Elizabeth

___ = = =__Most important points from all the articles I read:__=

Bastian, T.R. (1980). "An investigation into the effects of second language learning on achievement in English." (pp. 6176-6177). DA, 40,12-A, Pt 1. Boise, ID: University of Idaho.
 * Graduating high school seniors with two or more years of foreign language study showed significant superiority in performance on achievement tests in English when compared with nonforeign language students.**

Brega, E., & Newell, J.M. (1967). High-school performance of FLES and non-FLES students. "Modern Language Journal, 51," 408-411.
 * Compares performance of two groups of 11th grade students on MLA French examination (advanced form) in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. One group of students had begun French in Grade 7, the other group had also had 80 minutes per week of FLES beginning in Grade 3. FLES students outperformed non-FLES students in every area.**

Garfinkel, A. & Tabor, K.E. (1991). Elementary school foreign languages and English reading achievement: A new view of the relationship. "Foreign Language Annals, 24," 375-382.
 * Elementary school students of average academic ability showed improved reading achievement after participation in a voluntary before- and after-school FLES program.**

Vocolo, J.M. (1967). The effects of foreign language study in the elementary school upon achievement in the same foreign language in the high school. "Modern Language Journal, 51," 463-469.


 * FLES students were found to have significantly better performance in listening, speaking, and writing when compared to non-FLES students at the end of an intermediate-level high school French class.**

**Unraveling how children become bilingual so easily**
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
 * Each language uses a unique set of sounds. Scientists now know babies are born with the ability to distinguish all of them, but that ability starts weakening even before they start talking, by the first birthday.**
 * While new language learning is easiest by age 7, the ability markedly declines after puberty.**
 * "We're seeing the brain as more plastic and ready to create new circuits before than after puberty," Kuhl says. As an adult, "it's a totally different process. You won't learn it in the same way. You won't become (as good as) a native speaker."**

Curtain and Pesola’s text is regarded by many as the authoritative work on early language learning. In their introduction, they provide a broad overview of the benefits of early language learning. Immediate benefits include greater academic achievement in other areas of study, including reading, social studies, and mathematics and earning higher SAT and ACT scores, especially in verbal areas.
 * Curtain, H. and C. A. B. Pesola. Languages and Children: Making the Match: Foreign Language Instruction for An Early Start Grades K-8. Longman (New York) 1994.**

A study of 12 healthy bilingual volunteers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York revealed that the capacity to speak a second language is stored in different areas of the brain depending on when in life a person becomes bilingual. Children who learn a second language store that capacity, together with their native language, in one sector of the brain. Adults language learners store each new language learned in a separate area. This finding helped explain why children who learn two languages develop the ability to speak both with native proficiency and supported the argument that foreign language instruction should be part of the elementary and middle school curriculum.
 * Winslow, R. (1997). How Language is Stored in Brain Depends on Age. The Wall Street Journal, July. (Summary of Distinct Cortical Areas Associated with Native and Second Languages, Nature, 388, 1997)**

Patricia McLean and Laura Boss of the Alki Elementary School Foreign Language Task Force in Seattle have prepared a paper documenting how early foreign language learning can actually help students overcome the achievement gap. >>>> **Read Strategy for Closing the Achievement Gap (Word) or PDF** Specifically, they document studies that say that early language learning...
 * Improves performance in basic skills
 * Levels the playing field
 * Promotes cultural competency
 * Enriches and enhances cognitive development
 * Enhances self-concept and sense of achievement in school