Second Language Acquisition and the U.S. Public School System

          In an era of increasing global interconnectedness, where whites in the U.S. will fast become a minority, and the Spanish-speaking Hispanic population in the U.S. is growing rapidly, proficiency in a foreign language has never been more useful to native English speaking U.S. students.  However, controversy abounds as to how best address this issue of the shifting language demographic in the U.S.  Should one enforce English as the official language of the U.S.?  Should taxpayers spend hard-earned dollars to fund bilingual public schools? Are there benefits to bilingual schools? Why should public school systems be involved? 

            Clearly, learning a second language is invaluable, especially when the country one lives in deals daily with the other most powerful, non-English speaking nations of the world.  To be able to speak another language allows one to connect culturally with other nations, and to communicate in the most effective way possible.  Bilingualism is fast becoming a necessity, not just a perk, in an increasing international job field.  This pathfinder seeks to address the linguistic issues concerning language acquisition:  When is the best time to begin teaching a second language? The pathfinder also seeks to provide resources and viewpoints on second language pedagogy.  While the pathfinder does not resolve the issue of who will pay for changes to the U.S. public school systems, and how U.S. residents will be affected by a “drastic” potential change in pedagogy, the pathfinder does provide access to the works of eminent scholars in the linguistics field and hopes to edify those ignorant of issues concerning second language acquisition.  Theories on language acquisition, as well as the best way to promote second language acquisition are provided in the works referenced below.