Foreign
Languages
An Essential Core Experience
Recent History of Our Struggle to Make Foreign Languages Core
Foreign language study is in the national education Goals 2000, which
states: "By the year 2000 all American students will leave grades 4, 8,
and 12 having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter
including English, mathematics, science, foreign language, civics and
government, arts, history, and geography..." . On September 15, 1999,
Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley delivered his Annual
Back-to-School Address, entitled, "Changing the
American High School to Fit Modern Times." Included in his remarks,
Riley states, "Let me suggest one other way to raise standards. I
believe that in this new economy every high school student should be
close to fluent in a foreign language when he or she graduates. We
should begin teaching foreign languages in our elementary schools, and
then in middle schools and high schools. English is a beautiful
language and every American student must be a master of it. English is
surely a world language. But learning a foreign language exposes young
people to new cultures and new horizons and helps them understand
English better."
This is not new thinking, since the 1979 "President's Commission on
Foreign Language and International Studies" also recommended Foreign
language requirements for all colleges and universities. The College
Board (1983) recommended expanding basic skills to include foreign
language education for all students. In 1996, the American Association
of School Administrators identified knowledge of foreign languages as
one of the most important skills that K-12 students will need to
develop to prosper in the 21st century. A February 1997 article in Time
magazine suggested that foreign languages should be taught to
children as early as possible. The American Council on Education, in a
1989 policy statement, calls on higher education leaders "to make
foreign language competence an integral part of a college education.
Every baccalaureate holder should be competent in a second language; we
can settle for no less as we move into the next century." This fervor
has not died in our century, where The Partnership for 21st Century
Skills and the NEA, with its policy brief entitled "Global
Competence Is a 21st Century Imperative" (+ video)
are currently trying to
bring about this core change through a coalition of "Leadership
States". Also, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni includes
foreign languages among the seven core subjects by which it rates the
curriculum of hundreds of American colleges and universities in "What will they learn?"
The National Council of State Supervisors for Languages has provided a
good general argument, and others are catching on:
A Rationale For Foreign Language Education (NCSSFL)
http://www.ncssfl.org/papers/index.php?rationale
Second-Language Learning (DA-District
Administration, 12/20/2012)
http://www.districtadministration.com/article/second-language-learning
A Case for Emphasizing Secondary Language Education in the United States (April 2013)
https://sites.psu.edu/secondlanguagebenefits/
Why this insistence that foreign language study be a core element in
American education? Americans used to have some patently ignorant and
pseudo-scientific (snake-oil) views concerning foreign and second
languages. There was talk of a second language taking up the memory
capacity needed for the real functions of the brain, such as general
intelligence. Just as ignorant was the notion that a second language
was only for those were mentally gifted. My fellow Americans, let us
put away all divining rods, ouija boards, and indifference towards our
neighbors. HERE ARE THE FACTS for founding a true twenty-first century
consensus about core elements for a "general" education. In its report,
"College Bound Seniors: The 1992 Profile of SAT and Achievement Test
Takers", the College Entrance Examination Board reported that students
who averaged 4 or more years of foreign language study scored higher on
the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) than those who
had studied 4 or more years in any other subject area. In addition, the
average mathematics score for individuals who had taken 4 or more years
of foreign language study was identical to the average score of those
who had studied 4 years of mathematics. These findings are consistent
with College Board profiles for previous years.
Amazing benefits and Reasons Why
Cognitive Benefits of foreign language study? Children in foreign
language programs have tended to demonstrate greater cognitive
development, creativity, and divergent thinking than monolingual
children. Several studies show that people who are competent in more
than one language outscore those who are speakers of only one language
on tests of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. (Bruck, Lambert, and
Tucker, 1974; Hakuta, 1986; Weatherford, 1986). When children are
adequately exposed to two languages at an early age, they are more
flexible and creative (Bamford and Mizokawa, 1991, and they reach
higher levels of cognitive development at an earlier age than their
monolingual peers (Hamayan, 1986).
Here are research summaries about "The
Effect of
Second Language Learning on Test Scores, Intelligence and Achievement."
