Pupils should be given the chance to take grade examinations in modern foreign languages, similar to those taken by people learning a musical instrument, head teachers suggest.

GCSEs and AS/A-levels in languages should be retained for those pupils wanting to do more formal study of languages, with the rest able to keep up language skills with "graded tests", the National Association of Head Teachers said.

We must simply become determined to improve ourselves

National Association of Head Teachers

The proposals are in response to controversial plans by the government to scrap compulsory language learning for pupils aged 14 and upwards.

The association said learning a language was difficult and pupils were often put off taking up languages at AS/A-level as a result.

But knowledge of another language was "an enormous bonus" in the employment market and many may be encouraged to keep up a language with a less formal exam that concentrates on speaking and understanding.

'Time to improve'

"What purpose can possibly be served by constantly reminding ourselves that we are not as good at languages as they are," the NAHT report said.

"We might as well keep bewailing the fact that the North Sea is not as blue as the Mediterranean.

"We must simply become determined to improve ourselves and not expect that we can better others who have these massive advantages."

David Hart wants non-linguists to get interested in language learning

NAHT general secretary David Hart said: "The fact that English is the international language, and that our young people do not have the motivation of their counterparts in other countries to learn a second language, should not be allowed to obscure the need for a considerable improvement in foreign language speaking in this country."

"Teacher supply and expertise, curriculum overload, and the lack of preparation for decent foreign language speaking, created by the GCSE and the AS/A-level exams, are all obstacles," said Mr Hart.

"The NAHT's plans for a graded tests approach will suit non-linguists who wish to learn a language in a useful and exciting way, linguists who are going on to study languages at a higher level, young people who wish to keep up a language after 16 and adults who wish to learn a language from scratch or keep up a language they know already."

'Elitist'

Terry Lamb, director of the Association of Language Learning (ALL), said the NAHT's proposals were "extremely worrying".

"If they are not part of the proper school curriculum, languages could become an elitist subject - a privatised industry," said Mr Lamb.

"We would have some parts of the population recognising languages' importance and continuing to plug it.

"But other schools would add it on as an extra curricular class, possibly even with parents paying for lessons," he said.