GWU: Critical languages satisfy no general curriculum requirements

[Rebecca Jane Stanton]

[Melissa Smith wrote:
> Isn't there a large body of research that shows studying a foreign 
> language - especially a Level II or III -- is one of the BEST methods 
> of improving critical thinking? ]

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed, dated yesterday, stresses this 
very aspect of language learning (in an impassioned call for earlier and 
more rigorous language training):
http://chronicle.com/article/English-Is-Not-Enough/65136/

> English Is Not Enough
> by Catherine Porter
>
> Researchers in a wide range of fields increasingly attest to the 
> benefits of bilingualism. Students who have had an early start in a 
> long-sequence foreign-language program consistently display enhanced 
> cognitive abilities relative to their monolingual peers—including 
> pattern recognition, problem solving, divergent thinking, flexibility, 
> and creativity. After the first three or four years of second-language 
> instruction, those students perform better on standardized tests, not 
> only in verbal skills (in both languages) but also in mathematics. 
> They demonstrate enhanced development in metalinguistic and critical 
> thinking: They can compare and contrast languages, analyze the way 
> language functions in different contexts, and appreciate the way it 
> can be used for special purposes, like advertising, political 
> propaganda, fiction, or poetry. In short, they have a decided edge in 
> the higher-order thinking skills that will serve them well as college 
> students and citizens.
>
> What accounts for such remarkable benefits? Does foreign-language 
> study itself have an impact on brain physiology? While there is still 
> a lot we don't know, intriguing clues are emerging. Experiments have 
> shown, for example, that foreign-language study increases brain 
> density in the left inferior parietal cortex. Research also suggests 
> that bilingual people process languages differently than monolingual 
> people do. They may take fuller advantage of the neural structures 
> involved in cognitive processing. They appear to have a greater 
> ability to shut out distractions and focus on the task at hand. 
> Demands that the language-learning process makes on the brain, like 
> other demands that involve encountering the unexpected, make the brain 
> more flexible and incite it to discover new patterns—and thus to 
> create and maintain more circuits.
>
> The effort involved in learning and controlling more than one language 
> may even "train the brain" in a way that slows down the losses that so 
> often come with aging. Indeed, one recent Canadian report indicates 
> that dementia may be delayed by as much as four years in bilingual 
> adults who use both languages regularly. Virtually all "brain fitness" 
> experts include foreign-language study among the activities that may 
> help delay the onset of dementia.
>
Much more at the link.
Rebecca Stanton

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