The document examines how pop music, podcasts, and platforms like TikTok influence English language learning among students, highlighting the importance of learning a foreign language for multicultural engagement. It outlines various methods through which teenagers encounter English outside the classroom, particularly through digital technologies, while noting the associated benefits and challenges. The findings aim to inform policy decisions and enhance language teaching practices across different countries.

1. Lights, Camera, Fluency
How pop music, podcasts, and Tik Tok are impacting
English language learning
20 February 2024
Andreas Schleicher
Director, Directorate for Education and Skills

2. Learning a foreign language helps students thrive in multicultural settings
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
Respect for people
from other cultures
Attitudes towards
immigrants
Awareness of
intercultural
communication
Awareness of
global issues
Interest in learning
about other
cultures
Self-efficacy
regarding global
issues
Perspective taking
Index change
Before accounting for gender, immigrant background, and students' and schools' socio-demographic profile
After accounting for gender, immigrant background, and students' and schools' socio-demographic profile
OECD (2020), PISA 2018 Results (Volume VI), https://doi.org/10.1787/d5f68679-en.
The impact of learning a foreign language on students who speak one language

3. 2009 2012 2015
2006 2018
2003
2000 2022
How do young people learn English today?

4. Learning English transcends classroom walls…
English lesson in school
• Reading books
• Watching TV and videos
• Gaming
• Listening to music
• Social media and Internet
• Communicating with
friends
Engagement with English on a typical school day for a 15-year-old (Portugal)

5. > Linguistic inaccuracies?
> Unequal?
> Inflated sense of proficiency?
Perceived benefits Perceived challenges
This increased exposure bring benefits and challenges
> Increases linguistic knowledge
> Enhances metalinguistic skills
> Increases motivation to learn

6. Outside school, digital technologies drive exposure to English
The moment they get the phone, the
[English] world opens up.
(Teacher, the Netherlands)
How 15-year-olds encounter English outside school (all countries)

7. IN MOST CASE STUDY SCHOOLS
> Teachers use technologies
> Game-based platforms to monitor
learning
> Online media and web content as
stimuli for learning activities
> Giving instructions or
administering homework
> Students using technologies
> Individualising learning and
differentiation
IN SOME CASE STUDY SCHOOLS
Inside school, technology is used in moderation
We were raised with this technology…
it’s more interesting…it’s easier for us
to understand.
[Student, Greece]
> Technologies that facilitate
interaction or collaboration
> Technologies that facilitate
feedback / marking
IN NO CASE STUDY SCHOOLS
Kids spend a lot of time already on their
phones…I don’t want to add to that.
(Teacher, Finland)

8. Textbooks (paper and digital) remain a key resource but attitudes are mixed

9. Some national specificities in the teaching and learning of English
may be of interest to other countries
Greece Valuing English language in the curriculum from the earliest age.
Israel Providing more challenging courses for high-performing students.
The
Netherlands
Offering bilingual programmes (Dutch-English).
Portugal Providing extra-curricular opportunities for students to practice
English.
Finland
Building a strong evidence base on English language teaching and
learning nationally.

10. Thank you

11. Tests
(representative sample of
15-year-olds’ language
proficiency in English)
Case studies
(learning practices inside
and outside school)
Contextual
questionnaires
(students, their teachers
and school leaders)
The PISA Foreign Language Assessment
Key aims
• Guide policy decisions
• Inform and improve language teaching
and learning