Language in Education

Credit: www.linguisticsociety.org

Out of 4.7 million children entering the school system, two-thirds have a first language other than English. Yet only 20% of the United States population speaks more than one language. As students grow older, begin to use English more, and don't speak to others in their first language, their fluency in the language suffers. The United States has 5% of the world's population and 1% of the world's bilingual population. More than half of the 7 billion people in the world speak more than one language.

Studies have shown that people, especially children who are learning or know more than one language, score higher on academic tests. Brain scans of those who speak more than one language show that gray matter is more dense in the left parietal cortex, compared to people who are monolingual. The matter is more dense when children learn a language when they are younger (3-7 years old), compared to those who learned it when they are older (7-10 years old). Gray matter is responsible for movement, sensory perception (e.g. seeing and hearing), memory, speech, decision making, and self control. White matter is composed of myelinated nerve cells, which act as insulators, speeding up the transmission of nerve signals. The more dense the white matter, the faster nerve signals are transmitted throughout the brain, making reaction time faster. A Longitudinal DTI Study showed that people who speak more than one language have more developed, denser white matter.

On average, a person who is bilingual makes $10,000 more than a monolingual person. The most important languages in the workplace other than English are Spanish, German, French, Italian, Russian, and Japanese, in that order. The most commonly spoken language in the United States, other than English, is Spanish.

There is a program called Dual Immersion; students who finish the program are fluent in two languages. This program targets students with all lingual backgrounds. Dual Immersion programs start in kindergarten, where children are taught the same subjects as everyone else, but 90% of the time in Spanish, and 10% in English. In second grade, they are taught 80% in Spanish and 20% English; third grade, the subjects would be taught 70% in Spanish and 30% in English, and so on, until fifth grade, where students are taught in 50% Spanish and 50% English. In America, it is very hard to lose the ability and initiative to speak English, as most people speak it, but it is possible to lose fluency in Spanish or any other foreign language.

The brain changes throughout one’s life. At first, people are born able to learn a language by being immersed in it. As they grow older, this ability diminishes. By learning a foreign language, children can discover ways to say what they are feeling when there is no word for it in the English language. Learning languages has many benefits and is essential for an enriched education.

Kat is a Community Problem Solver based in Florida. If you're interested in her project, or have any questions or concerns about this topic, you can contact her at project.interlace.fpc@gmail.com

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