More inspiring forms of teaching are needed if the UK is going to make sure it doesn't fall behind other nations across the world when it comes to foreign languages, according to a leading Cambridge linguist. 

Professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett was speaking to a prestigious list of Whitehall officials, including those from the Ministry of Defence and GCHQ, at Murray Edwards College, for a debate on the future of the UK's language policy, with her focus being on schooling. 

She said that getting it right when it comes to teaching languages at an early age would make for a strong start to changing the overall language policy in the UK. The expert believes that having revamped and improved modern languages lessons in schools would have a range of benefits for the nation as a whole in the future. 

"Language policy is not just about education, but what we were trying to shown is the lack of languages in the UK is such a problem for cases like diplomacy, conflict resolution and business. 

"Nationally Arabic speakers tend to be very useful, and that might be something that could be added into the curriculum." 

Ayres-Bennett said one of the major challenges that can come from the way languages are taught in British schools at the moment is that there is less in the way of engagement in younger pupils, with teachers often focused on the latter years of education. She said that this can leave younger children disillusioned and uninterested when it comes to learning languages. 

"One possibility is to ensure that there are high-quality teachers at this level.

"All too often the best teachers are reserved for GCSE and A-level classes and pupils at Key Stage 3 describe lessons as dull," she added, going on to say that more inspirational forms of teaching could pave the way for more interest in learning a language from pupils across the country.