Ingrid, Pufahl, Rhodes
C. Nancy, and Christian Donna. "CAL: Digests: What We Can Learn From
Foreign Language Teaching In Other Countries." Center for Applied Linguistics. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and
Linguistics, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC, Dec. 2000. Web. 20
Mar. 2012. <http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0106pufahl.html>.
This article discusses
the many aspects the United States lacks in foreign language education. It is
compared to many developed countries around the world and a common denominator amongst
these countries is that they introduce a foreign language in their curriculum
during the early stages of education, primarily during elementary school. Data shows
that the United States lags behind many developed countries in foreign language
capabilities and the cause for this gap between studenst from other countries
and students from the United States is that the policy put in place from the
government hasn’t been effective in teaching a foreign language. Unlike other
developed countries the United States begins teaching its students a foreign
language during high school. In order for the United States to catch up the
article argues that the United States has to change its policy that somewhat
resembles the other countries policies towards foreign language education.
Jay, Matthews. "Class Struggle- Why Waste Time
on a Foreign Language?" Class Struggle. The Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2010.
Web. 20 Mar. 2012. <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/04/why_waste_time_on_a_foreign_la.html>.
This article discusses the reasons why learning a foreign
language is useless. He begins by talking about parent’s frustration with
the school system because so much money has been spent in teaching a foreign a
language in school. He argues that most student don’t have the motivation to
learn a foreign language and take it just because they have to. Most students
are only interested in a passing grade and teachers usually give high marks for
basics like grammar. He concludes that there’s
no need to learn a foreign language since millions of students around the world
are trying to learn English and he puts emphasis on English being the international
language. So he finds that learning a foreign language in school is a waste of
time because many students don’t use their foreign language skills in their
chosen profession and eventually lose their skills.
Amina,
ReplyDeleteI like how you posted two opposing annotations. You should say more about how you are going to use this source. The second source, for instance, is most likely going to be a counterargument to your own, or used to support the counterargument to your thesis. You can say this in the annotation, which will allow you to come back to it and see what you were thinking at the time.
Second, just watch out for vague use of pronouns. Example: "It is compared. . ." (first annotation). The reader asks what is "it"? We have to infer that you are referring to the United States' foreign language education. "It" could also refer to the article. You can probably combine the first two sentences.