Issue Brief Introduction

Speaking Beyond America:

The Reason Behind the Need for a National World Language Policy in the United States and Elimination of English-Only Policies

Unlike many countries, the United States does not have a national foreign language education policy in place. The lack of a policy is largely due to the fact that not everyone holds the belief that learning a second language language is necessary, especially with the rise of political conflict with immigration and the idea of patriotism.1 However, it has been proven that learning a second language is beneficial in many different aspects. Cognitively, being bilingual creates positive changes in neurological processes and structures. Being able to speak more than one language activates different parts of the brain and increases functionality of those areas. Knowing a second language also improves one’s ability to learn as they are able to process information at a quicker and easier rate. Lastly, knowing a second language can protect someone from age related disease, keeping their brain functioning at a high level longer than someone who is monolingual.2 In addition to the cognitive benefits, there are also the obvious social benefits of being able to communicate with more people, experience more cultures, and have more job and travel opportunities.3

The traditional discourse on the United States language policy has been framed in a way to give a either-or-choice to schools between English and world languages. With this way of framing the education, students and schools with a high minority population suffered. This way of teaching language in the United States goes back to the Native American boarding schools where English was the forced language of education. Throughout World War 1 and the early 1920s, English-Only policies were implemented for German students. During the 60s and 70s, there was support for world languages in schools; but since the 90s English-only policies reversed the progress made and now 28 states have an English-only policy. Only teaching English not only ignores linguistic resources in minority communities, but also negatively effects the education students receive and their sense of identity. 4

Learning a second language has many benefits and opens up many potential future opportunities for students. The decline in language education and lack of a national policy in the United States will only harm students and the education they will receive.  The United States needs to create a national world language policy for K-12, promoting the idea of being bilingual because world languages are just as important as other key curricula that already have national policies implemented.

1“U.S. Educational Language Policy.” CAL, www.cal.org/areas-of-impact/language-planning-policy/u.s.-educational-language-policy#:~:text=Unlike%20many%20other%20countries%2C%20the,an%20official%20national%20language%20policy.&text=Foreign%20language%20teaching%20has%20generally,heritage%20language%20resources%20in%20communities.

2Administrator, Internal. “The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual.” Dana Foundation, Dana Foundation, 11 Sept. 2019, dana.org/article/the-cognitive-benefits-of-being-bilingual/.

3“10 Benefits of Learning a Second Language.” Lead with Languages, 16 Jan. 2020, www.leadwithlanguages.org/why-learn-languages/top-ten-reasons-to-learn-languages/.

4 “U.S. Educational Language Policy.”

 

QUESTIONS:

  1. Is my thesis strong? Does it set up the argument well?
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  4. Is my writing clear or does it just drag on and never get to a point?
  5. Does my title make sense? Thoughts on the title?

Why Should Students Learn a Second Language?

In my past two blogs I talked about how the United States does not have a language education policy and the harms of that lack, but why should students learn a second language in the first place? If other countries have english in their language education policies, why should we teach our students another language? If they run into a person who is from another country with one of these policies, they can just communicate with English, right? Although this can sometimes be true, many times it simply is not. Learning a second language has so many more benefits beyond verbal communication and that is why the United States needs to create a policy to support language education. There are ten main benefits to learning a second language, so let us explore those benefits.

The first and obvious benefit is connection. Knowing a second language will be able to connect you to more people. If you travel to a country that speaks that language, you will be able to form stronger connections with locals than you could if you did not know the language. You can even connect to people within your community, if you work a costumer service job or even are just a classmate, you can connect to people who cannot speak English well if you can speak their language.

The second benefit is that it can advance your career. Being bilingual is a hot commodity in the working industry now a days. If you are bilingual the chance of you getting a job are much higher than someone who is not; between 2010 and 2015, the number of United State’s job postings specifically geared toward bilingual candidates more than doubled. Many companies will pay you more if you are fluent in another language and sometimes give you more benefits. If you work for an international company, you may have the opportunity to travel with them more to translate. Many times people think that if you are fluent in another language, the only jobs you could get are as translators or teachers but that is simply not true. Almost every job has a lookout for people who are bilingual.

The third benefit is cognitive benefits. People who can speak another language have improved problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, improved memory and multitasking skills, enhanced concentration, and better listening skills. Bilinguals can switch between competing tasks and monitor changes in their environment more easily than monolinguals. People who are fluent in a second language also show signs of greater creativity and flexibility. In addition, as a person ages, if they know more than one language it will help to stave off mental aging and cognitive decline.

Benefits four, five, and six all go together in a way; deepen your understanding of other cultures, see the world, and go to the source. Knowing a second language also will teach you a little bit about the culture. Being fluent in another language exposes us and creates an appreciation for the arts, history, religions, and traditions of the people who speak that language. A greater understanding of the culture, promotes greater empathy, tolerance, and acceptance of others. There have even been studies that show that children who have studied another language are more open and positive toward the culture associated with the language they studied. If you travel to a country that speaks the language you studied, you are more likely to have a better trip than someone who does not speak the local language. While people who are monolingual are capable of visiting the same places, travelers who know more than one language can be more independent and experience more things. If you know the local language you can read signs, navigate your way through the city, ask locals questions, go to shows, and plus create more connections. Learning  a second language can also give people the opportunity to study or work abroad, getting to travel for free. If you are bilingual you can “go to the source” meaning that you can access information that others may not be able to. In a world of more than 6,000 spoken languages, we sometimes require translation. Someone who is proficient in another language can navigate the internet in two different languages giving them access to different types of media, news outlets, entertainment sites, ect.

