Wartburg's Foreign Language Policies: Pros and Cons

The only way to begin to understand other cultures, backgrounds, religions, and languages is to be exposed to them. Wartburg’s current foreign language requirement is very beneficial in that it allows the students who may not have previously been exposed to other languages to take part in them through their education and receive credit for doing so. Learning a foreign language has many benefits to individuals overall. This paper will discuss these benefits as well as the benefits and weaknesses of the Wartburg policies regarding foreign language requirements.

Warburg is currently too lax in the requirement although other students may disagree. This paper will discuss this further as well. The reason to learn a foreign language is to be exposed and enabled to learn about, as well as understand a language, which is not primarily spoken by an individual, Students benefit from learning other languages in many ways. The foreign language courses not only teach students how to speak in another dialect, but it further enables the students to understand the emotions and backgrounds of other languages.

Languages are rich in culture, and furthering one’s education in this regard thus makes that individual richer and overall well—rounded. it also allows individuals to travel to places independently that they may not have been able to visit without learning the native language. Although English is widely known and spoken, it is not spoken everywhere. Learning a foreign language opens many doors to travel, employment, and overall awareness Currently at Wartburg, students who are already fluent in a language other than English are exempt from having a foreign language requirement.

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This does not encourage these students to broaden their language abilities or their awareness of other places, cultures, ethnicities, and languages. Taking a foreign language class is not entirely about learning how to speak another language.

It is also about learning the background and history of that language as well as the areas that speak that language. It is always important to try to broaden one’s horizons and step out of comfort zones. Although the foreign language classes are translating and teaching from English to the desired language, this could still be very beneficial to students who speak another language because it would further allow them to increase their English»speaking abilities as well as teach them about another language Other institutions require more time studying a foreign language and sometimes require a proficiency test. This is not the case at Wartburg, This does not encourage students to see the benefit of learning foreign languages and unfortunately, the students may not realize the benefits of learning another language until later in life when they may not be able to make time to learn a foreign language.

We live in a multi-cultural world, We must see the benefit and competitive edge to learning a foreign language. All education institutions should instill this in the students. Some of the students are aware of the various backgrounds of other students, but unless they are given incentives to learn more, they may not do so based on their own free will. There are many language barriers in all walks of life, This includes within the educational institutions as well as in the employment sectors as well as in the social aspects of life. The more awareness one has of other backgrounds and languages, the less likely conflict will incur. In order to ensure graduates are best prepared to enter our society as responsible, aware, productive, contributing members, Wartburg should ensure the students are given all tools necessary. One of these tools is effective communication. To ensure students are effective communicators, the students must be taught all about communication. This includes communication in other languages. Wartburg should implement a foreign language policy which dictates that all students take at least one year’s worth of study in a foreign language and pass a test which would certify proficiency.