The English language, however, is a key part of the curriculum and is considered to be ‘a resource to be cherished and should continue to be an educational priority’ (Commission on Language Learning, 2017: 1). A series of core academic standards have been established for the teaching of English language arts in schools (Schutz, 2011) which highlight the key role of language in developing critical thinking, problem-solving and analytical skills. They also provide ‘a vision of what it means to be a literate person who is prepared for success in the 21st century’ (Schutz, 2011: 3). Interestingly, the standards emphasise that there is a ‘shared responsibility for students’ literacy development’ (Schutz, 2011: 4) across multiple disciplines, and links are made to literacy in history/social sciences, science and technical subjects, yet there is no mention of the potential contribution of FL learning to the development of literacy or language skills more generally.
It is important to note, however, that the above comments apply to schools where English is the sole medium of instruction and other languages are offered as (optional) curriculum subjects. Yet, it is important to acknowledge the increasing number of bilingual (or dual language) education programmes in schools across the United States (Kim et al., 2015). While such programmes undoubtedly vary by structure and student populations, the two main models are: (a) one-way dual language programmes, where students predominantly come from one language group and receive instruction in both English and the partner language (which may be their native language); and (b) two-way dual language programmes, where there are roughly equal numbers of students from two language groups (i.e. English speakers and partner language speakers) who are integrated to receive instruction in both languages (Boyle et al., 2015). The most commonly reported partner language in such dual education programmes is Spanish, which represented over 90% of the dual language programmes reported by schools in a survey completed by McGraw-Hill Education (2017).
There is also a growing body of evidence from dual language programmes which shows that learning a second language not only helps students to develop problem-solving skills, but also helps them to tackle the ‘nuances and complexities’ of their first language (Commission on Language Learning, 2017: 15). Such benefits are similarly acknowledged by Steele et al. (2017) who found that students randomly assigned to dual language programmes outperformed their peers in English reading by around 7 months in Grade 5 and 9 months in Grade 8. This provides further evidence in support of the strong link between literacy-related skills across languages. Yet, while the number of dual language education programmes in the United States has been growing in recent years, they still serve only a small proportion of the population. While exact figures are not available due to the range of terminology used and the wide variation in policies and implementation across states, estimates suggest that as few as 3% of elementary school students are currently enrolled in bilingual programmes (Goldenberg & Wagner, 2015). The predominant model in the United States therefore remains similar to the UK context, where English is typically used as the medium of instruction, with foreign languages offered as discrete subjects within the curriculum.
Canada
In Canada, education is the responsibility of the provinces and territories and, as such, there is no overarching curriculum at a national level. As a bilingual country, English and/or French are taught as L1s depending on the region and the particular school and, similar to the United States, there is also a range of schooling models in operation such as French immersion and bilingual education programmes (Dressler, 2018; Gorter & Cenoz, 2017). Taking the predominantly English-speaking province of British Columbia as an example, there is a requirement that all students must take an additional language as part of the curriculum in Grades 5–8 (Ministry of Education, 2004). For the majority of students in schools where English is the medium of instruction this language is French, although curricula are also available for American Sign Language, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi and Spanish.
It is encouraging to see that the FL curricula in British Columbia make explicit links to students’ English language skills:
As students gain proficiency in [the foreign language], they develop many competences essential to their continued success in life, including critical thinking, creative thinking, and communication skills. For example, learning an additional language is known to enhance students’ learning and literacy in their first language, as well as contributing to their overall cognitive development. As they learn to communicate clearly and effectively in [the foreign language], students gain transferable skills and processes that contribute to their proficiency as communicators in English. (Ministry of Education, 2004)
Yet, interestingly, no such links are made to other languages within the English language arts curriculum. While it does refer to ‘transferability of learning’ as a goal, which includes helping students to ‘develop language and thinking strategies that can be applied to new contexts’, it does not specify which contexts.
Australia
Education in Australia is regulated by individual states and territories, but they are guided by an overarching national curriculum (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2018). This identifies eight learning areas which include English and Languages. Within the latter, there are language-specific curricula for a range of world languages (e.g. French, German, Hindi) and there is also a separate framework for Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Islander languages. Most states have some form of compulsory FL education at specific year levels up to Year 8 (age 13–14); however, in recent years language education in Australia has been in serious decline (Bense, 2014) and there is a concern that ‘provision of languages in schools in Australia and uptake by students remain fragile at all phases of schooling’ (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2011, as cited in Bense, 2014: 487). This echoes similar concerns in other predominantly Anglophone countries.
As with the Canadian curriculum for FLs, references are also made in the Australian curriculum to the potential links between English and other languages (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2018). Students are expected to engage in a ‘reciprocal and dynamic process’ whereby they ‘move between the new language being learnt and their own existing language(s)’ and reflect on the ‘comparative dimensions’ between these languages. It is also highly encouraging to see explicit recognition that ‘learning languages develops overall literacy. It is in this sense “value added”, strengthening literacy-related capabilities that are transferable across languages, both the language being learnt and all other languages that are part of the learner’s repertoire.’ Yet, as with similar contexts explored above, the onus here seems to lie solely on the FL teachers to make such connections. While the English curriculum acknowledges that ‘Australia is a linguistically and culturally diverse country’, there is no reference to the potential ways in which English teachers could draw on students’ multilingual capabilities within the language classroom (whether these are students’ home languages or FLs learned in school).
New Zealand
In New Zealand, English is an official language along with Te Reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. Even though FLs constitute a learning area in the New Zealand curriculum, it is one of the few countries where language learning is not compulsory at any stage of schooling. While many schools offer international languages as an option, such as Mandarin, French, German and Japanese, New Zealand has similarly experienced a decline in the proportion of students choosing to study a language. Over the past decade there has been a 14% decrease in the number of secondary students learning languages as a subject in school and for Asian language learning the decline has been 29% (New Zealand Association of Language Teachers, 2016: 1).
The curriculum as a whole highlights the importance of literacy and numeracy as key skills (Ministry of Education, 2017). In order to obtain the National Certificate of Educational Achievement at the end of secondary school, students must accumulate sufficient credits in each of these two areas which can be attained from a range of subjects. However, even though literacy credits are described as reflecting a student’s writing, speaking and listening skills, credits in languages (with the exception of Te Reo Māori and Latin) do not count towards literacy credits. Given