Autonomous Learning of Foreign Languages by Adults in the Netherlands:
A UNESCO Research Project
In the field of foreign language learning there is a growing interest in the group of adult learners. As foreign language learning in school often does not provide students with all the knowledge and skill they need, many countries are looking for facilities for adults to brush up or to improve their skill in the languages they have learned at school and/or to learn other languages. The fact that most adults are often unable to attend language courses conducted by teachers, may force them to seek materials for self-instruction.
The UNESCO is trying to obtain information on whether in Europe materials for autonomous foreign language learning are available and, if so, what criteria they meet. The UNESCO Secretariat has asked the French National Commission to prepare a critical study, with the help of a research group of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Saint Cloud (Audio-Visuel Centre), of the forms of autodidaxy and semi-autonomy in the field of foreign language learning in Europe. This research pro-ject involves English, French, Spanish and Russian and was carried out in Great Britain, France, Spain, URSS, Sweden and the Netherlands. Dis-tance teaching by means of mass media as well as the issue of the efficiency of autonomous learning are not investigated.
The sophisticated analysis grid developed for the sake of the evaluation of the materials and the systems, is perhaps the most im-portant aspect of this project.
The information received with the aid of this analysis grid, shows that in the Netherlands the materials are rather inadequate.
The effectiveness of early foreign language learning in the Netherlands