Graduation Year
2020
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures
Program or Major
Foreign Languages
Second Department
Human Services and Rehabilitation Studies
Second Program or Major
Human Services and Rehabilitation Studies
Faculty Advisor
Cinzia Pica-Smith
Abstract
Despite the importance of English as an international language, "there is an emerging consensus among leaders in business and politics, teachers, scientists, and community members that proficiency in English is not sufficient to meet the nation's needs in a shrinking world" (Commission on Language Learning, 2016, p. 3-4). The causes for this lack of multicultural lingual diversity in the US today include an educational framework based on assimilation and a lack of focus on multiculturalism and interculturalism. This problematic dynamic has led to little focus on foreign language education. The literature review will therefore focus on this sociocultural contextualization of language education, demonstrating the lack of focus on languages and its negative implications. In addition, I will focus on an uncommon approach to language education, namely bilingual and polylingual programs, to demonstrate their efficacy and necessity in an increasingly global, polylingual and transnational economy and world.
Recommended Citation
Iassogna, Madeleine, "Responding to an Increasingly Polylingual Society: An American Bilingual School" (2020). Honors Theses. 96.
https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/honorstheses/96