Australia Is Failing at Language Learning: Why That Matters

When it comes to Year 12 subject choices in Australia, the numbers speak loudly: and they’re not speaking in French, Japanese, or German.

According to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), just 8.6% of Year 12 students studied a language in 2021. To put that in context:

• 50% studied science.

• 53.8% studied “Society and Environment” subjects.

• Even technology subjects, which often struggle for enrolments, drew 28% of students.

The evidence is clear, and has been for years. Languages sit at the bottom of the ladder: the least chosen subject area in the senior years.

Who’s Learning, and Who’s Not

The “average” language student is already connected to another language at home.

The gender gap is clear: 10.6% of female students study a language, while only 6.5% of male students do the same.

Even more telling is the background of those who do study a language. The data shows they are disproportionately students with at least one parent born overseas in a non-English speaking country. That means the “average” language student in Year 12 is most often someone who is already connected to another language at home or in their community. For everyone else, especially those who would most benefit from it, language learning is an afterthought, or not even a thought at all.

Why Are Enrolments So Low?

Of course, there’s no single answer, but several factors stand out as options:

1. Perceived Irrelevance

   Many students see languages as a “nice to have” skill, but certainly not an essential one. In an English-dominant society, they assume they’ll get by without it, and for the most part, they can.

2. University Incentives (or Lack Thereof)

   In the past, some universities offered ATAR bonuses for language study, encouraging students to stick with it. Those incentives have been scaled back in many states, removing a practical reason to continue.

3. Narrow Curriculum Options

   The Australian Curriculum offers a list of 10 languages, ranging from Japanese to Spanish. But in reality, most schools offer only one or two, often based on staff availability. Students who want to learn a different language are simply out of luck.

4. Limited Elective Slots

   In senior years, students often have only a small number of elective slots after core subjects are locked in. Competition for these slots is fierce, and with other subjects potentially being seen as “easier” or more relevant to future careers, languages frequently lose out.

Why This Should Concern Us

Low language enrolment is not just an educational statistic, it’s a cultural and economic issue.

In a globalised economy, the ability to communicate in other languages is a massive competitive advantage. In diplomacy and business, and many fields besides, Australians who can only operate in English are starting from behind. Some would argue that modern technologies render skills such as this redundant. The truth, however, is that translation apps are no substitute for genuine, authentic communication in one's own language.

It’s also a question of national identity. Australia’s diversity is one of its strengths, yet our education system doesn’t reflect that in how it values multilingualism. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, for example, are on the official curriculum but offered in only a small fraction of schools.

What Needs to Change

If Australia is serious about lifting language enrolments, reforms need to tackle the problem from both ends:

• Deeper Early Exposure: Simply introducing a language in primary and offering it once a week is not enough. Countries with high language proficiency use daily exposure or at least more frequent and deeper lessons. This ensures that by the time languages become an elective, students feel well-prepared to continue making progress.

• Better Incentives: Reintroducing ATAR bonuses, or making learning a language compulsory to Year 10, could boost numbers in the short term.

• Community Integration: Partnering with cultural organisations and community language schools could bring more native speakers and authentic learning into classrooms.

• Greater Choice: Seeing more schools offering more of the curriculum’s approved languages would make learning relevant to more students, though of course finding suitable teachers is the problem here.

The Risk of Doing Nothing

Australia simply can’t afford to treat languages as the fringe subject that it risks becoming. The numbers show that without change, the students who will graduate with second-language skills will continue to be mostly those who already have them from home.

That leaves the majority of young Australians: our future diplomats and business leaders, operating in a world where being monolingual is, frankly, a disadvantage.

If language is the bridge between cultures, Australia is in danger of letting that bridge rot before it’s ever fully built.