WORLD LEADERS ESTABLISH PLAN OF ACTION FOR U.S. LANGUAGE POLICY

Abstract

More than 35 leaders representing academic, business, government, and humanitarian organizations convened in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on January 10 and 11, 2005, for the National Language Policy Summit: An American Plan for Action to set priorities and establish a plan of action for U.S. language policy for the upcoming decade. Our students are dangerously uninformed about the said former North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt Jr., setting the context for the summit. example, in a recent study of college-bound students in high school, only 25% could name the ocean between the United States and Asia. Hunt cited recent events-the 9/11 terrorist attack, the weakening of the dollar, and the tsunami disaster in December 2004-that remind Americans of our global interconnectedness and our need to communicate with people around the world. must commit our educational system to teaching languages and to international education broadly, Hunt noted. Our students must learn about the world. We can't go it alone. Hunt emphatized that international education and language learning are essential for peace and international relations, defense and national security, and human relationships and people. Furthermore, he noted, This focus on languages is also about jobs and it's about the economy. For the future, if we have a well-educated workforce that knows the languages, that is fluent, that understands the people, understands the countries, can get out and sell across the world, get customers for us and make jobs here, I think that can be one of the most powerful advantages of a state, of a community, and of America. The summit's keynote soeaker was Dr. Bernard Spolsky, Professor Emeritus at Bar-Ilan University in Jerusalem, scholar at the University of Maryland's Center fo Advanced Study of Languages and Editor-in-Chief of the international journal, Language Policy. He explained that much of the world has had to develop language policy because people speak various languages and dialects at home. most of the world today, there's the pressure of learning English, Spolsky said. In the United States, there is neither a language clause in our Constitution nor a language law. Spolsky identified two major forces that affect language management in the United States. First, there is a well-established tradition of civil rights through which people in our society are entitled to use their own language and have access to government in their own language until they develop control of English. second, U.S. defense and intelligence agencies have recognized the security need for language learning. But that leaves a gap, Spolsky said. He' emphasized that there is a clear need for a fully articulated, well-coordinated language policy in the United States. Spolsky urged the audience to begin by developing modest expectations, focusing on a few important changes and building on them. Working in small groups, the summit participants identified priorities for action to promote language learning in the United States over the coming decade, including the following: * raising the American public's awareness of the need and value of learning languages and understanding cultures; * establishing at the federal level a National Language Advisor; * surveying businesses to identify their language and cultural needs; * partnering with CEOs of corporations to advocate for the importance of language and culture; * creating a fully articulated Chinese language program for students in grades kindergarten through college and subsequently expanding this model to other languages; * developing effective assessment strategies for measuring students' language learning; * implementing a civilian language corps; and * advocating for expanded language legislation. For all the priorities, participants listed deadlines and identified individuals who will accomplish the tasks. …