If you know two languages, learning another will be easier, and that is are seventh benefit. Learning a second language will not only improve grammar and vocabulary of your first language (English) but will also make it easier to learn a third or fourth language. Research shows that being bilingual makes it easier to pick up additional languages faster, especially in younger children. This is because when you learn a new language, you create new brain networks that are already ready when learning a third language.

The last three benefits all sort of go together; boost confidence, strengthen decision making, gain perspective. When learning another language, you will make mistakes often in front of other people, it is a necessary part of the process. Learning a language means taking risks and putting yourself out there, becoming vulnerable, and moving out of your comfort zone. This will increase your confidence levels. To continue, studies show that decisions made in your second language are more reason-driven than those made in your native language. When we deliberate in our non-primary language, we are more likely to separate emotions and biases, thus strengthening our decision making skills. Lastly, as we explore a new language and culture, we will naturally draw comparisons to what is most familiar. By learning another culture, light will be shed on aspects of your own culture, both positive and negative. You could find greater appreciation for the life and culture you have or you may consider changing some things.

To conclude, learning a second language is extremely important and the United States should create an education policy to encourage the importance. There are ten main benefits the United States can use to back up the policy.

 

Resource

“10 Benefits of Learning a Second Language.” Lead with Languages, 16 Jan. 2020, www.leadwithlanguages.org/why-learn-languages/top-ten-reasons-to-learn-languages/.

Exigence and Rhetorical Situation

I will incorporate exigence into my blog by talking about how language education in the United States is already at a steep decline and if nothing is done then language education in K-12 schools could be lost or very limited in the future. I also think that as time has gone on, generations have become more and more connected globally. With that said, languages are not dying they are actually becoming more necessary, there is a reason one will be payed more if they are bilingual. I even think about my job currently working at my family’s taco restaurant and how much I use my Spanish, knowing another language could arguably be more important than knowing calculus or even books you read in an English class.

The rhetorical situation for my issue brief is directed towards an audience of educators, future teachers or students who are undecided on a career/major, and of course policymakers and legislatures. The purpose of my idea is to have a more structured policy in the United States on learning another language earlier on in grade school. The context is currently there is no education policy in the United States about learning a language when there is a policy in the majority of other countries. Because of this the interest in becoming a language teacher has declined and the United States is now in a language teacher deficit, limiting programs in underfunded school districts. It is just as important to learn a language than it is to learn math or science and I can use logos to back that up.

A Day at Mall of America

The blog you all have been waiting for: Mall of America. I actually have a little more knowledge about the Mall than a normal Minnesotan because I had the opportunity to have an Internship with the Head Corporate Lawyer and the PR team about two years ago. It was hard to fit everything about the Mall in one blog, so if you want another blog or more information let me know. With that said here we go!

This is a bad picture of the outside of the Mall. It is hard to get a decent picture of everything and truly how big it is but here is the Macy’s side.

I came in on the Crayola Experience entrance so that is why there is a lot of crayons but this is what it looks like entering and then exiting the Mall.

This is the Rotunda. If there is a meet and greet, concert, show, book signing, event, ect. it is most likely held here. It is the best place during the holidays because there is a giant tree and lots of lights, tinsel, and ornaments scattered throughout the area; plus they have local Christmas performances there everyday like carolers, dancers, signers, it is so much fun! I tried to get angle where you can see all the different floors, you can kind of tell but this picture does not do justice to how big it actually is.

This is Nickelodeon Universe from one angle. Currently because of Covid you can only enter the park if you plan to ride rides so I could not get a better picture. However, if you are a ride junkie this place has some of my most favorite rides. It is great in the winter or even on a rainy day. Fun fact: the park is filled with real plants and once a year hundreds of lady bugs are released into the park so if you go keep an eye out for a lady bug or two!

There is also a Lego Land where you can get any lego set imaginable and even build a creation in the Lego center (not open right now). This is the top of the store and yes that stature is completely made out of legos. It has been there for as long as I can remember, every once an a while it will have a new friend but this guy has stayed. The amount of time and effort someone put into making that… I could never.

The last location I am bring you today is Moose Mountain; one of the best mini golf courses I have ever played. It is so fun and it overlooks Nickelodeon Universe on some holes. It is definitely worth the money if you are ever in the area and need something to do.

To conclude this adventure, I tried to get all the stuff I thought was cool in, but please feel free to let me know if you would like me to take another trip and blog about more Mall related things!

Issue Brief Idea

The topic I am pursuing for my issue brief is World Language education in K-12 schools in America. Currently, like I have wrote in past blogs, there is no national policy on the amount of a credits a child should take of a language or if a child should have to take a language class at all. This is problematic because the later a child learns a language the harder it will be. If kids start learning a second language in grad school, like most countries do with English, by the time they get to high school (the first time most students have access to language courses currently) they are already at a fluency level. This is an intervention in policy discussion because there is no policy for this topic, so it would bring up a very important issue that a policy should be created to address and provide better education for students.

I believe that lack of World Language education is due to intentional causes. It is intentional because the United States government and education programs know that learning a second language has many great benefits and that other countries have created policies for learning English and yet the United States still does not have a policy. The problem is recognized but nothing is being done about it as it is not seen as a priority compared to other issues within the education system.

When creating this policy I think the most effective instruments would be inducements, mandates and capacity builders. Inducements would give schools incentives to implement more language classes and make them mandatory. Incentives would also need to be used to get more people to become world language teachers. Mandates within states or school districts would require that all students within that jurisdiction would have to take a language starting in 3rd grade. Lastly, capacity builders would help teach the community about the benefits of being multilingual and give community members who are out of school a chance to also learn another language.