that many pupils in England and Wales are curious about how language has been shaped by society, culture and history, and how contact between people from different backgrounds leads to language change. A languages curriculum oriented around linguistics – the critical and analytical study of language itself – could meaningfully address the decline in language learning.

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In March 2025, the

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