Modern languages in the UK is at a crucial stage in its development, write Institute of Modern Languages Research director Professor Charles Burdett and Professor Claire Gorrara, dean of research and innovation at Cardiff University. If the discipline is to ‘thrive and survive’, how can it address the urgent challenges that we face?
There are, as is well known within the sector, causes for concern. This is exemplified by the decline in applications for university degrees in modern languages over the last decades. Yet, while recruitment figures at undergraduate level have fallen, research by the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML) demonstrates that this is not uniform across the sector. Rather, it might be more accurate to report that modern languages degrees are changing, diversifying, to cater for a changing student population and its priorities and preferences (see Report on Granular Trends in Modern Languages in UCAS Admissions Data, 2012–18, July 2021).
Indeed, there are examples of successful initiatives which demonstrate how the disciplinary field is adapting to change. These include the growth in university translation studies programmes which often require proficiency in two additional languages. Partnerships between schools and universities across the UK to support and motivate young linguists have shown strength and resilience at a time of national upheaval and transformation in our relationship with Europe (see the MFL mentoring project, active in Wales since 2015: MFL Mentoring – Modern Foreign Languages). Indeed, the UK’s departure from the EU has revealed just how connected we are with our nearest neighbours, economically, politically, culturally, and of course linguistically.
Yet, the disciplinary field of modern languages remains caught between the reassuring certainties of the past and the need to re-invent itself at a time of unprecedented cultural change for the academy. First and foremost, there is the question of the name ‘Modern Languages?’ Is this the most appropriate self-description for our times? Not only is the use of the word ‘modern’ increasingly problematic, but the description fails to mention that the study of culture is at the heart of the disciplinary field. It is not surprising, therefore, that those outside our community routinely assume that ‘modern languages’ is essentially concerned with language acquisition.
Closely associated with the issue of naming, is the need to better define the subject area. What is currently designated as modern languages encompasses an array of methodological approaches, areas of study, and objects of analytical interest. This is a strength of a discipline that is wide-ranging, porous, and open to different emphases and inflections wherever it is practiced. Yet, an overarching, powerful, and easily understood definition of the subject area is necessary when all subjects must make their case for value within a university eco-system where there are many competing demands.
Although modern languages overlaps, in many instances, with the territory of history, film studies, ethnography and sociology, it is not so broad a field that it eludes definition. What distinguishes modern languages is the integration of the study of language and culture, the development of knowledge of a given language/geographical area that is of such depth that the student and scholar see that field from without and from within.
This article was first published on December 7th on the Talking Humanities blog, you can read the piece written by Professor Charles Burdett and Professor Claire Gorrara, in full here.