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Why Study a Foreign Language?

FOREIGN LANGUAGE, like any other subject which the student may elect, should be considered for its value to the individual and to society. Our Nation needs large numbers of persons with ability to communicate effectively in a foreign language, and an even larger number of those whose language learning experience has given them understanding and tolerance of other peoples and their cultures. This need becomes urgent as shrinking distances bring peoples of the world into more and more direct contact in business or the professions, in study, through travel, or socially.

For a Liberal Education

The individual student should consider the study of a modern foreign language for its potential contribution to liberal education as well as for its practical use. The student who acquires a second language acquires a new channel of communication and, in the process, discovers new avenues of thinking and develops an insight into the thoughts and feelings of people of non-English speech. From the very beginning stages of foreign language study, the pupil discovers that other peoples express themselves differently, and that other languages are not just like English except for the words. Because language not only conveys thought but also helps shape it, speakers of different languages view relationships and interpret experience in very different ways. Learning to react in a foreign language and thus actually to participate in a different culture through the language is a broadening educational experience. As the pupil's abilities to understand and read the new language develop, a gradually deepening knowledge of the people who use it, of their customs and institutions, and of the significant features of their country (such as its geography, economics, politics, history, literature, music, and art) can lead to a lifelong enjoyment and, in addition, give a better perspective on American culture.

The National Association of Secondary-School Principals has urged teachers, guidance counselors, and principals to encourage students to select modern language study because it will develop their proficiency in communication and give them cultural insight. "We believe that

ML has appeal and value for secondary-school pupils when the initial approach emphasizes hearing and speaking."

The hundreds of thousands of Americans who travel abroad every year act as unofficial ambassadors of the United States and are regarded by the citizens of the countries they visit as typical representatives of the country from which they come. There is no doubt that a knowledge of the languages of the countries they visit will enhance the trip. But of equal importance, perhaps, is an awareness that the customs, values, and sensibilities of the other people, which may differ radically from our own, are equally valid.

For Practical Use

Since World War II, the political, military, commercial, and cultural relations of our Government have become worldwide and involve an ever-increasing proportion of our citizens. As guests in foreign countries, our official representatives must be able to talk directly with the people they meet, in the language of the country, in order to carry out our programs effectively. At the same time, the volume of private business and nongovernmental assistance and exchange programs abroad continues to increase.

As needs for personnel with foreign language competencies to work abroad have risen, our internal needs have increased proportionally. For many positions in Federal and local government, in business and industry, for the professions, and for research in all fields, language proficiency has become a major asset, if not an absolute necessity.

The days when foreign language knowledge was a cultural luxury for the few are gone. It is to our advantage to provide as many of our young people as possible with necessary language skills. Mortimer Graves, a well-known linguist, has gone so far as to predict that every American who aspires to anything other than menial participation in the life of the 1970's or 1980's will need some sort of control of three or four or a half dozen languages, Asian or African as well as European. The section on using foreign languages on the job, which appears later in this bulletin, gives examples of ways in which modern foreign languages are of practical use.

What About English?

The claim is often made that English is so widely used among the educated people of the world that we can conduct our essential business through the medium of English or through interpreters. It is true that the use of English as a native or official language is more

widespread than that of any other world language except Chinese, and that English is probably the foreign language most taught in schools throughout the world. But retention of national or local languages is a matter of pride, especially in many developing nations where the language serves as one symbol of newly achieved independence. Although through the continued advance of communications the dream of a common worldwide language may one day be realized, we cannot wait for this to happen.

Improvement of Foreign Language Instruction

To initiate a nationwide strengthening of our language capabilities, the National Defense Education Act of 1958 included a Language Development Program in higher education and provisions for improving modern foreign language instruction in the elementary and secondary schools. The modern foreign language instruction program is planned as a continuing undertaking and will operate under the Act, as at present extended, at least until June 30, 1964.

