Native and Foreign Language


I was really intrigued by Vygotsky’s discussion of foreign language learning being analogous to learning scientific concepts. One the one hand, because it was a helpful analogy, and on the other, because it made me think about a growing problem in schools today which is the achievement gap encountered by English language learners in the United States. Vygotsky highlighted that level of proficiency in one’s native language will impact the ability to successfully learn a foreign language. I’m not vastly familiar with ELL literature, but I’m hoping in addition to testing students’ English skills that schools are also testing native language skills. If they don’t, it may be a fundamental error that could have serious consequences for teaching and, subsequently, student achievement. Also, I don’t know that Vygotsky would support direct instruction of a native language, but it seems like if it’s mandatory for ELL students to acquire a foreign language (meaning English) in a school setting, then students should be given the opportunity while in school to use and improve their native language skills too. If students lack the school vernacular in their native language, I doubt whether they would be able to acquire it in a foreign language. As a student enters kindergarten, for example, if this is his first exposure to school then he will not necessarily possess the vocabulary needed in his native language to successfully navigate curriculum in a foreign language. Vygotsky also says, however, that a child who learns a foreign language raises the level of his native language. If this is the case, why is there a persistent achievement gap for English language learners? Is it how we test for proficiency? After all, Vygotsky says that learning a word's meaning is only just the beginning of mastery, so if we are only testing for rote memorization we are not really gaining a clear picture of the child's understanding at all. How do we strike the balance between native language acquisition and foreign language acquisition, if the latter depends on the former but if the former is also made better by the latter? It seems like a contradiction. How much of the native speech system has to be learned before a foreign speech system can be successfully acquired? How do we assess both accurately? 

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