Youngs Testimony

Public Hearing on Chapter 4
Bonnie L. Youngs, PhD, representing PSMLA
Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association
Allegheny IU, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
December 4, 2003

In November, as I pulled up to my hotel in a major city in Pennsylvania, I was greeted by employees who proudly displayed their cities and countries of origin on their name tags: Liberia, Russia, Italy… Immediately, I wanted to try out my foreign language skills on one of these individuals, and I was happy to have a conversation in French with the man from Liberia, who, although originating from an Anglophone country, was able to speak at least his maternal language, English, and French. While Igor, from Russia, loaded the valet cart with our luggage, the Liberian man took care of our valet parking. The Italian opened the door to the hotel and welcomed us, asking in Italian if we spoke Italian because he had heard me speaking French. We unfortunately told him that no, we did not speak Italian. The woman at the front desk who registered us, asked where we were from, and told us that she was a Pittsburgher from East Liberty; a man from Pakistan accompanied us to our room, and a woman from Ethiopia was assigned to clean our room the next day.

Needless to say, I was fascinated by the variety of cultures and languages represented in this Pennsylvania hotel. When I asked the Ethiopian woman, out of curiosity, what she thought of Americans who wanted to remain monolingual and monocultural, she said in broken English: “it’s not good, no communication”, while making a bridge with her fingers to show what she meant.

A week before my trip, while getting my nails done north of Pittsburgh, the manicurist, a woman of African-American origin and I talked about my job, what I advocate, and the view of PDE on limiting the exposure of ‘career path’ children to world languages and cultures. She wanted to know who they were to decide what the future might hold for these children and what choices the children might make as adults, choices that might lead them to applying a knowledge of world languages and cultures. She suggested further that if a ‘career path’ student ended up working in or owning a car repair shop in this state, and it was known to the community that this person could speak, say Spanish, wouldn’t this former ‘career path’ student, now a working adult, have an advantage over competitive repair shops whose owners were monolingual? What better way to take advantage of the increase since 1990 of the 15 million people in our country who speak a language other than English, 11 million of them Hispanophone. (1)

We don’t have to belabor the important issues of internationalization - a UPS senior vice-president who notes that “…state and local governments [must] provide more workers with the skills needed to compete in a global economy.” (2); of terrorism - the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Porter Goss who reports “…the C.I.A.’s unsatisfactory response to Congressional directives to improve its foreign language capacity”; and that “…the C.I.A.’s response to calls for more extensive language skills on the part of its officers, before this year’s war in Iraq and since, had been ‘belated and insufficient’…’, or furthermore that Mr. Goss said that the C.I.A. should not be concerned over which languages …” it might need most in the future, when ‘the answer is we need them all’.” (3); or comments by Mr. Rod Paige, U.S. Education Secretary who states- “The study of language is the study of life, literature, history, and thought.” (4); or for university-bound students, as noted particularly in Oregon - “Although Oregon students don’t need to show mastery of a second language to graduate from high school, they do need two years’ study of one for entrance to the Oregon University System.” (5) Pennsylvania’s high school students do not have this problem, but as its colleges and universities push toward internationalization and globalization of the four year curriculum, students who know a world language will be at a distinct advantage.

So, not having to discuss the ‘basic’ issues of why students should be required to learn a world language, let’s focus on the reasons that I heard at the May 2003 roundtable in Erie, Pennsylvania as to why students should not be required to learn a world language: money, time, and learning disabled students. Indeed, some of these reasons were cited by Mr. Karl Girton in a recent article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette: “Administrators, curriculum directors, parents, business people – that’s a pretty broad section of people – they’re worried about whether this is a proper investment of resources, principally the time given, the challenges that pretty clearly confront students and schools today in terms of being proficient in math and reading.” (6) I will address each of these issues in turn.

