Does Studying Latin in Secondary Education Predict Study Achievement in Academic Higher Education

Jul 6, 2026

Studying Latin in secondary education remains widespread in Europe and is commonly assumed to bring cognitive benefits beyond language learning. This empirical study examines how Latin study relates to later academic achievement in higher education using a sample of 1,898 participants. Results show Latin students achieve higher in higher education, with incremental predictive value emerging mainly in linguistic programs rather than STEM or other fields.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

Abstract

Introduction

Rationale for Latin in secondary education

Ongoing debate about Latin’s educational role

Language Learning ISSN 0023-8333 EMPIRICAL STUDY Does Studying Latin in Secondary Education Predict Study Achievement in Academic Higher Education? Cathy Hauspie ,a Stijn Schelfhout,a Nicolas Dirix a , Lot Fonteyne,a Mark Janse,a Arnaud Szmalec,a,b Alexandra Vereeck,a and Wouter Duycka,c a Ghent University b Université catholique de Louvain c NVAO, The Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders Abstract: Studying Latin in secondary education is still widespread in Europe and believed to result in cognitive beneﬁts, even beyond the linguistic domain. In this study we explored the relation between such study and later academic achievement in higher education (N = 1,898) . First, we demonstrated that Latin students exhibit increased levels of study achievement in higher education, particularly in study programs other CRediT author statement – Cathy Hauspie: conceptualization; data curation; formal analysis; investigation; methodology; project administration; software; validation; visualization; writing – original draft preparation; writing – review & editing. Stijn Schelfhout: conceptualization; formal analysis; methodology; software; supervision; validation; writing – original draft preparation; writing – review & editing. Nicolas Dirix: conceptualization; project administration; supervision; writing – review & editing. Lot Fonteyne: data curation; project administration; software; writing – review & editing. Mark Janse: supervision; writing – review & editing. Arnaud Szmalec: project administration; supervision; writing – review & editing. Alexandra Vereeck: writing – review & editing. Wouter Duyck: conceptualization; funding acquisition; project administration; supervision; writing – review & editing. A one-page Accessible Summary of this article in nontechnical language is freely available in the Supporting Information online and at [https://oasis-database.org](https://oasis-database.org) This work was funded by Ghent University through the SIMON project, and by the Fund for Scientiﬁc Research Flanders (FWO), project number G049821N. The funding source had no direct involvement in the study design, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, the writing of the report, or the decision to submit the article for publication. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Cathy Hauspie, Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Email: [cathy.hauspie@ugent.be](cathy.hauspie@ugent.be) The handling editor for this manuscript was Kristopher Kyle. Language Learning 74:4, December 2024, pp. 853–883 853 © 2024 Language Learning Research Club, University of Michigan. DOI: 10.1111/lang.12639 Hauspie et al. Latin and Academic Achievement than those covering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) . Second, we explored where the instruction of Latin was a signiﬁcant predictor in models of academic achievement, explaining incremental variance over 21 other cognitive, attitudinal, and demographic variables. Latin instruction was included as a variable in the prediction models in 42% of the programs (mainly in the non-STEM ones), but the incremental predictive validity was substantial only in the linguistic programs. Our results highlight how the study of Latin can be a valuable predictor of academic achievement in other study ﬁelds. Keywords Latin; classical languages; academic achievement; higher education Introduction Although Latin has not been commonly used as a means for spoken or written communication for several centuries now, the language is still present to a considerable extent in the European educational ﬁeld. Data from the European Commission (2023) show that in two thirds of all European countries, central education authorities regulate classical language provision for upper secondary level. Moreover, the study of Latin is even compulsory for some secondary students in one

FAQs

What is the main research question of the study?

Whether studying Latin in secondary education predicts later study achievement in academic higher education.

How does studying Latin relate to higher education outcomes?

Latin students show increased levels of study achievement in higher education, particularly in study programs outside STEM.

Where does Latin instruction provide the strongest predictive value?

Incremental predictive validity is substantial mainly in linguistic programs, while it is less substantial in programs covering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Jul 6, 2026

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