POSITION OF FRENCH AS A SECOND FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN SECONDARY EDUCATION IN THE AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE OF VOJVODINA

Abstract

The predominance of German as a second foreign language in Central and Southeastern Europe (with the exception of Romania) is well documented by recent studies on language education in Europe (European Commission–EACEA & Eurydice, 2023). This trend is also reflected in Vojvodina, a northern province of Serbia that is historically and culturally close to this geographical area. According to data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia for the 2021/2022 academic year, 97.51% of primary pupils learn English as their first foreign language. In contrast, the second foreign language introduced in the fifth grade shows greater variation: German is the most common (50.37%), followed by French (24.24%) and Russian (17.42%), with other languages being marginal. At the secondary level, similar patterns persist, with notable regional disparities, particularly in Vojvodina. Among the 18,715 secondary school pupils registered in this province in 2021/2022, 66.03% chose German as their second foreign language, compared to 13.12% for Russian, 10.76% for French, 5.78% for Italian, 3.83% for English, and 0.17% for Spanish.
The objective of our study is to examine the status of French as a second foreign language in secondary education in Vojvodina, based on official data provided by the Ministry of Education and the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Despite certain limitations, these data allow us to observe a general downward trend in the number of students learning French, with a few notable exceptions.

In Serbia, the choice of foreign languages made in primary school is generally maintained in secondary education when the pedagogical organization allows it. This continuity justifies an analysis of the status of foreign languages across the entire educational pathway. In this regard, the case of Novi Sad is particularly revealing: out of twenty public primary schools, eighteen offer German, while only four offer French. Although Vojvodina presents a favorable context for educational multilingualism, linguistic diversity in the choice of a second foreign language remains limited due to prevailing institutional orientations. True freedom of choice can only be guaranteed through renewed language policies and specific measures aimed at ensuring a more balanced distribution of foreign languages in schools and actively promoting linguistic diversity.