Need for Teaching Spanish as Second Language in US School Curriculum - Research Paper Example

Need for teaching Spanish as second language in US school curriculum Abstract Though, United States have a variety population emigrated from different countries, still second language has no role in their educational system. Most of the other countries have included a second language in their school syllabuses in order to meet the needs of the students from other countries. This paper analyses the importance of second language in American school syllabus and the possibility of including Spanish as a second language in US school curriculum Introduction (Identification of the problem) “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..." . (Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience) Globalization has revolutionized not only the traditional business principles but it forces even the US like countries to implement a second language in their school syllabus. It is difficult for a country to survive in the globalised world by implementing only the strategies suitable for their domestic culture in the school curriculum. It is necessary for the students to interact in a multinational environment when they grow up and seek employment. Moreover many advantages like cognitive development, increased academic abilities and brain development has been associated with learning a foreign language. English is definitely a beautiful world language. “But learning a foreign language exposes young people to new cultures and new horizons and helps them understand English better."(Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience) Data Analysis (Reporting) “More than 200 million children in China are studying English, a compulsory subject for all Chinese primary school students. By comparison, only about 24,000 of approximately 54 million elementary and secondary school children in the United States are studying Chinese.” (Teaching Language for National Security and American Competitiveness) United States has realized the importance of second language comparatively later than other countries. Seeking proficiency in other languages has been witnessed as a secondary thing in US society because of the global nature of English language. ‘The estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2006 was around 44.3 million, making them the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority. It is believed that the Hispanic population may double (from 15% to 30%) by 2050. Moreover up their culture and traditions. 46% of Hispanics are Spanish-dominant speakers, 23% are bilingual, 63% speak Spanish at home, and 60% of Hispanics prefer to make buying decisions in Spanish. Over 250 million people in the world speak Spanish as their first language. If we include the number of people who are fluent in Spanish as a second language, the total number of Spanish speakers in the world is well over 400 million people’ (HISPANICS/LATINOS IN THE UNITED STATES - Stats and facts) The above statistics clearly indicate the importance of Spanish language not only in US community but all over the world. Every people want to conserve their cultural traits and hence they will try to interact in their own languages whenever and wherever possible. Nobody wants to speak a foreign language at their home or community. But the acquaintance of foreign languages is inevitable at the work places because of the multicultural work environment in the current century. Benefits of learning Second language “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” (Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience) Many American people witnesses second language mastery as a nuisance. In their opinion, only those people who want to work outside US may benefitted form the second language. It is totally a wrong concept since they limited the importance of language only for the communication purpose. As per the recent researches stated above language learning may contribute immensely to the development of a person’s personality. It increases cognitive development, creative thinking and also the numerical abilities. “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”(Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience ) “Brain science has discovered 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” (Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience ) Gray matter is an important part of central nervous system which helps the sensory activities. Adding more gray matter to the brain of a person means aiding the person more in his sensory activities. When the sensory activities function more, the person’s overall intelligence and analytical abilities will increase rapidly. Thus second language learning indirectly help a person in developing a sound personality and character. Action Plan (Solution) The American students must be made aware of these immense benefits of learning second language. They must realize that second language not helps them to communicate effectively with others, but it can pay dividends to their personality developments as well. The educational authorities must include at least one second language in their curriculum and Spanish seems to be the obvious choice because of the majority of Hispanic community in United States. The American public must know that the world is coming under the one umbrella of globalization and hence the interaction with other culture or community is essential as per the needs of the current world. Depending English heavily for all the communication needs may not be possible in future because of the increased presence of other communities especially the Chinese, Indians, and the Spanish all over the world. The educational system in America needs to be thoroughly revised in order to accommodate a second language in the learning process as this will add the much needed cultural diversity to the American educational system. There is no shame in learning another language by the American students since in many countries it is a custom. In India, tri - language system is implemented in the schools. It is compulsory to study the mother tongue (local language), national language (Hindi) and English (international language) by and Indian student in India. Same way America can implement compulsory Spanish learning to their school syllabus in order to bring more diversity to education. Conclusions Second language learning is encouraged in many countries in order to improve communication skills and to exploit the global employment potentials. American public are reluctant in implementing such a change in their educational curriculum. The population of Hispanic community is going to be doubled to 30% of the total American population by 2050 and hence selecting Spanish as a compulsory second language in American educational system is the right step towards implementing cultural diversity at the educational system. The American public must realize that learning of second language can not only improve the communication abilities, but it can improve the cognitive abilities, numerical abilities and creative thinking as well. References 1. Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience, (n.d) Retrieved on June 4, 2009 from http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/flsat.html 2. Teaching Language for National Security and American Competitiveness, 2006, Retrieved on June 4, 2009 from http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/academic/foreign-language/teaching-language.html 3. HISPANICS/LATINOS IN THE UNITED STATES - Stats and facts, 2007, Retrieved on June 4, 2009 from http://www.transpanish.biz/spanish-stats.htm Read More