ACT and other scores also seem to fall in line:
The Sensitivity of the ACT to Instruction
http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/2004-3.pdf
The Relation between High School Study of Foreign
Languages and ACT English and Mathematics Performance
http://www.adfl.org/bulletin/v23n3/233047.htm
Language Learning Correlates with Higher Academic Achievement on Standardized Test Measures
Do
Majors Matter? (see effect of foreign language
learning on a College Learning Assessment test)
Why, How, and When Should My Child Learn a Second
Language? [with a large bibliography]
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwgcl/whyesfl.htm
Academic Benefits of foreign language learning? Studies also show that
learning another language enhances the academic skills of students by
increasing their abilities in reading, writing, and mathematics.
Studies of bilingual children made by child development scholars and
linguists consistently show that these children grasp linguistic
concepts such as words having several meanings faster and earlier than
their monolingual counterparts. Everyone knows that reading skills are
transferable from one language to another, but there are other
benefits. A 1994 report on the impact of magnet schools in the Kansas
City Public Schools showed that students in the foreign language magnet
schools had boosted achievement significantly (Eaton, 1994). It claimed
that students in the language magnet's first kindergarten, starting in
the program in 1988, had surpassed national averages in all subjects by
the time they reached fifth grade. Oddly enough, the foreign language
students performed especially well in mathematics. Nancy Rhodes,
secretary of the Network for Early Language Learning, an organization
that advocates foreign language study, points to research among third
and fourth graders in Louisiana. Those who studied French scored higher
in English testing than students in the control group who did not [See
also Eileen Rafferty, Second Language Study and Basic Skills in
Louisiana. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana Department of Education, 1986)]
. There is abundant and recent proof of the truth in what I have said.
An
editorial in the Vancouver Sun of October 21, 2004 states:
"Province-wide skills tests in British Columbia consistently show that
French immersion students outperform their counterparts in the English
stream in math, reading and writing." Also in 2004, a foreign-language
consultant for Louisiana Public Schools states this in an executive
summery of an assessment report, studying performance on the Iowa Test
of Basic Skills: "Several important findings of this study emerged.
First, and most strikingly, foreign language students significantly
outperformed their non-foreign language peers on every test (English
language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies) of the
fourth-grade LEAP 21." Research on the cognitive benefits of
foreign-language study are available in online bibliographies and
summaries:
Reflective Curricula: Thinking Skills in Modern
Foreign Languages
http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com/nc/thinking/mfl.html
The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual (Dana Foundation, October 31, 2012)
http://dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=39638
Cognitive Benefits of Learning Language
http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=4724
Cognitive Benefits of Learning Languages (Duke TIP)
http://www.tip.duke.edu/node/866
Cognitive Benefit of Lifelong Bilinguilism (January 20, 2013)
The cognitive benefits of learning a second language
http://blog.fusionacademy.com/2011/11/27/the-cognitive-benefits-of-learning-a-second-language/
Benefits of Language Learning (excellent ACTFL
resource, with bibliography)
http://www.yearoflanguages.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3651
Brain Research: Implications for Second Language
Learning (ERIC Digest)
http://www.power-glide.com/PTA/why_a_second_language.pdf
Judy Foreman, "The Evidence Speaks Well of
Bilingualism's Effect on Kids"
http://www.heritagefrancais.org/documents/TheEvidenceSpeaksWellofBilingualism...JudyForemanArticle.pdf
Kathleen M. Marcos, "Second Language Learning:
Everyone Can Benefit." Kidlanguages. com (February 29, 2004)
http://www.cal.org/earlylang/benefits/marcos.html
The Second Language Brain Debate
http://www.positscience.com/blog/2010/03/09/the-second-language-brain-debategu/
Studies supporting increased academic achievement
(ACTFL)
http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=4525
If becoming bilingual can have a ositive effect on academic
achievement, the whole lanuage acquisition and cultural immersion
experience must also be positive:
Academic Outcomes of Study Abroad (2010)
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/07/13/abroad
Study Abroad, Graduate on Time (2012)
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/10/new-studies-link-study-abroad-time-graduation
Brain science has dicovered that functional plasticity of the human
brain is driven by language, and it is beginning to find out that
knowing a foreign language can actually change the brain's anatomy by
adding gray matter. Dr. Andrea Mechelli is a well-known researcher at
the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London.