We must now aim to achieve vastly more in foreign languages in the high school than we-ever attempted before. Instead of attracting a small percentage of the students to the study of a foreign language and losing most of them before they have made any substantial progress, we must interest a far larger number in the serious study of a language and encourage them to continue long enough to make proficiency possible. Since these aims reflect the national need, there is much to consider by way of better counseling, better adaptation of instruction to students, and better articulation of elementary-secondary-college language programs.

Who Should Study a Foreign Language?

Elementary School Pupils

In order to be effective, programs of foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) should be an integral part of the school day and of the foreign language sequence of the school system. All children in those grades offering a foreign language should participate. The National Education Association (NEA) and the Modern Language Association (MLA) jointly make this assumption when they recommend that, preferably not later than the 3d grade, all children should have the opportunity to listen to and speak a second language.

Secondary School Students

Foreign language study is generally elective in the secondary school. In the past, students taking a foreign language have come from the college preparatory group, and there has been a tendency to consider foreign language study too difficult for the average child. Objectives and teaching methods, however, are not the same today as they were a few years ago. All students, according to recommendations of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals in 1959, should have the opportunity to elect foreign language study and to continue it as long as their interest and ability permit, whether or not they are planning to go to college. These recommendations take into account curriculum adaptations which seem indispensable in the light of present and future needs, as the following excerpt shows:

At a time when events anywhere in the world can produce immediate and profound repercussions on our everyday life, when decisions in this country involving other world areas are commonplace, and when an individual from any part of our country may find himself dealing with non-English-speaking peoples, some experience with another modern language and some understanding of another modern culture become extremely important.

Because of the number of languages involved and the number of persons with language competence needed, many specific foreign language skills for practical purposes must be acquired outside the classroom. A formal educational experience in learning one language can give a student a sound basis for learning another language on his own. The equipment that comes from having learned a foreign language should be an element in basic education, and like all such elements should be the birthright of every young American.

The Academically Talented

Academically talented youngsters should be studying at least one modern foreign language throughout their high school years. Students having special language aptitude can be encouraged to elect either Latin or a second modern foreign language while continuing the first. A second foreign language should not be added, however, until the sequence of study in the first has been long enough to assure a reasonable control of its structure and sound system. It is better for a student to study one foreign language until he has achieved fair proficiency in it than to study two or more languages for a shorter period of time. A recent report suggests that the learning of a second and third language by Americans of the future will be not so much an academic as an administrative problem.

It is important to identify as early as possible those students who are especially able in language learning, in order to give them a sound foundation. They may then have the time and interest to become linguists or other language specialists. Early identification of special ability is likely to be made on the basis of student performance in the program, rapidity of advance, and depth and quality of perception.

Potential Leaders

Our national leaders, who assuredly need a high level of foreign language competence, can be expected to emerge from among the students in the top 15 or 20 percent of the graduating classes. Therefore all students in this group, according to recommendations made at the NEA and MLA conference on the academically talented, should be required to study foreign languages in a long sequence.

Bilingual Students

When youngsters who have studied a foreign language in the elementary school enter secondary school, they should be given an opportunity to continue the study of the same language. Similarly, those who come from non-English-speaking homes should be encouraged to study their mother tongue, either in school or outside.

Everyone is aware of the existence in the United States of numerous groups of speakers of other languages than English, for example, the speakers of Spanish in the Southwest, Florida, and New York City; of French in New England; of German in Pennsylvania; and of the Scandinavian languages in Minnesota. The State reports on the 1960 census, which included a question as to the respondent's mother tongue, showed the presence in the country of native speakers of more than 20 additional languages in numbers unsuspected by most people. Since "mother tongue" was defined for the purposes of the census as being the principal language spoken in the person's home before he came to the United States, second or third languages were not tabulated. Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans who are, of course, not "foreign born" were not counted.

These persons, and particularly their children, represent a language resource, a potential pool of literate bilinguals, which has not been adequately exploited. Social pressures for conformity exerted on minority language groups in the United States have, in the past, resulted in neglect of this resource; but in most parts of the country