Information for School Counselors

WHY STUDY A FOREIGN LANGUAGE?

Enhanced Career Opportunities:
Learning a foreign language provides a competitive edge in career choices in today's and tomorrow's world. Foreign language knowledge benefits people in the following fields:
Airline companies, advertising, anthropology, education, films, federal government, health care, hotels/motels, import/export, international organizations, interpreting, journalism, law, law enforcement, publishing, radio/TV religious occupations, research, social work, telephone operators, tourism.

Social Reasons:
I. Heightened sense of cultural pluralism and culture sensitivity to other people's way of life in this state, country as well as in the global community.
2. Increased travel opportunities.
3. Additional opportunities for interacting with limited-English speakers within our state.   NC has a growing non-English speaking population. There are 170 languages represented in our schools. Over 100,000 Hispanics reside NC. Of these, 15;000 are students who are limited English-proficient .

Academic Reasons:
The study of another language supports the focus placed on reading and writing by the ABCs and impacts on other academic areas as well.
1. Higher SAT and ACT scores. A longer sequence of language study      leads to higher verbal scores.
2. Stronger English vocabulary for all students. Fifty percent of the English words come from French. Both Spanish and French are based on Latin. Many Latin words and expressions are incorporated in the English language. German and English are both Germanic languages and over 200 of the most common English words are German.
3. Better understanding of the English language and greater sensitivity to structure, vocabulary, and syntax.
4. Improved literacy skills. Reading and writing processes are similar for first and second languages, Skills and strategies are transferable from first to second language and vice versa. .
5.Greater cognitive skills in such areas as mental flexibility, creativity, divergent thinking, and higher-order thinking skills.
6.Enhanced listening skills and memory contribute a significant additional dimension to the concept of communication.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND RESEARCH AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL

Higher SAT scores:
Data from Profiles, College Bound Seniors, 1981, 1984 and 1990 and data from the Admissions Testing Program of the College Board show a positive correlation between SAT scores and the study of foreign languages.

Length of FL Study positively affects SAT scores:
Students with one year of a foreign language had slightly higher SAT scores with 378 on verbal and 416 on the math. Increases for students who had taken two years of foreign language, however, were more dramatic 417 on the verbal and 463 on the math (a respective 14 and 13 percent increase).

With each additional year of language study, scores climbed higher, with 504 on the verbal and 535 on the math sections being average for students who had five or more years of foreign language study.

Concentration on foreign languages for periods of four or more years results in high SAT verbal average.

Improved performance on the ACT

English and mathematics performance levels of students who have studied a foreign language in high school are higher than those of students who have not (Olsen and Brown, 1989). The mental processing skills required to do mathematics problems are also developed by language processing and vice versa.

The longer the sequence the greater the academic, practical, and aesthetic benefits.

Students with previous language experience at the middle or elementary level need to be placed at the appropriate level.

On a block schedule (4x4), students should sign up for levels I and II consecutively. If a break has to occur it is better to schedule it between advanced level (II and III or III and IV).

By waiting until the last 2 years of high school to enroll in foreign language courses, students may jeopardize their chances for meeting college entrance requirements.

One out of every six production jobs in the US. depends on foreign trade.

One half of the top profit making companies on Fortune magazine's "500" list are foreign controlled. The US government employs 30,000 people with working knowledge of a foreign language.

Four out of five new jobs in the U.S. are created as a result of foreign trade.

Eight hundred and fifty-six radio stations in the U.S. broadcast in fifty-eight languages.

Twenty million foreigners travel annually to the U.S. and spend $8 billion.

The U.S. is the third largest Spanish speaking country in the world. Each year 200,000 Americans lose out on jobs with business because they do not know another language. One in twenty Americans worked at foreign owned American companies in late 1990. Their paychecks averaged twenty percent more than those of the nation's overall private workforce.

In NC there are over 800 international firms. The United Kingdom, Germany, Japan. and France lead the way

MYTHS

Myths

Myth 1: Spanish is easier than French.

Both languages are based on Latin and are similar in grammar and vocabulary; however the pronunciation varies: in Spanish most letters are pronounced whereas in French many are silent.

Myth 2: You do not need o foreign language if you are not going to college. "The workplace of tomorrow is a world of many cultures and languages... with new forms of global commerce we can't even imagine today" (Kiplinger Washington Editors, (996).

Myth 3: Only students who do well in English can learn a foreign language. ALL students can learn a foreign language when the focus is communication and proficiency ; however not all students will become linguists.