Belgian students becoming increasingly multilingual

A new study reveals that an increasing number of Francophone Belgian students, ranging from primary to secondary school, are enrolling in immersion programmes.

Researchers at the University of Liege (ULg) looked at immersion enrollment numbers for secondary education, in Dutch, English, or German programmes, from 2006 to 2012 and found a major jump from 3,300 to 9,853. However, the greatest increase was found among nursery and primary-aged students, with a total of 7,553 students in the 2006-2007 school year, compared to 14,455 in 2010-2011.

The vast increases in second languages can be traced to parents’ desire to create greater opportunities for their children. In Belgium, Dutch is the leading second language among Francophone students, largely due to the requirements needed to land good jobs at home.

Martine Poncelet of Ulg’s Department of Psychology says that beginning a second language as early as possible will help students reach a higher level of bilingualism. Poncelet and her colleagues would like to see all children in Belgium in immersion schools, so that all children have the same opportunities at an early age.