· Money: - a small Catholic school in Pennsylvania teaches four world languages in K-8: French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish. The French, Italian, and Spanish teachers are part-time teachers who earn $10,000 per year and who teach one or two 40 minute periods depending on the grade level. The principal teaches Latin to middle school students, in addition to math, and is not paid an additional salary for the Latin instruction; - how many schools in Pennsylvania have parents who might volunteer to share their culture, language, and heritage with students in the children’s schools? - federal grants, for example in the form of the Foreign Language Incentive Program, are offered to public elementary schools; (8) - the median age in Pennsylvania is now 38 (9), a statistic that shows how many of our young people are leaving for job opportunities elsewhere. Could teaching world languages in K-12 help lead to more students staying to work for international businesses or schools in this state, and perhaps, in turn, fulfill NCLB’s requirement that ‘qualified teachers be available for every core subject?”(10)

· Time. In Erie, discipline and learning problems were cited as a reason not
to offer world languages to what are now being called ‘career path’ students. These students have been tracked and are not considered to be ‘university-bound’, so why should they have to learn a world language when we have enough trouble teaching them reading, math, and soon, science? One educator in one desperate educational context cannot speak for all the schools in all of the rural, suburban, urban, richer, and poorer sections of our state. Stereotypes that come from comments such as “if we have no African-American students in our classes, then why do we need to teach multiculturalism” (11) stem from monolingual and monocultural teachers, who perhaps are employed by monolingual and monocultural administrators, and lead to children ignorant of the world and ethnocentrism at its worst.
Furthermore, one British study finds that the lack of world language education “… impacts on social and cultural opportunities and is likely to increase social divisions by limiting the horizons and aspirations of the very pupils who are most in need of having them raised.” (12) Are we, in Pennsylvania, on our way to a self-fulfilling prophecy by widening the educational gap instead of narrowing it?

· Learning disadvantaged children. Some attendees at the Erie roundtable
noted that to date only simple correlational studies have shown a positive relationship between learning world languages and other cognitive abilities. The College Board has found such correlations – shall we call their results into question? (13) But the College Board is not invested in world language education only. Of the multitudinous correlational studies which provide consistent results, how many are necessary to convince the naysayers? Indeed, there are scientifically-based research studies available, for example, one showing the cognitive advantages of bilingualism in 4 to 6 year olds performed with the most advanced scientific research techniques available. (14)
Certainly, as one neuroscientist states: “It’s devilishly difficult to study naturalistic types of language in a well-controlled way.” (15) Be aware, therefore, that classroom-based research is as scientific as it can be, when using human subjects who are hungry, thirsty, tired, abused, changing their hormones, distracted by the birds, or thinking about the latest video game. The most recent research available to us, despite these difficulties, does show that students are able to succeed in world language courses in spite of being diagnosed as learning disabled (LD) or as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and this, in high school or in college. (16) PSMLA does not advocate World Language Academic Standards to the detriment of an LD student’s education. However, based on brain research for example by Dr. Fred Genesee (17), it is feasible that exposure to multiple forms of input can enhance the plasticity of a child’s brain, thereby increasing a child’s ability to learn. World Languages would be only one possible input for LD children. And certainly, PSMLA would be available to answer concerns about teaching world languages to LD children, adjust the Academic Standards accordingly, and would expect the law to take into consideration the children whose IEPs petition an exemption from world language study. The PDE should be aware that as a core subject, foreign languages (as cited in the NCLB Act) are not at this time required to have academic standards, but PDE’s own website states: “Standards define what each student should know and do in a core set of subjects.” (18) What distinguishes Pennsylvania’s core set of subjects from the federal core set of subjects? The Board must be aware that the Foreign Language Assistance Act of 2001 is included in the NCLB Act, so why aren’t world languages included in the academic standards list? Furthermore, how can Pennsylvania not immediately adopt world languages as academic standards when a World Language Academic Standards document, prepared by experts in the field of world language education, is in place and ready to go? By “deleting world languages from the list of subject areas for which state academic standards must be adopted” (Chapter 4, Sections 4.11 and 4.12), Pennsylvania is certainly not forward-thinking. Rod Paige, in his address to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Philadelphia in November 2003 stated that superintendents and local school board members should be accountable for cutting language programs and they: “… should know that if a language course is cut or language offerings are scaled back, that [this] is a bad decision that only harms our children’s future educational and employment opportunities.” He stated further that: “…if a foreign language course is cut, it has nothing to do with this [NCLB] law. Those courses are cut over our vocal and vigorous objections.” (19) Would Pennsylvania rather be in the position that we are in now, having to fight for achievement in reading, math, and science on a tight schedule, or shall we look to the future and take advantage of our position, working with the federal mandate and being, for once in our educational history, ahead of the game, instead of playing catch-up?

