An essay drafted for a college English class research paper, stating a stance for reintegrating and reinforcing bilingual education into schools within the United States of America.
It is a common belief among Americans that somehow English is the superior language and should be an entirely universal language. Parents hardly bother with the idea of their children learning a foreign language, since to many English is enough to “make it” in this world. However, this is wrong. Monolingual children will never fully thrive in an increasingly global world, let alone in their own country: The United States of America. In order to help students break the barriers to veritable communication, allow them to understand each other on a more personal level, and to flourish in this multilingual society, it is crucial that bilingual education be reintegrated and reinforced in all American school systems.
For many students, learning a second language is considered outside of “the norm”, and it is typically perceived as being a difficult task. Furthermore, many people stand by the idea that knowing English is enough. Unfortunately, that blind-sided perception that English is the worldwide language of business is entirely unjustified, as 75% of the world does not speak English (Abbott 40). Many students believe that learning a language is hard, and no one is to say that it is not, but almost all children are able to learn a second or even a third language during their preschool years (Espinosa 47). A lot of the students who believe it is impossible for them, is due to the fact that they have never tried, and this could likely be because only ten states and Washington D.C. make learning a foreign language requirement for high school graduation. There is a steadily growing demand for bilingual speakers in recent years, pointing to a future that will undoubtedly be full of multilinguals and being monolingual will be what is considered abnormal.
Why bother learning a second language, though? Why would it be so detrimental to do without? Imagine this: two people interview for a job on the same day. Both interviews go swimmingly, both candidates have impressive resumes and past work experience, the same degrees, the same dedication and moral work ethic. However, one of the candidates is also fluent in Spanish. Who gets the job? Career and job opportunities have been rapidly expanding for bilinguals, and in most cases, employers tend to prefer them, especially when competing with someone holding a similar resume but who is monolingual. No matter what field of work, language skills are considered a major asset and many employers are actively seeking out those with one or more additional languages to English to hire for their businesses or companies, big and small alike (Abbott 41). The fact of the matter is, if parents want their children to be able to thrive rather than struggle in a multilingual and multicultural world, then it is essential that bilingual education be enforced in all schools, both public and private. Career advances are not the only benefits received from bilingualism, either, but “young children with…bilingual abilities have shown some advanced linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional skills” (Espinosa 42). Bilingualism has also proven to provide cognitive benefits such as improvement to the working memory, inhibitory control, and attention to relevant vs. irrelevant cues. Learning a second language has increased “students’ [abilities] to problem solve, …and makes a positive impact on…executive functions, and the ability to focus and multitask” and surprisingly has even been proven to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Abbott 42). With the varying benefits of learning a foreign language, it is clear that it can not do more harm than good. Due to the career factors, however, foreign language learning must be further implemented within school systems across the country.
Furthermore, while most focus on bilingualism as being a way for native English speakers to learn fluency in a foreign language, there is also the other side: students of diverse lingual and cultural backgrounds learning English. In 2014 only about 25% of the children in the U.S. were dual-language learners, and a large portion of those students were from racial or ethnic minority families—37% or so of them of Hispanic/Latino origin (Espinosa 40). There are various types of dual-language programs, but there are two in particular that are the most worth mentioning: the 90% to 10% and the 50% to 50%. The 90-to-10 plan is when a class is taught 90% in one language, the target language, and 10% in the other, the native language, to ensure and enhance understanding in the target language. Likewise, the 50-to-50 plan is a class taught half in the target language and half in the native. The most well-known foreign language program is called the “immersion program”, which is taught commonly more like a 50-to-50 course, half the curriculum in English, and half the curriculum in the target language. These programs begin with students at a very young age, coinciding with the first six years of life being the most critical period for language development, which means it is the perfect time to acquire a second language (Espinosa 47). Bilingual programs that benefit foreign students by teaching English as well strengthening their native language decreases the risk of becoming estranged from their heritage and native family. Author Richard Rodriguez believed that teaching in particular hispanohablantes, or Spanish-speakers, in both Spanish and English serves as a painful reminder that they, the students, do not belong (25-26). Espinosa also points out that many parents believe that by still using a students’ native language in the school system there will be a major delay in the acquisition of English or interfere with academic achievement (47). However, there is no evidence to back-up this belief. In fact, students of diverse lingual backgrounds have shown to have less academic achievement than native English-speakers in common school systems, which can be due to numerous issues, the largest being that “the vast majority of assessments are administered only in English without considering knowledge of or skills in languages other than English” (Espinosa 43). How is it fair to fail someone in, for example, science, just because their English is not as perfect as the native English-speakers around them? That one student may be much more advanced in the subject than all of their English-native peers, but because of the lack in accommodations to their own native language, they are often failed and thought of as inferior and unintelligent. Instead of accommodating others’ native languages, most schools basically force all students to only learn English and to literally forget their native tongue. To Rodriguez, who had been a student to learn in only English in school, “[a]fter English became [his] primary language, [he] no longer knew what words to use in addressing [his] parents” (32). It is ripping the sense of home and comfort from these children, forcing a fine line between even the child in question and their parents.
The future is multilingual, as is the present. Within America, all sorts of languages are bantered back and forth between people all over. In recent years, the demand for bilingual speakers has steadily grown, yet the language-learning capacities within the country have hardly increased to accommodate that demand. The funding for these programs in many states is horrifically low to none. Apparently not noticing the demand and the importance of a second or multiple languages, many parents even believe that English is enough to survive and get through all aspects of life, and this is untrue. As the demand for multilingual speakers will only continue to rise, it is crucial that we begin to prepare students for the world that they will be entering, by giving them the needed support and programs to learn fluency within other languages.
Works Cited
Abbott, Martha G. “Beyond a Bridge to Understanding: The Benefits of Second Language Learning.” American Educator, Summer 2018, vol. 42, no. 2, 2018, pp. 39-43.
Espinosa, Linda M. “Challenges and Benefits of Early Bilingualism in the United States’ Context.” Global Education Review, vol. 2, no. 1, 2015, pp. 40-53.
Rodriguez, Richard. “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood.” The American Scholar, vol. 50, no. 1, 1981, pp. 25-42.
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