Nineteen years ago I started teaching Spanish to elementary and preschool students in Austin, TX. At the time, I did it because a group of parents asked me to. Parents in my neighborhood wanted their children to learn Spanish. I was a certified ELL, bilingual elementary and early childhood teacher, and so I started teaching Spanish to youngsters. This was the beginning of our elementary Spanish curriculum, Sonrisas Spanish.
I now find myself living and working in a community in Colorado where parents, not schools, are still leading the charge to get their children learning world languages in elementary school. I’ve read all the research behind early exposure to second language learning, but it’s been a while. I decided to give myself a refresher lesson. I found no less than dozens of well-documented studies. They all point to tangible benefits of FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary Schools) programs.
I write this as a plea to public school administrators to continue teaching world language in elementary school and beyond. This is also as a reminder to myself. I want to answer the question: Remind me why should we teach world languages in elementary school?
Experts say young children are especially wired to learn world languages in the most natural ways, through play and exploration. Research indicates that the brain is at its optimum to learn foreign sounds in children under 10. Students who learn a language early improve their chances for native-like pronunciation and a high level of proficiency later on.
The website of the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) references multiple studies in support of more effective language learning in younger students. One study shows 11th grade French students with just 80 minutes of instruction per week starting in third grade outperformed another group that started French in 7th grade. The FLES French students’ performance was better in every area.
In another study, classes of third-grade children in New York City and suburban New York schools were taught conversational French for 15 minutes daily. After 1 year they were evaluated for French skills. Children were judged to have pronunciation and fluency in French superior to that of high school students with the same amount of instruction. Another study shows FLES students outperforming non-FLES students on AP foreign language exams.
Should students learn a second language? How many of us who start studying a world language in high school actually become fluent in that language? I don’t know the answer, but I know it’s a slim figure. If we want to produce bilingual citizens, we need to start teaching language earlier.
Multiple studies show that early-start language learning improves cognitive skills and academic performance. Second language study contributes to brain development and overall learning. People who learn a second language score higher on reading, verbal fluency, and general intelligence assessments. In fact, the more languages people learn, the higher their scores. Speakers of over four languages scored consistently higher than any other group.
Furthermore, learning a second language improves fluid intelligence and executive functioning. This has to do with skills a person develops switching between languages. While you communicate in one language, you’ve got to manage and control the other language (Kathryn Doyle, Washington Post, June 9, 2014).
The ACTFL website cites multiple studies (again, reprinted with permission from the Center for Applied Linguistics) that support this claim:
Why and how does this happen? Children gain a deeper understanding of English as they learn the structure and vocabulary of other languages. This understanding translates into more confidence in English and a greater command of the language. Furthermore, learning a second language fosters a flexibility of thinking that translates into math, creativity, and problem solving.
Because students have enjoyed the benefits of early world language study, they are less likely to treat language as a meaningless academic requirement later on. Instead they see language as a tool they can use for a wide range of educational applications, career choices, and personal enjoyment. The research is prolific and undeniably in support of the claim that teaching world language in elementary schools and beyond makes kids smarter.
Even in rural communities such as mine, this is true. Speaking other languages continues to be an important asset that gains more value with each passing year. Our world is an increasingly interdependent world. We are no longer an isolated country in which there are no tangible benefits to speaking other languages.
When we make second language learning a priority in our elementary schools, we develop a greater openness to other cultures at a younger age. For example, as young students learn elementary Spanish, they learn about the people and countries where Spanish is spoken. They learn the history, traditions, customs, and geography of those countries.
Learning a second language broadens students’ global awareness and sets the stage for global competency. Students acquire a more global perspective and gain insight into their own language and culture. Studying a second language in elementary school develops an early understanding of the relationship between cultures and languages.
Many developed countries require instruction in one or two foreign languages in elementary school. Slowly, over the past 20 years or so, states in the U.S. recognized the value in this:
I find this last statistic the most intriguing. A state implemented wide-spread world language study at the elementary level not because of a state mandate, but because they recognized that it’s best practice in education. Perhaps it’s most intriguing to me because I too live in a local control state. Colorado hasn’t been as proactive on a local level as Pennsylvania. Perhaps Pennsylvania can serve as a model for Colorado to use local control to implement best practice in our public elementary schools.
After teaching elementary Spanish to children for most of my adult life, I decided to write this blog to remind myself why I do this. Early language learning contributes to learning languages better, higher performance in all academic areas, and most important, a lifelong ability to communicate effectively. Parents want this for their children. Perhaps the question I started with needs to be reworded: Remind me why every elementary school in our country doesn’t teach world languages?
Blue Lindner, Sonrisas Spanish
