主持人 陈坚林
讲座内容:The United States of America, a nation of immigrants, is not taking advantage of the important resources of immigration to multiply its language capital for its own interests. Starting 2002, the National Flagship Language Initiative targeting critical languages indicated the shift in strategy. However, in 2008 a representative survey in more than 5,000 private and public schools indicated a significant decrease in foreign language teaching, which may be linked to the decrease in funding and increased attention to Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematic, and fantasies on the misleading scope of English worldwide. While the U.S. may count between 27 and 32 million multilinguals having a non-English mother tongue, the loss of the mother tongue dominates the scene, as assimilationism is part of the mindset of “becoming an American”. Proficiency in the heritage language is usually wiped out across generations. Recently, Bilingual Education proponents have challenged the superiority notions associated with English so children think positively about their cultural heritage.