America's Schools Should Embrace Learning New Languages

Foreign languages have always been a point of interest for scholars and travelers but their current position within United States public schools shrinks nonetheless: "Foreign languages are under fire, their place in the high school
\World War I had a huge effect on foreign language precedents in the United States. The war promoted mass acceptance of the "other" effect and stereotyped foreigners as offensive and negative. The guidelines to ignore foreign language study were later reversed in the early 1950s, but the isolationist attitude still lingers in our culture and colors debates over language (Rosenbusch 1). Embracing bilingualism within our country is especially important as our racial and linguistic composition evolves. Our government released population projections in 2004 that conservatively predicted at least a 2% increase in America's Hispanic population every ten years until 2050. Recent data has shown that their predictions for the current time span between the census in 2000 and 2006 were surpassed in volume (The United States Census Bureau). In seeking to become a unified country, citizens benefit from all speaking the same language but would exponentially benefit more if we all spoke several different languages. Our education system often ignores the worth of creativity and culture awareness and places greater value on standardized test skills in evaluating knowledge and college readiness (Hostler Stewart 12). Bilingual programs and foreign language classes remain invaluable in enhancing and developing cognitive skills that apply to the learner's English proficiency as well as improving other academic areas. Promoting diversity in language learning cannot be ignored by educators or policy makers in our ever shrinking world as we seek to produce cultured, educated, and creative future generations.

Bilingual learners enhance their English skills because studying a different language offers comparisons of identity and expression, connects word definitions through foreign cognates, and encourages precise articulation through a comparison of different pronunciations and inflections (Palfrey 551). One researcher examined high schools students' foreign language experience and later college success and found that those who studied Latin, French, German, or Spanish in high school typically performed better academically in college than students of equal academic ability who did not study a foreign language (Davis Wiley 36). These findings complement the research done on SAT tests, which measure one's college readiness and predict performance. One study compared SAT skills on the verbal portion of the test between students who had studied a different language and those who had not (Cooper 385). The foreign language learners scored significantly higher on the test. The increased percentages on the SAT verbal test are important because of the skills it measures: "1)learning vocabulary in context; 2) developing a sensitivity for nuance in the meaning of words; 3) using contextual cues to guess at the meaning of unknown words in a passage; and 4) reading a text with care and special attention the thematic development, style, and the author's stance to his material" (Cooper 386). One researcher's work echoed these findings, and further noted that students entering universities with seven years of foreign language studies score higher on English tests than those students who only studied a foreign language for six years, and so on down the scale (Palfrey 551). With this in mind, it becomes more important to also address when the foreign language learning begins.

The age at which a student begins studying a second language makes a difference, with the greatest gains being achieved when the language study begins in the elementary school years (Cooper 381).Younger children catch on to learning a second language quickly, and they pick up a more native pronunciation because they are not fully entrenched in the grammar and pronunciation rules of their primary language (Hostler Stewart 14). Younger children are less inhibited than children in middle school to try out new sounds and use new words (Hostler Stewart 14). One study done examining the effects of learning several languages at a younger age on native language fluency also included data from different age groups. The researcher found that children who had attended bilingual classes since kindergarten were better at recognizing and using proper grammar, word recognition, and corrective editing (Demont 282). At a school in Charlotte, North Carolina, students are immersed in French, German, or Japanese in kindergarten and do not study any English vocabulary, grammar, or spelling until third grade. In 2001, 94% of the third graders and 100% of the fifth graders in the school scored at their current grade level in English reading tests (Hostler Stewart 14).

This link between multiple languages stems from cross-linguistic transfer: the application of learning one language's patterns, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciations to another language (Cunningham and Graham 37). Starting at a younger age exponentially increases these benefits offered to students. A recent study examined the effects of Spanish immersion programs on children's native English vocabulary. Keeping grade, sex, and verbal scores from a previous standardized test the same, 30 5th and 6th-grade immersion students and 30 English monolinguals did 60 consecutive Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) items. The immersion taught student scored significantly higher than the control group. This supports the crosslinguistic theories that positive transfer occurs from a foreign language to a native language (Cunningham and Graham 46).

Outside of verbal test scores, the learned skills apply to other subjects as well. Bilingual children think more creatively and solve problems faster than other students (Hostler Stewart 13). The expanded cognitive abilities that develop in learning a second language transfer to other academic areas (Hostler Stewart 14). The critical thinking skills that speaking two languages generates are often difficult to quantify but are invaluable in nature. Another researcher examined children's measured language skills with their ability to formulate scientific hypotheses and solve science problems. In an experiment consisting of 12 film sessions and 6 discussions sessions results showed that: "the bilingual children, given the same instruction by the same teacher in formulating scientific hypotheses, consistently outperformed monolingual children both in the quality of hypotheses generated and in the syntactic complexity of the written language" (Kessler 301). Language weaves a common thread between all academic disciplines and children who learn another language improve their verbal skills in their native language as well, translating to higher skill levels in other areas of cognition.

