The Problem of Language Deficiencies

in The United States and How They Can

Be Solved
Nicholas Kingsbury
Independent Research G/T
May 10, 2019

Advisor: Aracelis Virella

Abstract
 The ability to speak more than one language is one of the most useful skills a person can

have, and it is becoming increasingly important with an ever more interconnected world.

Speaking more than one language can provide many different job opportunities worldwide, and

improve overall mental ability. Language education programs are the path to people having this

skill and in the United States these programs are severely lacking compared to other countries.

The main issues with United States language education system derives from the lack of

governmental requirements and regulations on students. More specifically controlling student

enrollment in language courses and progress being tracked along with fixing the late start many

students have to deal with compared to countries abroad. The solution to many of these issues is

further government intervention with state and national requirements for students to enroll in

language courses at a much earlier age along with standardized exams to track individual and

group progress. If the United States wants to produce citizens that are capable of being

internationally competitive workers they must invest into language education reform.

Introduction

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 As technology and culture have advanced in previous years the world has become more

interconnected than ever before in human history. With myriads of new connections between

culturally and linguistically diverse people come into contact everyday, and is making the ability

to speak more than one language an ever more valuable trait. This idea has been taken into

consideration by many countries, and they have put strong efforts into producing extremely

efficient language education programs. Despite this vast importance the United States still has

lacking language education programs that have produced a relatively monolingual population.

This lack of foreign language proficiency in the United States is unacceptable if graduates are

expected to be able to compete in the world job market. The United States must undergo

language education reform in order to keep its future citizens competitive in foreign markets and

create a more unified world.

Literature Review and Discussion

Being educated and proficient in more than one language is immense to the success of a

person wanting to compete in the foreign job market or conduct business abroad. According to a

report from the New American Economy in the five years between 2010 and 2015 the amount of

job listings seeking bilinguals has nearly tripled from 239,000 to just over 627,000 listings, and

has seen a consistent upward trend since. Companies value language skills because of they

benefits it gives to their image. A company can appear much more involved in the culture and

issues that face an area they want to expand into if they have employees that can directly

communicate with its people. This claim was backed by another New American Economy Study

stating that a bilingual employee can help develop personal trust between people and a company

as they feel their language and culture is respected , but also that information can be

communicated clearly about what that market wants and how the company can adapt to those

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needs. These factors make proficiency in more than one language one of the biggest

contributions to a resume that can make or break landing a job (De Valoes).

The economic benefits of learning another language extend past being hired by

established businesses, but also to starting a business. In most cases a new business is limited to

locations where the owner speaks the same language as the consumer. This can all be changed

with the learning of a second language. For example if in a certain country there was an untapped

market which could blossom into a successful business background in the native language would

greatly increase chances of the business doing well. This would be due to the better

understanding of the local culture. A lot of businesses usually struggle when expanding into

foreign markets because they lack the appropriate cultural knowledge in order to be respected by

the residents (Barkema, Bell, Pennings). A great example of this in history was James Rolfe, an

early American colonist who smuggled tobacco seeds to Jamestown and was not only to make a

fortune by selling it to England, but also by communicating and trading it with the local Native

American population.

Benefits from language learning are not only economic, but can help a great deal with the

development of other parts of a person's life. According Renate Latimer, an associate professor

in German at Auburn University learning another language can have several positive impacts on

your native language comprehension. This can be seen in greater mechanical skills as they are

thought about more often when learning them again for another language and comparing the

differences as well as a more diverse vocabulary (Choi). Cognitive benefits have also been found

to increase the ability of students in their math classes as well (Stewart). The reasons for

improved mental ability in bilingual people come from their brain learning to balance how they

preemptively complete words. That balancing stems from them improving their ability to look

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for cues in conversation and be able to pick up more minute details (Marian). These skills can

help a person in almost every interaction they have even if they don’t choose a job field or

location to live that reflects the language they studied. The benefits to a person's development

from learning another language can also be found with the many cognitive perks it brings.

According to Dan E. Davidson an American Linguist who has been working in the language

education, translation, and analysis field since 1976 has stated that learning another language

increase creativity and greatly improve problem solving skills. Problem solving and creativity

are both very desirable skills to have today especially in growing fields like computer science

and engineering.

