Effectiveness of Foreign Language Learning

In a Washington Post Local Living article, Jay Matthews boldly argues that learning and teaching foreign languages in middle school and high school is a waste of time and funds. His main argument is that students are able to easily breeze through language courses in high school with very little effort and high marks. Most high schools don't require foreign language study for graduation, and those that do usually only require 2 years. This is the same for colleges, they traditionally only ask their applicants to have completed two years. I'd have to agree with Matthews on the point that two years is not nearly enough time to gain any level of proficiency in a foreign language. Extended study and immersion are necessary to obtain fluency.

Also, many students choose to study languages that they are not likely to use often (or ever in the case of Latin) for interactions with other native speakers. They simply wish to fulfill a requirement. For example, Matthews studied German and Latin in high school but quickly forgot it all because he didn't continue his studies in college or practice speaking with anyone. On the flipside, students who are determined to learn a foreign language can successfully do so with the help of language instruction in high school.

For example, I knew that I wanted to be as fluent as possible in French to be able to more easily communicate with my older relatives in Lebanon. I studied it from 7th-12th grades in school and then continued my studies at Stanford. I also participated in an immersion program in Montreal with a host family two summers ago (although it's questionable if that helped or hurt because the Quebecois accent is ridiculous!). I can confidently say now that I am fluent. I used what I learned in the classroom as a base and then continued learning at home by reading French books, listening to the music, and practicing with my father. I can't really say that I learned French strictly through my school's program, but at the same time, it taught me the integral basics of grammar and vocabulary. I doubt would have been motivated enough to learn the language from scratch on my own.

Although these programs aren't churning out fluent speakers by the time of graduation, I think it's too strong of a statement to say that they're useless. For those learning Spanish, even small amounts can prove to be beneficial, so studying it in high school certainly isn't a waste of time. Also, studying foreign languages opens doors. If I hadn't studied French, I wouldn't have been eligible for the study abroad scholarship in Montreal, and I probably never would have visited the city. After my stay there, I decided to apply to McGill University and seriously considered attending the school (but who was I kidding-choosing between sunny CA or snow-covered Montreal...easy choice).

So what do you think? Are our foreign language programs so bad that they should just be eliminated, or is there value to be found in them?

See http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/04/why_waste_time_on_a_foreign_la.html