Recommendation to the Higher Education Department
Languages
The Statewide General Education Steering Committee agrees that Language Competency
beyond English is a distinguishing skill that will enable New Mexico graduates to excel
and to differentiate themselves from their peers in other states. Reliance on multiple
languages is part of our state identity. Moreover, language learning is an area in which
New Mexican students are predisposed to achieve because of our commitment to Spanish
language in K-12 education and because of their early exposure to a multi-lingual
environment. Indeed, offering higher education opportunities in Spanish is consistent
with the provisions of the Hispanic Education Act of 2010 (HB 150) and Article 12,
Section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution. In New Mexico, valuing multi-lingualism
and offering opportunities for developing language skills in addition to English is a
matter of equity and inclusion as well as a matter of global cultural competency.
New Mexico graduates need to be prepared for the future. With the growing reliance on
the global economy and the increasing diversity of the United States population, the
ability to communicate in a language other than English is critically important. The
United States educational system has traditionally lagged behind other countries in
stressing the importance of learning a second language. Only 12% of the inhabitants of
the globe speak English and, despite what many English speakers believe, the number of
non-English speakers learning the language is not rising.1 Producing graduates with
second language proficiency will benefit our state and nation both culturally and
economically: (1) Starting salaries for second-language speakers are higher than for
single language speakers with this advantage compounding over the course of an
individual's career.2 (2) Research shows a positive correlation between learning a second
language and improved cognitive abilities, including computational ability and executive
function.3 (3) Among liberal arts students, college graduates with degrees in foreign
languages have expanded job opportunities and benefit from higher salaries than others.4
(4) Language learning is “a critical point of entry into cross-cultural understanding” as
Princeton University’s task force on general education recently stated.5
With the knowledge that language learning enhances awareness of diversity, fosters
global cultural competency, and is an area in which New Mexico is already a leader,
and in combination with our new recommendations for a revision of the general
education core focusing on developing essential skills that will enable our graduates to be
more competitive in the workforce, we therefore recommend:
1. All BA-granting institutions adopt a meaningful language requirement of at least
two semesters with reliance on American Council of Teachers of Foreign
Languages (ACTFL) standards.
2. The statewide development and adoption of a higher education biliteracy and
bilingualism citation (or seal). This citation (or seal) would appear on a qualified
undergraduate’s transcript and would parallel the already existing bilingualism
New Mexico Statewide General Education Steering Committee, January 2017
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and biliteracy seal available to high school graduates as a measure of achievement
on the high school diploma. The State of New Mexico should be a leader on this.
“English,” Ethnologue. https://www.ethnologue.com/language/eng.
“What is a Foreign Language Worth?” The Economist. March 11, 2014.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/03/language-study; “The Liberal Arts
Majors that Pay the Most,” The Wall Street Journal. May 15, 2014.
http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2014/05/15/the-liberal-arts-majors-that-pay-the-most/.
3
Adesope O., Lavin T., Thompson, T. & Ungerleider C. (2010). "A systematic review
and meta-analysis of the cognitive correlates of bilingualism". Review of Educational
Research 80 (2): 207–245. For a list of additional relevant studies, see “References for
Cognitive Question,” American Council for Teachers of Foreign Languages.
https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/what-the-research-shows/references-cognitive#more2.
4
“Class of 2014: Top-Paid Liberal Arts Majors,” National Association of Colleges and
Employers. October 15, 2014. https://www.naceweb.org/s10152014/top-paid-liberal-artsmajors.aspx?terms=liberal%20arts; “Class of 2015 Liberal Arts Majors Make Job-Market
Gains,” National Association of Colleges and Employers. October 18, 2016.
https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/press/2016/class-of-2015-liberal-arts-majors-makejob-market-gains/?terms=liberal%20arts%20majors.
5
“Report of the Task Force on General Education,” October 14, 2016.
http://www.princeton.edu/strategicplan/files/Task-Force-Report-on-GeneralEducation.pdf; Colleen Flaherty, “More than Words,” Inside Higher Ed. November 2,
2016. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/11/02/princeton-proposal-wouldrequire-all-students-even-those-already-proficient-study#. On language as a key
component of cross-cultural competence, see Rasmussen, L. J., & Sieck, W. R. “Ready,
set, go anywhere: A culture-general competence model for the DoD.” Military
Intelligence Professional Bulletin (2014), July-September, 47-52.
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New Mexico Statewide General Education Steering Committee, January 2017
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