According to a well-known biblical story, there was once a universal language that everyone spoke and could understand. One day, the people came together to build a city in honor of themselves. In that city, they decided they would construct a tower that would reach to Heaven. However, when God saw their arrogance, he decided to confuse them by making them speak in different languages. As a consequence, the people were forced to discontinue the tower and tore it down.
In much the same way, language today is just as confusing. There are thousands of languages spoken in thousands of different countries, and sometimes communication is lost in translation. Only 26 percent of American adults can speak a second language fluently (McComb), which is a very distressing statistic in an extremely multilingual world. What is even more worrisome is the fact that in the 2007-08 school year, only 25 percent of primary schools offered classes in foreign language (Rhodes and Pufahl), most of which are merely introductory classes (Edvantia). In addition, according to the Education Commission of the States (ECS), in 2007 the high school graduation requirements for 36 states either did not include foreign language study or the study of foreign language was an option among fine arts and world studies. Only 14 states out of fifty required or were in the process of requiring a foreign language to graduate high school.
It is no wonder that the United States is lagging in the area of foreign languages. Where most European students are required to learn a foreign language at age eight, American students are barely asked to utter a syllable in a non-native tongue until the age of fourteen (Tagliere), and even then it is merely ‘strongly encourag...
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...." PBS: Public Broadcasting
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Rhodes, Nancy C., and Ingrid Pufahl. Foreign Language Teaching in U.S. Schools: Results of a
National Survey. CAL, 2010. Online Ebook.
Science Daily. "Children Can Learn a Second Language in Preschool, Study Finds." Science Daily:
News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology. 10 Sept. 2009. Web. 22 Nov.
2011. .
Tagliere, Julia. "Foreign Language Study -- Is Elementary School the Right Time to Start?" Buzzle
Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 26 Nov. 2011. .
UPI. "A Second Language Makes a Third Easier." Latest News, Latest News Headlines, News
Articles, News Video, News Photos - UPI.com. 21 May 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2011.
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The essay starts off by talking about a common belief shared by many parents now about how students miss out on “a great deal by not being taught their family’s language”(Rodriguez 525). But the author states that this isn’t always true especially considering the children who are socially disadvantaged in any way, they more than likely consider their native tongue or the language used at home to be just that a private language that should only be used around or with the family, he also highlights how odd it was that his childhood classmates
America’s educational system is home to an increasing number of English language learners. Some research indicates that by the year 2030, over 40% of elementary and secondary students served by schools in the United States will come from homes where a language other than English is spoken (Thomas & Collier, 2001). In an effort to accommodate these students, the United States has adopted policies at both the federal and state levels. Generally, the direction taken to meet the needs of English language learners has depended on the climate of the nation. During times of peace and prosperity, policies reflect the nation’s tolerance of other languages and cultures. However, during times of war or conflict, policies have reflected intolerance or fear of anything deemed “un-American.”
In “Lost in America”, the audience Douglas McGray is attempting to target is the part of American society that is concerned with the American educational system and foreign affairs. In the article the author talks about how Americans, mainly American students, have little to no knowledge about the world around them. The author goes on to speak about how Americans would benefit in worldwide business by speaking another language. The purpose in the story was to discuss and inform concerned individuals of how Americans, especially American kids, are falling behind in language.
Gibbs, C. & Holt, R. (2003). The teaching of international languages in New Zealand schools in years 7 and
Policy in the United States towards foreign languages has long been a complicated process. The nation was founded by polyglot immigrants and welcomed, to varying degrees, many subsequent waves of immigrants speaking languages familiar and foreign. Most immigrants learned English and despite efforts to maintain their mother tongue, the “permissiveness and apathy” of American society towards second languages allowed the gradual erosion of many mother tongues. English, although the common language in schools, the courts, government, and the business community in the United States, is not the official language of our country. This fact juxtaposes paradoxically with the necessity of speaking English for success in our society, and the dying out of many languages native to immigrants after the third generation. Since no official policy at the federal level governs the official language of the United States, nor the teaching of foreign languages until after the Second World War, language education in the U.S. remained a patchwork of local policies.
