Foreign Language Educators Encourage Fluency, but Students Say It's a Challenge

From http://republicanherald.com/news/foreign-language-educators-encourage-fluency-but-students-say-it-s-a-challenge-1.1246439

Foreign language educators encourage fluency, but students say it's a challenge
BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK
December 18, 2011

In Pennsylvania, public schools must offer two foreign languages, one of which must include a four-year sequence. And the goal should be to teach students to become fluent in those languages, according to Marty Abbott, director of education for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Washington D.C.

However, students say it's not easy without the opportunity to use a foreign language in everyday life.

CAL conducts a national survey of foreign language instruction in public and private elementary and secondary schools every decade to provide an updated national and regional portrait of foreign language instruction in the United States. The last one was completed in 2008.

Drawing conclusions from its 2008 study, the CAL said the overall picture of foreign language instruction in 2008 was no better than it was in 1997.

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