Research report 'Languages in the Low Countries' online

The research report 'Languages in the Low Countries. Language attitudes, language knowledge and language use of students and teachers in Dutch and Belgian higher education' ('Talen in de Lage Landen. Taalhouding, taalkennis en taalgebruik van studenten en docenten in het Nederlandse en Belgische hoger onderwijs'), has become available as a pdf.

The research report contains the results of the survey “Languages in the Low Countries”, which was initiated by Nicoline van der Sijs (em. professor of historical linguistics of Dutch / Radboud University / Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal) in May 2022 as part of the King Willem-Alexander Chair for Low Countries Studies in Liège/Luik. Dr Wilbert Heeringa (data scientist Fryske Akademy) and Reitze Jonkman (guest researcher Fryske Akademy) collaborated on this report.

English as a working language?

The Research Report “Languages in the Low Countries” describes the results of a 2022 survey whose aim was to investigate the language attitudes, language knowledge and language use of students and teachers in higher education in the Netherlands and Belgium (both in Flanders and Wallonia). Are there differences between the Netherlands and Flanders and between Flanders and Wallonia? Such a comparison has never been made before. The background is the discussion about the desired and currently used language of instruction in higher education: how do students and lecturers, as those directly involved, feel about English as a language of instruction?

The survey, drawn up in Dutch and French, was completed by 1416 students (with an average age of 24) and by 457 lecturers (with an average age of 52). The sample was created via self-selection, and in particular the Dutch-language survey was completed more often by students of literature than by students of other disciplines. The sample is therefore not necessarily representative of total student and teacher populations in the Netherlands and Belgium. That does not alter the fact that the results are insightful. Remarkably, for example, there are no major differences between the responses to the Dutch-language survey from the Netherlands and Belgium, and the position of English in Wallonia is not fundamentally different from that in Flanders or the Netherlands.

Balance

In summary, it appears that language knowledge and use of English is high in both the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia) and that attitudes towards English are largely positive, but that a majority of students and teachers prefer a situation in which both English and the national language are used equally as the language of instruction in higher education. Other languages play a much less important role in the various contexts, with French, German and Dutch still being mentioned most frequently.

Online (pdf)

Nicoline van der Sijs, Reitze Jonkman, Kathy Rys, Wilbert Heeringa Leiden/Leeuwarden, 2025. ‘Talen in de Lage Landen. Taalhouding, taalkennis en taalgebruik van studenten en docenten in het Nederlandse en Belgische hoger onderwijs’.