Our society should place importance on academic and cognitive strengths, but the diversity of cultural learning and acceptance that bilingualism facilitates stays crucial to our country's future intra-national and international relations. As our society becomes more interconnected with ever improving technology and lowering costs, future generations must possess the ability to communicate clearly and eloquently with people from different parts of the world. In speaking a different language and studying that language in a classroom setting, students also learn the nuances of that language's culture (Hostler Stewart 11). The first official bilingual program in the U.S. began in 1963 in Miami, Florida to facilitate Cuban refugee children to learn English. However, this program's main objective to transition students out of their native language as opposed to encouraging bilingualism overall did not engender positive diverse cultural awareness or interaction (Genesee and Gándara 676).

This type of separatist programming still exists. Discussions about bilingualism and foreign language teaching hold importance in light of increased immigration and diversification of our country. In 1998, voters in California decided that with little exception, English learners should be educated in English-only classrooms. This creates no neutral setting for minority and majority languages and cultures to coincide and allows for elitism and cliques to flourish (Genesee and Gándara 682). This precedent must be fought, and educational institutes should value all languages and give them similar respect in their diversity. Schools, especially at early ages, could be part of the solution to unifying our country and diminishing the class, racial, and ethnic stereotypes and separations that plague our society: "Before Daniel went to kindergarten in Buffalo, New York, his only exposure to language other than his native English was when he would watch the characters on his favorite television show open and close a door and hear them say "Abierto" and "cerrado". After only a few months in school where he has language class once a week, he can count to 10, greet others, identify objects in the classroom, and sing a song in French, Japanese, and Spanish. ... Daniel is learning that children in other countries have interesting ways of speaking and living that are sometimes similar and sometimes different from his own" (Hostler Stewart 13).

These benefits connect with the contact theory, which states that within any context, contact between members of different groups increased their affability towards one another and decreases stereotyping, discrimination, and prejudice (Genesee and Gándara 667). Therefore, bilingual programs and foreign language education decrease intergroup tensions especially among racially and linguistically diverse school populations. Immersion programs can also serve as an equalizer within students of different backgrounds who speak the same primary language. Learning an entirely new language as a unified group erases some of the prejudices attached to different mannerisms or dialects within English. Immersion programs have played a strong role within desegregation models in the past, and can further serve to provide a common ground between students within a school of varying racial and socioeconomic demographics (Garcia, Lorenz, and Robison 38).

By promoting monolinguism as nationalism, our country cuts off its nose to spite its face. Children gain a rich understanding of different cultures in studying and learning foreign languages, which remains crucial as our society becomes more interconnected with different nations in commerce and politics. Public education should maximize and explore the cognitive benefits created by bilingualism, and in mandating early and continual language learning our country's next generations will be more creative, more eloquent writers, and better problem solvers.

Works Cited

Cooper, Thomas C. "Foreign Language Study and SAT Verbal Scores." The Modern Language Journal 71.4 (1987): 381-387.

Cunningham, T. H., and C. R. Graham. "Increasing Native English Vocabulary Recognition Through Spanish Immersion: Cognate Transfer from Foreign to First Language." Journal of Educational Psychology 92.1 (2000): 37-49.

Davis Wiley, Patricia. "Tangible Benefits of the Study of High School Foreign Language Study and College Academic Performance." Classical Outlook 62.2 (1985): 33-36.

Demont, E. "Contribution of Early 2nd-Language Learning to the Development of Linguistic Awareness and Learning to Read." International Journal of Psychology 36.4 (2001): 274-285.

Garcia, Paul A., Eileen B. Lorenz, and Robert E Robison. "Reflections on Implementing Middle School Immersion Programs: Issues, Strategies, and Research." Foreign Language Learning, the Journey of a Lifetime. Eds. Richard Donato and Robert M. Terry. Lincolnwood: National Textbook Company, 1995. 37-76.

Genesee, Fred, and Patricia Gandara. "Bilingual Education Programs: a Cross-National Perspective." Journal of Social Issues 55.4 (1999): 665-685.

Hostler Stewart, Janice. "Foreign Language Study in Elementary Schools: Benefits and Implications for Achievement in Reading and Math." Early Childhood Education Journal 33.1 (2005): 11-16.

Kessler, C., & Quinn, M. E. "Positive Effects of Bilingualism on Science Problem-Solving Abilities." GeorgetownUniversity Round Table on Languages and Linguistics. Ed. J. Alatis. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1980. 295-308.

Palfrey, Thomas R. "The Contribution of Foreign Language Study to Mastery of the Vernacular." Modern Language Journal 25.7 (1941): 550-558.

Rosenbusch, Marcia H. "Language Learners in the Elementary School: Investing in the Future." Foreign Language Learning, the Journey of a Lifetime. Eds. Richard Donato and Robert M. Terry. Lincolnwood: National Textbook Company, 1995. 1-36.

Sandrock, Paul. "Foreign Language Education at the Crossroads: Bringing Coherence to the Journey of a Lifetime."Foreign Language Learning, the Journey of a Lifetime. Eds. Richard Donato and Robert M. Terry. Lincolnwood: National Textbook Company, 1995. 167-188. 

U.S. Interim Projections by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin. 2004.19 February. 2007 .