Author Mauro F. Guillen builds an argument to persuade his audience that foreign language study must continue to be an integral part of higher education in the United States based on making a logical appeal through placing himself in a position of knowledge, we are more willing to listen to what he has to say. Guillen preys on our emotions and our sense of right and wrong to inspire us to side with him. The author's tone and relatability make him a reliable source in our minds, and that is one of his most powerful persuasive tactics.
Of the several challenges that ELL students may face at school, one of the most important to remember is that these students not only have the pressure of learning at the same pace of their peers that have most likely spoken English their whole lives, but they have to do so while attempting to understand the English language. Graves' makes a paramount point on page 411 of his text where he states "it is not that English language learners come to school with a language deficit. They come with a lack of knowledge of the particular language that is used in the schools they will be attending-English."1 Therefore, it is easy to assume that even the most ready-to-learn student will have huge amounts of trouble trying to learn everything in a language that is foreign to them.
Howard, Elizabeth R., and Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary. Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, 2007. Print.
...t. Foreign language is not introduced until the senior high school and is only instructed for two years. The average student is in school for twelve years before entering the university.
There are many things wrong with the world right now and that does not exclude the US, while there are many issues with dealing with an increasingly global society but none of them are as easy to fix and as urgent reforming language education. Although it is important for language to be standardized so that we can all understand each other, the state of language education is holding back non-native and native speakers alike.
Wade, P. and Marshall, H., with O’Donnell, S. (2009) Primary Modern Foreign Languages Longitudinal Survey of Implementation of National Entitlement to Language Learning at Key Stage 2. RR 127. London: DCSF Publications.
For decades, foreign language teachers wandered in a scientific abyss. Until 1983, there had been little real research dealing with the ways in which someone acquires a second language. Teachers mostly used the audiolingual classroom model that had been in place for the past twenty years (or, even worse, the literally ancient grammatical translation model that had been used by civilizations millennia old). Clearly, language teaching methodology was in a poor situation. In 1983, however, Krashen published the results of an unprecedented body of research and paved the way for a revolution in our field. His five-point hypothesis focused on the difference between the acquisition of and the learning of a second language. Krashen has his detractors, of course, not the least of whom are American school districts, which have been reluctant to implement his teachings. Most experts agree, however, that his ideas are the most meritorious of the theories in circulation now, and schools that refuse to incorporate them are doing their students a disservice.
Graddol observes that these demographic shifts in English learning have gained rapid momentum in a very short time since his 1997 publication. Some countries are actively pursuing a radical transition in the status of English, as a goal set by political leaders. The aim of countries including Mongolia, Chile and South Korea is no longer to teach English as a foreign language but to build up bilingual national populations within a short timeframe (Graddol 2006: 89). By contrast, the European Union promotes an official language policy of plurilingualism, according to which young European students should have the opportunity to become proficient in two or more foreign languages, with English not recognised as a lingua franca even though it dominates European language teaching, as the Eurydice statistics show (Braine 2005: 29).
In 2009, teachers of a New Jersey school banned foreign languages and stated, “any language other than English will not be tolerated" (Debaron 1). This situation was soon no longer allowed. While over ten percent of the total adolescent education systems contain emergent bilinguals, a whopping sixty percent of those students are educated in only English (Bale). Maria Estela Brisk, a Boston College Education professor, believes, “schools has wasted much energy in the search for a "perfect" model and the best way to learn English” when they could just focus on proving “quality education” to every student in the system (1). Teacher’s main priority should consist of effectively teaching their students to prepare them for the future, but currently there are a lack of certified bilingual education teachers. When students are taught more in different ways, they can educationally benefit their cognitive abilities, involving the brain with “mathematics, problem solving, logic and memory”, can be improved to create an overall better student. Even by learning another language at a earlier age can contribute to __________. Learning another language will be
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.