Learning Languages an Important Part of Education

Despite a growing interest in world languages in the United States, most students are not introduced to a non-English language until the age of 14, according to Education Update Online. Fortunately, Nebraska is a leader in the number of K-12 students taking foreign languages.

Nebraska is the second-ranked state in the United States in the percentage of secondary students in foreign language classes, with 53 percent, compared to 54.5 percent for first-place New York, according to an American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages Report. That standing has led to many opportunities for the state, including the foundation of the Foreign Language Frameworks program, used to examine current curricula, to determine important revisions, and to consider the implementation of national standards, such as the Standards for Foreign Language Learning.

Knowing a second language to a high level of competence is a must in most higher-education settings, including at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and also in a post-graduate career. Two years in the same foreign language in high school are required for entrance to UNL. Some colleges and programs have a higher requirement. Students who are unable to take two years of foreign language in high school may still qualify for admission.

UNL offers degrees in French, German, Russian, Spanish, and classical Greek and Latin, and courses are taught in Japanese and Czech. Languages taught in high schools across the state include French, German, Spanish, Latin, Japanese, Russian and Chinese.

Language instruction in the early grades was one of the top recommendations of a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education. Researchers for the Center for Applied Linguistics, an organization which uses the findings of linguistics and related sciences to identify and address language-related problems, collected data from 19 countries, asking experts to name the most successful aspects of foreign language instruction in their countries. The importance of an early start for students was one of the common threads among responses.

Each high school in Nebraska is required to offer two years in the same foreign language. Vicki Scow, director of world languages with the Nebraska Department of Education, said there is some impetus to increase the amount of instruction offered, but tight budgets make this difficult.

World languages are getting a lot of attention at the federal level, however, Scow said, with an emphasis in the U.S. Department of Education on language and culture. In the future more language units may be required, and Scow said she hopes that instruction eventually moves into the elementary schools.

Schools have several options for distance learning when resources don't allow for a world language teacher in a particular language. Two-way interactive methods have one class with an instructor linked via audio and video to one or more other classes in the state. Satellites are used to beam content down to a receiver at a school. Online courses via the Web are used, including some that offer video streaming. And correspondence courses are available.

Despite strict budgets for education statewide, Grand Island High School has maintained its four-level course offerings in Spanish, French and German, said Sara Collinson, head of world languages and a Spanish teacher at Grand Island High School. There are about 1,000 students taking world languages at the school, including 900 in Spanish, she said.

The school has seen a large increase in the number of students wishing to take Spanish, Collinson said. Much of the increase owes to the presence of the Monfort meat packing plant in the town and the immigration of Hispanics to fill jobs there.

"When I started here in 1977," Collinson said, "I was the only Spanish teacher. Now there are six and we could use seven."

The school in 2005 will start a Spanish class specifically for Hispanics, who comprise about 20 percent of students in the school.

The school has an assessment program in place to find out how its former students are doing in their college environment.

"We try to meet with the freshmen once a year in the second semester, in area colleges and universities, to find out how they are doing. Where they feel well-prepared, where there was a weakness, what we should change to improve," Collinson said.

Scow said the Nebraska Department of Education tries to improve student learning in world languages, using teacher workshops in language immersion, help developing a curriculum, and foreign exchange programs, for example.

There is a severe shortage of Spanish language teachers in the nation and the state, Scow said, due to several factors. Businesses are employing more Spanish speakers, thereby reducing the pool of possible instructors. The number of Spanish-speaking students has increased dramatically. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have shown the importance of learning about other cultures.

The Nebraska Department of Education and UNL are working together to identify exactly what world language skills students should have as they progress from pre-school through their college career. They joined in 1997 to form the Nebraska World Languages PreK-16 Initiative, a statewide effort aimed at improving student achievement. The initiative has involved world language educators from across the state in a discussion of the expectations of world language learners.

Federal funds have also been acquired for improving world language teaching.

Ali Moeller, Edith S. Greer professor of education in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, College of Education and Human Services at UNL, worked with Scow on a pilot project in summer 2004 funded by the Improving Teacher Quality: State Grant Program Project Award and approved by the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education. Part of the grant addresses the need for professional development of teachers to increase their Spanish language and culture skills. A 10-day Spanish-language immersion course was held at UNL in summer 2004. A focus of the course was to tie learning Spanish to the community. As a result, the 25 Spanish teacher participants worked with community agencies and institutions such as the Sheldon Art Gallery, the Latino Museum and the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha to discover connections across disciplines.

Innovative means of assessment are also in the works.

Moeller and Scow last spring developed a pilot portfolio project, which has high school students track their learning of the language by keeping a portfolio containing evidence of their work.

This, Scow said, requires students to take responsibility for what they are learning and motivates them to examine what they are able to do. Students who go on to college then will have a portfolio to present advisers and faculty that identifies their strengths and areas for improvement.

The portfolio is better than a test in some senses, Moeller said. Tests are an unnatural way to evaluate performance, she said, whereas a portfolio can show what a student knows and what they can do. Teachers who took part in the summer immersion program will go back to schools this fall and begin the development of the student learning portfolio project.

CONTACT: Ali Moeller, Greer Professor, Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education, (402) 472-2024