Cars honk, swerving through the jam-packed lanes of New York City, surrounded on all sides by high rises. On the other side of the country, people stroll down the beach, walking as cars whisk down the highway next to the ocean. Elsewhere, smack dab in the middle of the country, there is the serene sight of grazing cows on fields, punctuated by the occasional house, and a car speeding down roads. 

These areas in the United States may all seem very different, but they share a common factor: the English language. 

Yet the commonality of English in this picture highly contrasts with what appears to be a common agreement about the importance of bilingualism. 

In a survey conducted by Preply amongst 1,000 people, 9 out of 10 people believe that learning a second language is important.

This is more imperative to younger generations than others because of the future they represent. As English worms its way into the everyday life of high schoolers, world language graduation requirements for language courses have popped up on campuses around the U.S. 

The correlation between the two can be seen by comparing foreign language rates between the U.S. and European countries.

According to a National Foreign Language Enrollment Report, around 20% of K-12 students in the U.S. are learning a language.

Yet the majority of these are in high school, with only 17% of that 20% being in primary school.

This means that the United States is far behind in the schooling of Europeans, who have years of learning.

High school language classes

Classes run for around five hours per week, meaning there is a lot of time for students to take in the information they are given. Furthermore, it gives them a set schedule that may otherwise be difficult to accomplish. 

According to an article from Educational Technology, a journal article, powerful learning experiences were found to be complex and have many integrated elements, which can be difficult for students to replicate on their own without taking much time. As this is often the full-time job of a teacher, more time and resources can be set towards making a better curriculum and creating a better environment to foster learning. 

However, the classes are often taken for school credits, which can result in students feeling obligated to complete the curriculum, meaning they are not necessarily making a true effort to retain all information. 

A study found that academic boredom and academic performance are negatively correlated (Grazia et al.,) which in turn highly affects the actual learning of students, even if they do get good grades.

“A lot of kids have pressure to do well, get straight A’s, and go to a four-year college, so I feel that they don’t really enjoy learning because it’s just something they have to do on their to-do list,” said Eva Parker, a Spanish 1 and 2 teacher at Carlmont.

This means that generally, there is a high amount of resentment aimed towards classes they consider unhelpful or useless. However, high school classes offer many benefits that students may not necessarily consider at face value.

“I think it’s nice when you’re able to help your fellow classmates and speak their native tongue because then they feel more comfortable, and you’re able to communicate in their language,” Parker said. 

Some recognize that there are personal benefits in focusing on learning within class.

“A language in class is every day, so you learn it at a faster rate and don’t have to take time out of your day. That really helped me a lot, so I think it’s easier,” said Griffon Baker, a freshman who learned French at school in 8th grade and is currently learning other languages outside of school.

This has a great impact, even after the end of high school, with around 16% of adults reporting that they learned a non-English language through school in 2006, according to a study sponsored by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Learning outside of classes

Yet in that same study, 75% of adults reported having learned their language from their childhood home, indicating that high school classes are not the largest influencing factor when it comes to bilingualism, but rather, outside learning is. 

This is also indicative in high school courses within the U.S., where Spanish takes a little under half of those spots. Yet, looking at the global trend, both Chinese and Hindi rank above Spanish in the number of global speakers.

This does not stop high schoolers, though, and Baker is one of a minority of students who learn a language learning beyond the classroom of their own free will. Although American-born, it was his Lithuanian roots that led to his desire.

“I’m part Lithuanian, which is why I want to be able to speak it,” Baker said.

This then branched off to create his interest in other languages, and currently, he pursues Arabic and Finnish, with the hope of starting up French again through school in his sophomore year. 

However, he is not alone in this venture; sophomore Reese Skye, who currently attends Sequoia High School, also found herself learning languages outside of school. 

“I was inspired to learn languages because I googled it after fifth grade, and it gave me an estimate for how many hours it would take to learn Spanish. And I was like, ‘That seems easy,’ so I started an online Spanish curriculum, and I liked it, so I kept learning more,” Skye said.

This interest in languages also led her to expand her interests, and now she is learning French at school and Japanese outside of it.

In both of their case, they share a common factor and motivation: interest. A study led by Hui Zhao from Henna Normal University in Xinxiang, China, found that students with a higher academic passion also held more self-belief, in turn encouraging them to maintain a higher degree of academic engagement. Engagement is often correlated with greater academic achievement. 

This correlation between engagement and achievement can also be linked to learning outside of the classroom, where it is an important factor in beginning to learn a language and sustaining it. 

“Usually, I make sure I am interested in the language before anything. I might look up some videos, read some articles about it,” Baker said. 

That’s not to say that this choice comes without struggles, as students have to juggle this large time commitment with the workload of their classes and any other extracurriculars they may have. 

“I usually have a half-hour class for Spanish per week, which is just for conversation practice or grammar review. And then Japanese is usually an hour long once a week after school, just going through the text,” Skye said. 

Many of these outside learning mirrors that within classrooms, with online classes and textbooks being quite popular. Yet methods vary depending on the person and, more importantly, the language.

“I don’t really have a specific method because for each of the three, the learning styles are different. For Spanish, it was an online curriculum. For Japanese, some textbooks. And for French, it’s just a class,” Skye said. 

All this goes to show that, like many other subjects, the different ways of learning a language are truly up to personal preference and something one has to figure out for themselves.

Real-life application of languages

However, at the end of the day, learning a language is more than just grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. It’s about communicating in real life, which is one of the biggest hurdles people face. 

“Kids really struggle with that because it’s high school and kids don’t want to make mistakes and get judged,” Parker said. 

Although students know basic language, their application of words and vocabulary within school is vastly different from the speaking speed and complexity of languages they find outside.

However, students’ fears mean that they are unlikely to go out of their way to try and speak outside of school, in fear of a flashback or laughter from others. This is where high school classes come in handy. 

“Before class, I’ll prepare sentences I can say, and then it kind of falls apart after they respond,” Skye said, referencing her talks with classmates in French class. 

Yet students do have other opportunities available to them to actively practice their speaking that are introduced to them through high school. Programs championing travel allow students the chance to immerse themselves in the culture, but also put all of their language skills to the test with native speakers.

“You really become fluent by going and studying abroad because then you are forced to speak the language,” Parker said.

For those who can’t make the trip, their family’s travel outside of the country can also allow students to practice different languages on a larger scale. 

“I went to Japan with my family once and was on a tour and talked to the tour guide, so it was really good to know that I could actually speak to someone who was not my teacher,” Skye said.

It is such interactions that can make a whole world of difference in interacting with others and connecting the different parts of the world. 

Looking forward 

That’s not to say that second, third, or even fourth languages are easy to master. Rather, it is a continuous process to improve, and for the students who learn languages outside of school, the ones they are currently learning aren’t the end. 

“The next would probably be Spanish because it’s similar to French, so it would be pretty easy to learn compared to a brand new language. I would probably say Russian, too, because I have some Russian friends,” Baker said.

At the same time, there is an emphasis on properly learning and understanding current languages before moving on to new ones.

“For right now, I just want to focus on getting better at all three. But in the future, it might be cool to learn Mandarin,” Skye said.

Whether or not they’ll remember these languages in the decades to come is another question. 

Considering their motivation to learn new languages, combined with school and outside learning, they are likely to continue with this. 

Yet for many, they don’t realize the benefits of learning a second language until their later years.

In an earlier cited study from Preply, 70% of adults who didn’t learn a second language regretted it in later life, with 20% losing a career opportunity because of it.

“As I learn languages and grow up, I know more about different cultures and history so that helped me understand the world more,” Baker said.