Assignment 16 (speech) - Delaney

Je vous explique l’importance d’étudier à l’étranger et apprendre une nouvelle langue. I’m going to explain to you the importance of studying abroad and learning a new language.

More students should pursue studying abroad and learning a foreign language in order to improve their cognitive performance and increase their creativity.

First, Bilingualism has several benefits. Learning a second language improves your cognitive performance. According to professor Ellen Bialystok of York University, bilingualism increases neural plasticity. Neural plasticity is lasting changes to the brain throughout a person’s life. In other words, your environment modifies the cognition you develop. Other things, such as a formal education and musical training, have also been shown in improve cognitive function but not to the same extent as bilingualism. It makes sense – we use language, in some form, just about every waking second, whether it is out loud or just in our thoughts. Using language exercises almost every part of the brain.

Additional benefits of learning a second language include increased empathy, academic performance, and protection against mental decline and dementia.

If being bilingual has so many benefits, how come 44% of the world’s population only speaks one language? How do we increase that number?

Second, the best way to learn a foreign language is to immerse yourself. Get involved in an immersion program or even better, study abroad in a place where that language is dominant. Studying a language in a classroom setting just isn’t the same. In a study published by the Public Library of Science, the scientists taught a made-up language to two groups of people – one group in a classroom setting and the other group through the process of immersion. While both groups retained the language, the group taught through immersion shows brain patterns comparable to those of people speaking their native language. 

        

Third, language skills are not only improved by immersion but also by the exposure to more music in the foreign language. It has been shown that listening to foreign music increases language retention. Songs like Charles Aznavour’s “For Me Formidable” are especially beneficial. This song is itself bilingual in that the lyrics switch back and forth between English and French. This mix of the two languages places the foreign words in context with the language the listener would already know, increasing the probability that they would understand and remember the foreign vocabulary.

Fourth, living abroad has shown to boost creativity. A study done by Professor Adam Galinsky posed to students the Duncker candle problem. Basically, you are given a candle, matches, and a box of tacks. Your goal is to attach the candle to the wall in a way so that none of the wax will fall on the floor. (The correct solution is to tack the empty tack box to the wall to hold the candle.) Galinsky’s study found that the longer students spent living abroad, the more likely they were to come up with the creative solution. The same correlation between living abroad and creativity was found in four other experiments they conducted.

To sum up so far: studying abroad is the most effective way to learn a foreign language and gain all of the benefits associated with bilingualism.

        

Fifth, It is also the most effective way for students to experience other cultures, environments, and educational systems. Studying abroad also teaches students to appreciate diversity and dismiss stereotypes – frankly, something we could use a little more of in light of current issues.

But I digress, as usual.

Some may say that studying abroad is unreasonable and too pricey. But, many programs at the college level offer scholarships and some programs, like Sister Cities here in Lexington, only require you to purchase your ticket. Even more affordable are government-funded programs like NSLI (National Security Language Initiative) where the government pays for all of it.

In conclusion, learning a second language allows students to gain several benefits such as improved cognitive performance and increased creativity and the best way to do that is by studying abroad. As only 10% of students ever study abroad during their academic career, plus des élèves ont besoin de profiter bien de cette opportunité formidable. More students need to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

Thank You.