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Description
Sibgha Haider and Noushin Ahmed, CWP 102: Argumentation and Research
Faculty Mentors: Professor Dr. Susan Mary Paige, Academic Success Program and Professor Jane Sullivan, College Writing Program
It is a common misconception that speaking English can get you anywhere in the world. In reality, you need a second language even in America to have an advantage in society. In a non-English speaking country, non-bilingual English speakers are completely lost. Foreign languages need to be taught earlier in education, specifically before the age of 10, when the “critical period” of language development ends. Even though evidence in our literature review suggests that learning a second language earlier is very useful in a child’s development, many schools in Western New York have pushed foreign language to middle school and grade six despite the research-based evidence. Introducing new languages so late in a child’s development is only setting them up for frustration and failure and making it unnecessarily difficult for children to learn a second language. This research project, with prior IRB approval, surveys the 26 school districts that participate in the Erie County, New York Association of School Boards to ascertain when and why these schools are offering foreign language studies in a child’s elementary-school years.
Publication Date
2020
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Haider, Sibgha and Ahmed, Noushin, "Taking LOTE Seriously: Pushing Foreign Language Education" (2020). Education. 22nd Annual Student Research and Creativity Conference. SUNY Buffalo State.
https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/srcc-sp20-edu/9
