Senior Brandon Nguyen concentrating on his Japanese textbook. Photo by Kiet Phan.
By Kiet Phan, Staff Photographers & Elise Tran, Designer-in-Chief
Students in Fountain Valley High School are required to have one year of a foreign language to graduate, but is starting at high school too late?
For the most part, high school is the only level of education that requires students to learn a world language.
“The earlier you start to study a foreign language the better off you are… it wouldn’t be as challenging down the road, like when you start in high school or middle school,” said Spanish teacher Holly Vivar.
Recently, there has been a proliferate in dual language programs, specifically the Dual Language Immersion program in the Westminster School District. DeMille Elementary was the first school to have a Vietnamese Dual Language program, implemented in Fall of 2015.
There are multiple approaches to the Dual Language Immersion program. There is the 90:10 and 50:50 which is the percent of the foreign language and English language spoken during class time, respectively. For the 50:50 approach, students would spend 50% of their day learning English and the other 50% in Vietnamese. For example, the first half of their day consists of English language arts, math, and social studies. Vietnamese language arts, science, and visual/performing arts for the rest of the day.
One of the biggest concern with the Dual Language Immersion program is how this affects students’ ability to perform in English standardized test. Researchers found that success in English standardized test occurs regardless of the second language. In fact, advancement in your second language also results in a higher level of English language skills and metalinguistic awareness.
“English proficient immersion students are capable of achieving as well as, and in some cases better than, non-immersion peers on standardized measures of reading and math,” said researcher at University of Minnesota Tara William Fortune.
The University of Montana also acknowledges that there is a temporary lag in specific language skills for students that were not introduced to English until 2nd grade to 5th grade. These studies also found that the problem is resolved within one or two years after instruction in English art begins. There were no long-term percussions to their English abilities.
The Dual Language Immersion program allows students to embrace their cultures and teach them about their unique backgrounds. It enhances their ability to take English Standardized Tests and their English skills.
