Abstract Summary
Foreign language education in the Netherlands will be discussed from different viewpoints: which languages are taught, what are policy makers’ and educators’ expectations about early foreign language education and are their expectations met? Challenges in foreign language education and possible solutions to improve foreign language education will be covered, too.
Abstract :
Early language education is popular in the Netherlands: about one fifth of the primary schools provides foreign language lessons from kindergarten onwards. In this presentation, foreign language education in the Netherlands will be discussed from different viewpoints: which languages are taught, and what are reasons for policy makers and educators to provide foreign language education? And are policy makers’ and educators’ expectations about (the benefits of) foreign language education met? Many policy makers and educations for example believe that early-English education will improve pupils’ knowledge of English, but results from scientific research do not always confirm this expectation. Finally, (possible) challenges in foreign language education and possible solutions to improve foreign language education will be discussed.
