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One of the European Union's goals is to enable European citizens to communicate in two languages other than their mother tongue, an objective widely supported by European citizens. In fact, the 2012 Eurobarometer survey on Europeans and their languages revealed very positive attitudes towards multilingualism, as the following data from this report attest: (a) 98% of Europeans consider that mastering foreign languages will benefit their children; (b) 88% think that knowing languages other than their mother tongue is very useful; (c) 72% agree with the EU goal of at least two foreign languages for everyone; and (d) 77% (85% in Spain) say improving foreign language skills should be a policy priority.

It has to be noted that in this article a distinction is made between bilingualism (the ability to speak two languages) and multilingualism (the ability to speak more than two languages), since researchers who actively work in this field conclude that there are significant differences between the acquisition of a second language and the acquisition of third or additional languages. The benefits of multilingualism are many, but due to space constraints, I would like to highlight only three of them.

Firstly, the cognitive benefits need to be fully recognized. A recent study corroborates extensive evidence demonstrating multilingualism's positive cognitive effects. The authors¹ found out an association between speaking three or more languages and having some protection against ‘cognitive impairment without dementia' (CIND), a syndrome in which individuals display symptoms of memory loss and cognitive decline but with little or no perceptible effect on daily functioning, which is why it falls short of the definition of dementia. Those who regularly used three or more languages showed a significantly lower risk of CIND than bilingual individuals. Multilingualism thus keeps the brain healthy and active, as it fosters cognitive function even in old age protecting against the ravages of time.

Secondly, multilingualism contributes to personal development, as it gives access to wider and more diverse experiences while it helps to develop individuals' intercultural awareness, a key skill at a historical time when distrust towards the other is unfortunately becoming commonplace in many parts of the world. At university level it also increases mobility, a highly enriching experience that all university stakeholders should take advantage of.

And thirdly, multilingualism offers economic advantages and is an asset when it comes to landing a job. In addition, studies² demonstrate that foreign language skills exert a significant impact on pay, increasing wages between 15% in Austria and 39% in Spain (the highest increase in the 9 countries under scrutiny) for English language skills, and having an even bigger effect for command of other foreign languages. Not only is this benefit individual, but it also bears on the country concerned as a whole, because foreign language ability is an important determinant for foreign trade.

When dealing with foreign language learning, education authorities all over the world are well aware that English is nowadays an indispensable asset, which is why they are amenable to fostering the spread of English-medium instruction (EMI). This has led many European countries to embrace EMI as the best solution for improving English language proficiency, while at tertiary level it is also considered a basic tool to compete internationally at a time when internationalization has become a key objective for higher education institutions. This has spurred exponential growth in EMI in European universities in the last decade.

But won't using different languages to teach content (history, accounting, geometry, or anatomy) prove confusing for students? This is a serious concern that any multilingual context needs to tackle and, therefore, research is indispensable to adequately address this question. So, what do research studies indicate?

In primary and secondary education, studies confirm that EMI students improve their English command and are particularly better at receptive and productive lexicon, morphology, reading, writing skills, and oral production than those students who only learn English as a foreign language. As far as content learning is concerned, it can be stated that, generally speaking, there appears to be no negative effect of EMI on content learning. And in bilingual regions, a question of great interest to us, the implementation of EMI programmes has had no detrimental effect on the normal development of both Basque/Catalan/Galician and Spanish3.

At university level, the amount of research on English competence is limited and it is mainly based on teachers' and students' beliefs. The widespread belief is that, although learning content through the foreign language complicates the process, the required additional linguistic effort eventually bears the expected fruits. One of the few studies⁴ that has examined the impact of EMI on content learning concludes that there are no statistically significant differences between students learning Financial Accounting in English and those taking this subject in Spanish, and that  EMI does not impair  academic achievement. These results are of particular interest in the case of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), wherein the so-called Multilingualism Programme has courses in both English and French on offer. Our students should be aware of this opportunity and do their best to seize it, so that they can enjoy and reap the aforementioned benefits derived from multilingualism.

Our Basque-Spanish bilingualism must become a springboard to multilingualism and our window to being universal by maintaining the local languages and culture. The European Union's multilingualism goal seems to be on the right track in our context, but we still need to become fully aware of the many benefits it brings and take additional steps to boost foreign language learning.

References

¹ Perquin M., Vaillant M, Schuller A.-M., Pastore J., Dartigues J.-F., Lair M.-L., et al. (2013). Lifelong exposure to multilingualism: New evidence to support cognitive reserve hypothesis. PLoS ONE 8 (4): e62030. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0062030. Available at: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/asset?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062030.PDF

² Ginsburgh, Victor A. & Prieto-Rodriguez, J. (2011). Returns to foreign languages of native workers in the EU. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 64 (3), 599-618. Available at: http://ecares.ulb.ac.be/ecare/personal/ginsburgh/papers/170%20returns.pdf

³ Merino, J. A. & Lasagabaster, D. (2015). CLIL as a way to multilingualism. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2015.1128386.

⁴ Dafouz, E. & Camacho-Miñano, M.-M. (2016). Exploring the impact of English-medium instruction on university student academic achievement: The case of accounting. English for Specific Purposes, 44, 57–67.

Photos: Nuria González. UPVUEHU.