Despite the immense benefits that come from learning other languages, the United States

is still severely lacking in efficient foreign language education. According to “U.S. foreign

language learning lags” on average states reported only 15-20% of their population as able to

speak a language other than english. This can be compared with the 2012 European

Eurobarometer Report (A data collection tool for countries across Europe much like the United

States Census) where it is stated that monolingual Europeans are now a minority as 19% of the

population is bilingual, 25% of the population is trilingual, and 10% can speak four or more

languages. The difference between the United States and other nations in their population’s

ability to speak a second or more languages is vast as demonstrated by the data. This has led to

great gaps in the desirability of American workers in the international job market as they in most

cases do not have the necessary language skills to be a compelling option to hire.

These deficiencies in American foreign language ability stem from the language

programs being used in schools that are supposed to prepare students with an adequate

knowledge of another language. Language education the United States as expected is not doing

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very well when compared to other countries. According to data from the Pew Research Center in

the states with the highest student enrollment in language courses such as New Jersey only 51%

of K-12 students are learning another language. Meanwhile in New Mexico, the state with the

state with the lowest language program enrollment tied with Arkansas and Arizona only a

miniscule 9% of students K-12 are taking a foreign language class in school. This can be

compared again with the Pew Research Center’s data from another study stating that 7 countries

have 100% student enrollment in some form of foreign language course, 7 additional countries

have above 90% enrolled, and the lowest European country Belgium still has 60% enrolled

beating New Jersey out by 9% and the United States as a whole by 40%. The programs have

become such an afterthought when compared to other parts of education that even the

Department of Education has trouble collecting data on language education programs (Mitchell).

The source of United States language issues is clearly the programs in schools that are used to

teach language, but the question is what can be done to correct it?

The state of these language programs is laughable compared to what if offered in

countries abroad, but thankfully that is where the solution to these problems can come from as

well. One of the largest differences between the United States and especially European countries

when it comes to language education is the enrollment. According to data collected from the Pew

Research Center nearly all students in most European nations are enrolled in some sort of foreign

language program. Not only are more students enrolled to start but the retention rate is much

higher than it is in the United States as seen by the data collected for this paper where the as

students got older and the class levels increased the number of students enrolled in language

classes significantly decreased. The solution to this enrollment issue can be fixed by more strict

graduation requirements that pushes language education into part of the core classes so that

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students are made to see it through and spend more time learning and refining their language

skills (Burke). Similar requirements that are implemented abroad are language standardized tests

that are used to test individual student ability and drive them to have a better comprehension of

language, but also provide very useful data on what is going well and what needs changing

(Mitchell). In the United States there are some tests resembling this model, but they are either

optional so they miss a large portion of students or they are limited to local levels of government

greatly reducing their reach and effectiveness. Arguably the biggest reason that Europeans have a

much greater bilingual population than the United States is the age kids are required to start

learning a language. According to Donna Christian who interviewed Elizabeth Clayton a teacher

that runs a bilingual nursery in England the best age for students to start learning a second

language is during preschool to early elementary school. Other studies too have proven this and

it is because children are still not learning like you would see in a normal classroom a language

but rather absorbing it much like they did with their native one (Hardach). This fact is very

apparent in European countries like Luxembourg where students are required to enroll into a

foreign language course at the age of 6. In the United States this clearly has not been thought

through as most schools begin the teaching of a second language as an optional course in the 7th

grade.

Data Collection and Research Design

In order to determine what about United States language education needed to be changed

studies on classes in the United States needed to be conducted to find out what problems they

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had. The method of data collection chosen for this topic was observational data collection. This

method was the appropriate choice because the data was qualitative which meant that

observations could not easily be confined to strict categories and needed to be recorded and

analyzed on the merits of the class rather than basic numerical data. The classes that were studied

were at the highest level, Spanish 5 AP, lowest level, Spanish 1, and intermediate level, Spanish

3 Honors, with Spanish 5 AP being an Advanced Placement college level course. The Spanish 1

class had the most students of the three along with the most total classes at that level. During the

class it could be observed a lot of students were off task and talking amongst themselves about

personal matters rather than the class. A common theme between all of the classes became

present and that was a select few students who would participate immensely and had a clear

willingness to learn along with a good amount of knowledge on the language. The next class the

was observed was Spanish 3 Honors which was an honors course so it was a mildly higher level

than its normal counterpart Spanish 3. There was about the same number of people in the class

yet the amount of classes at that level was considerably less. Again much like the level one class

a large amount of students were off task with a few students really excelling in the class. The

final class observed was the Spanish 5 AP course. All the students in this class were extremely

motivated to work and they were astoundingly skilled in the language. The class was very small

and only two classes were needed to contain all the students at the level. Overall the most

noticeable trends among the classes were that mostly at the lowest levels they were too large to

be controlled leading to most students being off task unable to learn. This caused them to slowly

filter out of the program as they progressed from level to level only leaving the few dedicated

ones left at the highest level AP course.

