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The Importance of Learning a Second Language

Critics to young children learning a second language state that it would take away school time devoted to "more important" areas of study such as mathematics. However, Caccavale points to extensive research from the Webb Bibliography that proves this notion incorrect. In the study students who had time taken away from mathematics to study a second language outperformed students in mathematics when compared to students who did not study a language and had all the time devoted to mathematics. Many parents and teachers who are opposed to children learning a second language often make the claim without a factual base and merely assume that there would be no time for their children to study one. Another scholar, Ken Stewart, says that every piece of research points to the fact that it is beneficial for students to learn a second language as early as three years old. Clearly, the understanding of a secondary language at an early age helps develop a child in many areas.
             Knowledge of a second language can help improve foreign relations. Stacie Berdan is an author and expert on international careers. In her article "Obama's Right: More American's Should Learn a Second Language" she states that learning a second language has gone from being "nice to have" to "need to have." She points out that the country is far behind its neighboring countries when it comes to knowledge of another language. On top of that, Mexico and Central and South American countries are growing more economically important. She states that if more Americans knew Spanish it would help us work together and improve economically. People who have the opportunity to learn another language should be eager to do so in order to secure the country's future. For instance, if a person knows Spanish fluently he could possibly secure a job trading with Spanish speaking countries such as Chile or Peru.


Essays Related to The Importance of Learning a Second Language

1. The Benefits of Learning a Language

... them by their family, friends, and their society. Languages have been developed throughout the centuries. Nowadays, people have discovered the importance of learning a second language. Learning languages has spread in 21st century. However, many monolingual speakers are not very comfortable with learning a second language. They do not see any reasons to learn a new language. Monolingual people think that learning a foreign language will waste their time, money, and effort without any benefits, but there are ... some people who believe that learning a second language has good benefits. I...

  • Word Count: 1215
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Second Language Apprehension Study

... made regarding second language apprehension is of the most importance when it comes to general human development. The studies differed in certain ways; one discovered a relation between the ability to learn patterns and the ability to learn a second language, while the other one found that having and informal approach to the language (games) enhances learning a second language, regardless the person. The studies were analyzed and compared; and it was concluded that the second study was the one that contributed the most to ... a certain age where a language is learned the easiest, as see...

  • Word Count: 1139
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Limitations and Directions of Criminal Justice

... case studies and arrived at convergent conclusions. But more case studies along the lines of the experiments with R and W are needed to substantiate the claims we have made for the importance of frequent encounters and the predicative powers of matrices. This already amounts to a substantial research agenda. Further studies could use the non-intrusive testing we have developed and the repeated-readings design to see if probability matrices continue to predict ... we teach L2 reading. It is possible that we might find a strong justification for advocating the use of the somewhat unfamili...

  • Word Count: 7274
  • Approx Pages: 29
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Second language acquisition

... 1.95% of the LEP students. Basically, Spanish is the native language for 3 out of 4 LEP students in the US. In Colorado alone, there are 59,018 LEP students whose native language is Spanish. These figures help to make people understand the reason and importance of providing these students with ESL classes as well as bilingual programs where they can learn the content areas in a language that they understand while they are learning the second language. If ... we also add that there are many schools that are unable to provide these kinds of programs for their students. Whatever the reason...

  • Word Count: 1466
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Language and Communication Arts

... is really an exercise in futility. What is the benefit of reading without comprehension. Below are five factors which parents and teachers must consider when seeking to improve the comprehension skill of any student. * Fluency in the language If the reading material is written in a language which the student is in the process of learning, his comprehension will be limited. If his knowledge of the vocabulary is only basic and he speaks in a halting ... practice common affixes. Second is the poor comprehension, when the students decoding skills are strong (fast and accurate decoding with ...

  • Word Count: 7878
  • Approx Pages: 32
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Stages of Second Language Acquisiton

... it at this stage. When second language learners reach to this stage, they either 'read grade-level textbooks or write organized and fluent essays'. Language is a gift for humanity to make communication but it is also important to reach the success in this world because language means sharing information with others. As a conclusion, I tried to mention about the importance of first and second language learning, and I also tried to give ... brief information about the theories and the studies on language acquisition. The main idea for this study was to show the stages of second langu...

  • Word Count: 2006
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Culture and English Language Teaching

... attitudes that govern our approach to culture as a whole; Language conveys culture, so that the language teacher is also of necessity a teacher of culture; Language is itself subject to culturally conditioned attitudes and beliefs, which cannot be ignored in the classroom. For all things considered, acquisition of target language culture is as important as language learning itself. Hence, the question is not whether to include cultural elements in teaching English. Actually, which ... whom has been in question. Additionally, the specific content of culture teaching, which also depends o...

  • Word Count: 2477
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. second language acquisition

... very hard to acquire a new language. The study of the brain has proven the importance of early experiences. In fact, children are born with a complete set of neurones. However, the connections between neurons (synapses) form and proliferate from birth till the age of three where they will reach a maximum number. More than half of these synapses are going to be lost by the age of fifteen suggesting that the number of synapses is more than that ... whereas students that start learning a new language at high school will never master this language. In addition other researchers (Kim& Hirsh)...

  • Word Count: 1216
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

9. Methods to Reduce Second Language Learning Anxiety

... to perform less well. Thompson (200) administrated a survey regarding teacher effectiveness and instructional practices from EL students in a Hispanic school in South California. The students there demonstrated a great interest and level of anxiety decreases when the instructor emphasized the importance of "individual help from teacher, tutor and instructors aids", "peer interaction", "acquiring fun materials such as games to learn English" ... such as creating a nonthreathening classroom environment, giving students to experience success, know more about the students, and adapting ...

  • Word Count: 1146
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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