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Proficiency of college language majors

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
11 messages over 2 pages: 1 2 
evandempsey
Diglot
Newbie
Ireland
Joined 5686 days ago
27 posts - 53 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Italian, Russian

 
 Message 9 of 11
08 May 2009 at 4:24pm | IP Logged 
I am in Ireland, so I will only talk about the proficiency of students here.

It's not very high, in general. Reading ability usually far outstrips speaking and
listening ability, but that in itself is not uncommon. Of the people I have met who
studied languages to degree level, very few were actually proficient. I know a guy who
studied French for his B.A. and passed with a B. He cannot speak it. He cannot write
it either without making the most rudimentary errors. I am sure his reading ability is
decent though.

I have, however, met other students who were pretty good. Many of them attain their
proficiency during the year abroad in the country of the target language. The
impression I got is that these students speak fluently but rather innacurately.
Typical cases of forced production. I must stress, though, that the only language I
can judge with any competence apart from English is French.

There will always be more dedicated students who reach a higher level ability, but it
seems that, here at least, receiving a degree in a language is not contingent on being
able to speak it.

Language teaching in this country is of a ridiculously low quality, and most of the
population is monolingual, knowing a smattering of Irish at most. This seems to be
changing a little among the youth, as we realise the importance of our continental
neighbours and look to build an identity as Europeans.
1 person has voted this message useful



staf250
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Belgium
emmerick.be
Joined 5699 days ago
352 posts - 414 votes 
Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German
Studies: Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 10 of 11
08 May 2009 at 4:29pm | IP Logged 
evandempsey wrote:
I am in Ireland, so I will only talk about the proficiency of students here.

It's not very high, in general. Reading ability usually far outstrips speaking and
listening ability, but that in itself is not uncommon. Of the people I have met who
studied languages to degree level, very few were actually proficient. I know a guy who
studied French for his B.A. and passed with a B. He cannot speak it. He cannot write
it either without making the most rudimentary errors. I am sure his reading ability is
decent though.

I have, however, met other students who were pretty good. Many of them attain their
proficiency during the year abroad in the country of the target language. The
impression I got is that these students speak fluently but rather innacurately.
Typical cases of forced production. I must stress, though, that the only language I
can judge with any competence apart from English is French.

There will always be more dedicated students who reach a higher level ability, but it
seems that, here at least, receiving a degree in a language is not contingent on being
able to speak it.

Language teaching in this country is of a ridiculously low quality, and most of the
population is monolingual, knowing a smattering of Irish at most. This seems to be
changing a little among the youth, as we realise the importance of our continental
neighbours and look to build an identity as Europeans.


A interesting post and good to know.
1 person has voted this message useful



SamD
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6661 days ago
823 posts - 987 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian

 
 Message 11 of 11
08 May 2009 at 8:03pm | IP Logged 
If the only people you can practice your target language with are other students who speak the same native language that you do, that makes it difficult to get really fluent.


1 person has voted this message useful



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