I feel that as a student of a foreign language, I'm rather biased towards the study of foreign language. In a perfect world, I would love to see every student and every adult study a foreign language. It's a great way to keep the mind sharp, learn more about your own language, learn about foreign cultures, ideas and beliefs, as well as learning a new language. I feel that the aspect of learning about a new culture is especially important in this day and age, and it is one that is practically impossible to separate from learning a FL.
On the other hand, not everyone can learn a FL easily or would even be interested in doing so. At the university level, education is no longer mandated and the students (or their parents) have to pay tuition themselves. So I don't think it is right to require students to pay to study a foreign language that they may have no interest or stake in. At UNH, it is required to take one course about foreign culture as an undergrad and I personally think that is as good a compromise as we can get at this point in time.
I highly agree that learning a foreign language may be difficult for students here at UNH. In my French class freshman year there was a wide range of majors among the class and the attitudes and motivation towards learning the new language varied based on their majors. In particular, there was a chemical engineering student, who was frustrated with the class. He was already overwhelmed with the work required for his major and did not anticipate the high demands of learning a new language. In foreign language classes there is a lot of homework and studying that is necessary in order to do well. I also believe that one course of foreign language is a good compromise. Although this student struggled through the class, he completed the requirement and he also learned a lot about another culture which he appreciated in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree that university cannot force students to study a foreign language they are not good with. What's worse, in China, we have different level of tests for non-English-major students. And students are obliged to reach level four because if they fail to get the CET 4 certificate, they cannot get their bachelor degree of whatever their major is. Many students are suffering with this policy and they must save more time for English than their own major to meet the requirement.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your argument and saying that it seems unwise to require students to learn a foreign language in order to graduate, however, is not the point of a university education to, ideally, introduce students to new skills even if they may be difficult? I do not believe it is realistic in any sense to require all students to take four years of a language, but at least one or two classes can help students with learning something of a foreign language. Maybe the best way to handle this would to create a simplified language class that focuses more on the cultural aspects more than our normal language courses do, but still teaches the bones of the language.
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