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Data Collection Results

Class Spanish Level 1

Class Size There was about 31 students in the class.

There are about 3 other classes in highschool
and 5 in middle schools that split level 1 into a
two year course.

Attention Most of the class didn’t pay attention to the

instruction that was given by the teacher.
Although there was a few students who
seemingly blossomed in the class and had
impressive skills for the time they had spent
learning the language. A lot of the students
who were not paying attention would flock to
the students who were doing well to try to get
answers rather than getting help learning.

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Activities Most of the activities in the class were to help
students practice the vocabulary they learned.
The games the teacher organized seemed to
grab more participation than any other
activity. When handed worksheets the
students seemed the least involved and a
majority of them would just converse among
themselves.

Additional Notes It seemed the teacher had a hard time

managing all of the students in the class and
trying to keep them on task, this is most likely
due to the large class size.

Class Spanish Level 3 Honors

Class Size The class had around 25-30 students (There

was some empty seats so this estimate is to
accomodate for possible absences). There
were only 2 classes for honors at this level
and 3 for regular.

Attention About half of the class clearly was not making

an effort to pay attention in the class and try to
further their understanding of the language. A
few shining students had a much greater
knowledge of the language than most and
would often be the ones who participated the
most and consistently appeared to be writing
down notes and paying attention.

Activities The bulk of the activities done with the class

focused on proper grammar utilization,
specifically verb conjugations for spanish.
Students would mostly just do worksheets that
were meant to help with practicing their

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 grammar.

Additional Notes This class had to be held during a extended

lunch block period. This meant that the class
was held every other day for an hour and a
half rather than 50 minutes everyday. Also
because of this the class would be interrupted
by a 30 minute lunch meaning an hour of
class would go by the students would leave
for lunch and come back for another 30
minutes.

Class Spanish Level 5 Advanced Placement

Class Size There were only about 20 students in the class

and only 2 classes were needed to accomodate
all of the students at this level. (Spanish 5
only consists of the Advanced Placement
course, there is no other spanish 5 courses).

Attention The majority of students were not only being

attentive in class but actively participating
too. Only a small minority of students would
become preoccupied with something else and
choose not to pay attention to the teacher’s
instruction.

Activities A lot of the class activities centered around

studying and practicing for the AP Exam that
would occur in May. The activities used to
prepare were mostly peer to peer speaking and
the depth and knowledge that a lot of the
students had was very impressive. The teacher
was surprisingly hands off with the students
and let them work amongst themselves at their

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 own pace after setting some guidelines.

Additional Notes The AP exam that occurs in may is an exam

provided by the College Board that is meant
to test students on their ability on the language
they chose to study and consists heavily of
creative speaking and writing portions rather
than just multiple choice. There are currently
AP exams for Spanish, French, Latin,
German, Japanese, Italian, and Chinese
Mandarin.

Conclusion

The examples provided by other nations of what a language program should be are

excellent models to use of how the United States should educate its own citizens in other

languages. Although, all the credit cannot be given just to the quality of their language programs.

A lot of countries abroad are much closer to many diverse cultures and languages that create

much more of a necessity to learn another language when compared to in the United States and is

an immense advantage that is hard to match. With that said it only raises the necessity for the

United States to be able to educate its citizens with adequate language skills. The world

becoming more connected everyday and affairs becoming more and more international the

United States stagnation and inefficiency with language education will only become more

apparent as time progresses. The proposed solutions to the issue of language education in the

United States may be ambitious and seem out of reach to the average voter and government

officials, but the benefits far outweigh their preconceived costs. Now is the time for action and if

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the United States does not take action the gap in language ability will only widen between

Americans and the rest of the world.

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