Aided by experts from the Fondazione Santa Lucia in Rome, he recently
completed research showing that brain density is affected by being
bilingual or highly proficient in a second language. WebMD tells this
story in a recent article:
Being Bilingual Boosts Brain Power
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20041013/being-bilingual-boosts-brain-power
a story that is being retold even now. There are constantly new
vistas opening, related to brain mapping, brain growth, and
neurohumanities:
The Bilingual Advantage
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html
Mapping the Bilingual Brain (Radiolab, December 12, 2012)
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blogland/2012/dec/12/mapping-the-bilingual-brain/
Neuroscience and the Bilingual Brain (Edutopia, MARCH 22, 2012)
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/neuroscience-bilingual-brain-judy-willis-md
Learning A Language Makes The Brain Bigger (Business
Insider - Science)
http://www.businessinsider.com/language-learning-makes-for-bigger-brains-2012-10
Swedish Researchers Suggest Learning Foreign Language Can Make Your Brain Grow
Language Learning Makes the Brain Grow, Swedish Study Suggests
Learning New Languages Helps The Brain Grow (Medical News Today, Oct. 2012)
from Volume 63, Issue 1, Pages 1-622 (15 October 2012) Neoroimage
Bilingual kids gain benefits in literacy skills (CBS
News - Health)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/02/08/bilingual-children-brain.html
The
Bilingual Brain Is Sharper and More Focused,
Study Says (Wall Street Journal Health Blog)
Thinking in a Foreign Language Makes Decisions More
Rational
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/language-and-bias/
Thinking in a foreign language helps economic
decision-making (UChicago News)
http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/04/25/thinking-foreign-language-helps-economic-decision-making
The bilingual edge: Abilene children learning
foreign languages early
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2012/mar/04/some-abilene-kids-learning-foreign-language-as-2/
Bilingual Children Have a Better 'Working Memory' than Monolingual Children (Science Daily)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130220084444.htm
Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135043787/being-bilingual-may-boost-your-brain-power
Benefits of Being Bilingual
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-being-bilingual.html
2 languages make your brain buff
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/18/foreign-language-learning-good-for-your-brain/
Bilingual brain brilliance
http://www.worldaccent.com/blog/2011/02/bilingual-brain-brilliance.html
Bilingual Brains – Smarter & Faster (Psychology Today, Nov. 22, 2012))
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/radical-teaching/201211/bilingual-brains-smarter-faster
Why Bilinguals Are Smarter (New York Times, March 17, 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=0
Bilingual Children Switch Tasks Faster Than Speakers
of a Single Language
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120403112006.htm
Research suggests bilingualism benefits cognition
http://cogsciblog.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/research-suggests-bilingualism-benefits-cognition/
Speaking two languages also benefits low-income
children
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-languages-benefits-low-income-children.html
Thinking in a Foreign Language Makes Decisions More
Rational
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/language-and-bias/
How Knowing a Foreign Language Can Improve Your
Decisions (Scientific American, 2012)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=foreign-language-improve-decisions
The Effect of a Second Language on the Brain (Cerebral Hacks, JULY 21, 2012)
http://www.cerebralhacks.com/brain-exercises/the-effect-of-a-second-language-on-the-brain/
Why It’s Smart to Be Bilingual
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/07/why-it-s-smart-to-be-bilingual.html
Why We Need to Learn a Foreign Language Young!
http://crackingthelearningcode.com/bonus7.html
One may well ask if the city of Glastonbury, Connecticut, where
foreign-language study has begun in elementary school since 1957, does
not provide massive annectdotal evidence of Mechelli's science
discovered in a controlled environment. The proof undoubtedly lies in
details of the success of its children:
A
Case for Foreign Languages: The Glastonbury
Language Program (ERIC)
Brain research in Canada has recently revealed that bilinguals and
individuals highly proficient in a second language showed a markedly
slower decline in mental powers with age:
Speaking Foreign Languages May Help Protect Your Memory (American Medical Network, Feb. 2011)
http://www.health.am/ab/more/speaking-foreign-languages-may-help-protect-your-memory/
Being bilingual 'protects brain'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3794479.stm
Bilingualism May Be Neuroprotective (Brain-Blogger, 2013)
http://brainblogger.com/2013/03/29/bilingualism-may-be-neuroprotective/
How bilingualism could benefit the brain (delay a
decline in brain power)
http://bostinno.com/channels/how-bilingualism-could-benefit-the-brain/
The Bilingual Advantage (delay the onset of
Alzheimer’s disease symptoms)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Speaking
More Than One Language Could Prevent Alzheimer's (Jan. 10, 2013)
Learning a language can protect and heal the brain other ways:
Can Bilingualism Counteract Effects of Poverty?
