Did you take a foreign language in high school and/or college and were surprised at how difficult it was to learn? Did you become frustrated when you couldn't memorize all the vocabulary words in time for the test? Did you ever think, "Wow, verb conjugations suck."
I can answer yes to all of these questions. I cannot stand America's policy concerning the teaching of foreign languages. It is very ineffective, and for those of us who want to get good grades, it can be a major GPA-killer. Learning a foreign language in the public school or a collegiate environment is often times not fun in the slightest, and here are some key reasons why America is failing its students in this particular category.
1. Acquiring a language is a skill to be learned, not content to be memorized.
There are two major types of classes that we all take in high school and college, and they are content-based and skill-based. Content-based classes require students to read materials, take copious notes, memorize key terms and events and remember them for quizzes and exams. Some of the courses that are based heavily in this area are history, economics, science, math and —
you guessed it — foreign languages. Skills-based classes, on the other hand, require students to learn a certain skill and demonstrate it as the class progresses. Students are expected to get better as the course nears completion, and there are not often major exams given out. English courses are the best examples of skills-based classes; students write papers to demonstrate their growing skill set rather than completing multiple tests to show the teacher/professor how much they have memorized. Foreign languages should be taught in this manner, not as content-driven courses. Humans do not learn their native language by sitting down and memorizing a load of vocabulary words and language rules; this step comes later on after the person has already learned to speak the language. Fluency in any language comes by immersion, not testing. By forcing students to memorize certain aspects of the language for a test, school systems are ingraining the mindset of remembering something just until the test is over, and this does not promote fluency in the slightest.2. Students are forced to focus on what grade they obtain rather than the language skills they are supposed to be acquiring.
This reason applies to just about every subject in school, but foreign language classes push this grading concept way too far. When students are focused solely on earning a decent grade, they tend to ignore the most important part of foreign language courses, which is actually learning the language. Some may be inclined to point out that by making students sweat over their grades, these language-learners are retaining vast amounts of information. Uh, no. The opposite is actually true. Grades are often times a student's ticket to a better life, especially in our country, and one bad grade in one class can wreak havoc on a person's GPA. If students rely on grades to obtain scholarships for college, struggling to pass a foreign language course becomes a serious problem. Teachers/professors push quizzes, tests, discussions and projects on students in heaps, all of which are strictly graded. Who is this helping? Students who need good grades to ensure their future will do anything necessary to pass a class, and they may eventually turn to other sources for help, such as Google Translator or foreign language dictionaries. These websites do not encourage fluency, but what is a desperate student to do? After all, the grade is what's most important.
3. Foreign language is a required course for many students.
This plays a major part in the grading issue; if a course is required, students must pass it in order to graduate. Aren't students supposed to want to learn another language? Isn't learning Spanish or French or German supposed to be fun? Forcing students to take at least one foreign language course is a great way to suck the fun right out of learning any language. If that was our government's intent all along, then great job, guys. You actually nailed it this time.
4. There are limited options concerning which languages students can take.
The big three in the language group are French, Spanish and German. I have nothing against these languages (except for the fact I am being forced to take one,) but there are other languages out there we could be learning. Yes, I realize that learning Spanish is beneficial since there are a lot of Hispanic immigrants in America. Since many of us aren't becoming fluent in any foreign language, however, the issue becomes moot. When I was in high school, I was very interested in taking sign language as my foreign language. In fact, I was actually excited about learning it since there were a few people in my church who used sign language to communicate. Unfortunately, I was informed that I could not take sign language as a foreign language, so I had to take Spanish instead. I ran into the same dilemma in college; there were only a few foreign languages to choose from, so I again picked good ole' Spanish. Of course, this situation pales in comparison with this little tidbit; as an English major, I absolutely have to take a foreign language in order to graduate. Make sense? Yeah, I didn't think so.
5. We are being taught the most proper and rigid forms of foreign languages.
English-speakers are not the only ones who talk in different dialects and use "improper" forms of our language when writing and speaking. Most people who speak Spanish, French, German, Dutch, etc. don't use the ultra-refined and sophisticated forms of their languages, especially not in everyday conversation. Why are we being taught to speak their languages in a completely different manner? I have no idea. This is the government we're talking about; the answer to that question could be anything from ignorance to sabotage. Maybe our officials just want us to sound like idiotic snobs when we converse with others. After all, who doesn't want to talk like a politician?
As you can see (and as you probably already knew), we could be learning so much faster if our school systems had better foreign language curriculum. I absolutely despise learning Spanish thanks to our government's idea of teaching, and I would rather cut out my own vocal chords than take another semester, but alas, life goes on. Thank you, government, for making my college experience even more soul-sucking and stressful than it already was. I owe you one.