Let me close with one last citation from Secretary Paige’s speech, with which I agree wholeheartedly: “Some people don’t like change. I respectfully understand, but also respectfully urge that some people get on with it.” (20)

1. “Nearly 1-in-5 Speak a Foreign Language at Home; Most Also Speak English ‘Very Well,’” U.S. Newswire, Census Bureau, Washington, D.C., October 8, 2003.

2. “With global changes, we should emphasize language studies”, letter to the editor,” Pittsburgh Post Gazette, October 17, 2003.

3. “C.I.A. Needs to Learn Arabic, House Committee Leader Says,” Douglas Jehl, New York Times, November 5, 2003, www.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/politics/05INTE.html?pagewanted=print&position.

4. “Remarks of Secretary Paige at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages,” Philadelphia, PA, November 21, 2003, www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2003/11/11212003.html.

5. “A capacity for outrage is job trait,” Robert Landauer, The Oregonian, November 4, 2003, www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1067951305193280.xml?oregonian?yedcrl.

6. “Pa. school board softens stance on foreign language standards,” Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, September 18, 2003, www.post-gazette.com/printer.asp.

7. “Paige Announces New Initiatives to Celebrate Teachers,” July 15, 2003, www.ed.gov/print/news/pressreleases/2003/07/07152003.html.

8. “What is the No Child Left Behind Act? Basics of Federal Regulation of Public Schools,” www.iedx.org/printer_friendly_1.asp?SectionGroupID=NEWS&ContentID=EN736.

9. “DP-1. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” U.S. Census Bureau, factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsTable?_lang=en&_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DPI&_geo_id=04000US42.

10. “Paige Announces New Initiatives to Celebrate Teachers,” July 15, 2003, www.ed.gov/print/news/pressreleases/2003/07/07152003.html.

11. Personal communication.

12. Language Trends 2003, CILT: the National Centre for Languages, London, England, 2003.

13. “Cash-strapped schools too quick to cut language classes,” Editorial/Opinion, USA Today, November 27, 2003, http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-11-27-our-view_x.htm.

14. “Children Raised Bilingually May Be Smarter,” News on RedNova, November 13, 2003, www.rednova.com/news/stories/2/2003/11/13/story005.html.

15. “Brains show signs of two bilingual roads,” Bruce Bower, Science News, Vol. 152, No. 2, July 12, 1997, www.brainconnection.com/topics/printindex.php3?main=sci-news/bilingual.

16. “College Students Classified as Having Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the Foreign Language Requirement,” Richard L. Sparks, Lois Philips, and James Javorsky, Foreign Language Annals, Vol. 36, No. 3, Fall 2003, pp. 325-337.

17. “Brain Research: Implications for Second Language Learning,” Fred Genesee, ERIC Digest, December 2000, EDO-FL-00-12, www.cal.org/ericcll/digest/0012brain.html; “Brain Research in the Foreign Language Classroom,” Fred Genesee, ivc.uidaho.edu/flbrain/research.html.

18. Academic Standards, FAQs, PDE website, www.pde.state.pa.us/stateboard_ed/cwp/view.asp?a=3&Q=76730&stateboard_edNav=|5496|&stateboard_edNav=|5467|.

19. “Remarks of Secretary Paige at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages,” Philadelphia, PA, November 21, 2003, www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2003/11/11212003.html.

20. “Remarks of Secretary Paige at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages,” Philadelphia, PA, November 21, 2003, www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2003/11/11212003.html.