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/
Cognition and behavior: Bilingualism aids people with autism (SFARI, 2 October 2012)
http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/in-brief/2012/cognition-and-behavior-bilingualism-aids-people-with-autism
Research studies in Canada, India and Hong Kong, whose results were
released in June 2004, showed that bilingual speakers are better able
to deal with distractions than are monolingual speakers:
Bilingual speakers are better able to deal with
distractions
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39338-2004Jun13.html
Is it possible that these benefits may come to language learners as
they evolve towards bilingualism because their exposure and training
have enabled different approaches to knowledge, a different way of
looking at things?
Bilingual Cognition and Language Teaching
(bilinguals actually "think" differently)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Papers/BilCog&Teaching.htm
Of course, nobody can receive any of the benefits of foreign language
study if they give credence to the myth that it is so difficult it
should be reserved for gifted children among the privileged. There is
no evidence to support this untenable argument. Many millions of people
from all walks of life and at all ranges of intelligence become
bilingual or develop a practical knowledge of another language. We are
often ourselves the source of intimidation and anxiety associated with
the foreign language class. The following research article demonstrates
that studying a foreign language is less difficult than you might think:
Learning a Second Language May Not be as Laborious
as Believed
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/uow-baw061104.php
Can't learn a foreign language? Not true, say
scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8200956/Cant-learn-a-foreign-language-Not-true-say-scientists.html
In spite of the proven neurological and cognitive benefits, Americans
are relatively unresponsive to their own need to put foreign languages
at the core of their learning experience. They do this at the peril of
their own security, since it is our lapse in linguistic and cultural
skills which will likely provide the opportunity for the next terrorist
strike:
The Language Crisis in the War on Terror
http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org/events/past_events/old_events/102102Brecht.dot
DoD Studies Foreign Language Needs of Future
http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/jun2004/a062204b.html
CIA Director Calls for a National Commitment to
Language Proficiency at Foreign Language Summit
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-2010/foreign-language-summit.html
Russell A. Berman, "Foreign Language for Foreign
Policy?" Inside Higher Ed.
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/11/23/berman
Berman also underscores the need for policy which unambiguously tags
foreign language study as essential and core in the following:
The Real Language Crisis (Russell A. Berman)
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2011/SO/Feat/berm.htm
Russell Berman, "Through Languages to Literacy"
(rpt. Spring 2011 MLA Newsletter)
http://www.mla.org/blog?topic=139
About 66% of the world's population is at least bilingual. Less than
30% of internet users are primarily English speakers. There are too
many obvious instrumental values to learning a language and too many
scientific and correlation studies showing the cognitive benefits of
being bilingual to claim that the validity of any single study is
challenged by similar results for studying in another
discipline. It is proven common sense that cognitive development
fostered by language study, often a combination of conscious
learning and acquisition, is unique. There is no legitimate reason for
school officials to pretend that foreign language study is not
essential and core, like basic sciences and history, except perhaps
their unworthiness to be in charge of our children's education. You can
find other arguments for the "core" status of foreign languages in
Robert D. Peckham, "Getting Down to the Core with Foreign Language
Advocacy," The
Language Journal - NYSAFLT 61, no. 2 (Summer 2010): 7-9: http://www.nysaflt.org/publications/documents/pdf/journal/2010/summer2010.pdf
.
Join your own arguments with some of these for a local or school
newspaper
article, a statement before the school board, your dean or
principal. Wherever you see "core" subjects listed which do not
include foreign languages, write a correction to the author, web master
or institution which proposed the list. Now is the time. If the
arguments sit inactive in your
head or on this web page, they will do about as much good as a closet
full of unused body armor in a police precinct. Within the context of
modern education, nobody who has not at least tried to learn a foreign
language can be considered an "educated" person. The modern
workplace has no room for the "uneducated".
Outside of its core imperative, there are compelling arguments for the
utility of foreign language instruction. Read one of these: "$$World Languages = Career Opportunities$$" or "Foreign
Languages and the Post-Recession Economy".
Robert D. Peckham, PhD
Globe-Gate Research
University of Tennessee at Martin
Made in Tennessee to bring you the world
bobp@utm.edu
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