Learning a foreign language in elementary school is beneficial because it helps students build a better academic structure. For example, a study in Louisiana showed showed that third and fifth graders who were taught a foreign language scored significantly higher on their Louisiana Basic skill test, than the students who did not take foreign language course (National Education Association). This proves that incorporating a foreign language in an elementary school will help improve the school's test state test scores. The reason why students are improving on their test scores is because the function of their brains is getting stronger. Their brains are getting stronger because learning a new language requires students to connect and recognize …show more content…
Students began to focus on the mechanics of languages like grammar rules and conjugation (Merritt). Once they learn the mechanics of that language they will see the correlation between that language and English. The students will how English has the same or different grammar rules and they will be aware about grammar rules they did not know existed or gave no thought to. For example, in a high school French class students will learn about “imparfait” which is imperfect tense, once the students learn this concept they began to wonder if English has the same verb tense as French because it is not brought to their attention until their high school years. The high school students have missed out on an opportunity to learn more about their language and about its grammar. This can be prevented if elementary schools began to teach their students a foreign language. Another reason learning a foreign language can build a stronger academic foundation is because students who learn a foreign language a have better listening skills and a sharper memory than those who do not take a foreign language (National Education Association). The reason this happens is because students have to focus on the words they are hearing in order for them to translate the sentence correctly. The students also have remember what meaning of each word