Patricia Gamarra Vargas

Julie Humphreys
Math 1030
April 18th, 2016

Advantages and Disadvantages for the Non-Native English Speaking Student

This paper considers the correlation between students who speak English as a second language
and their subsequent grades in higher education. It will explore the advantages and disadvantages of
speaking English as a second language. Those students who are not fluent in English often suffer from
lower grades; but this is not always the case. Some of those in teaching positions favor those with
limited language skills.
Bilingual students often score below those of monolinguals. This is for many reasons. For one,
there is a language gap between teachers and students (Pena, 2016). Studies have shown that when
students learn from teachers who speak English as their native language, test scores drop (Duffy, 1986).
These issues come at a price for bilingual students. Consistent low test scores have been proven to
diminish self-esteem, causing students to shy-away from confronting teachers about poor grades and
test scores. This exacerbates the problem of communication between student and teacher, causing
grades to suffer even more (Brophy, 1973). The rate of failure in college courses is higher among those
who speak English as a second language, than those who speak English as their primary language.
These statistics are mostly based on areas with lower graduation rates, in general. However, reasons
suggest that issues such as poor English vocabulary and grammar are among the largest causes
(Baumann, 2005).
Studies also suggest that those students in higher-education who speak English as a second
language have trouble learning the second language as they age. This is evidence through Noam
Chomsky's observations on child development. Children learn languages at much higher rates than
adults. The older these adults are, the harder it is for them to learn a second language. For those

students learning English in higher-education, they understand this struggle. Comprehension is

measured in many ways, but for the college student, that variety is apparent throughout their academic
career (Cutting, 2006). General education challenges the foreign bilingual student in more ways than
grade school. This is due to greater general challenge of higher-education, as well as the greater variety
of work required for graduation (Duke, 2002). While this student in more immersed in the environment
where the English language thrives (as opposed to their native country), they are faced with other
challenges including highly stressful environments, miscommunication, and prejudice. These issues
can inhibit learning, causing the foreign student to suffer in important areas in life, including within the
academic realm (Lesaux, 2006).
On the other hand, teachers have often treated foreign bilingual students with greater exception
to the general level of competency in classes. Through a series of qualitative and quantitative
reasoning, a study conducted by George Mason University found that some bilingual students felt
favored over their peered monolingual students. The case study was small and it included younger
participants, but it is one example of empirical data held by a University which shows that at least, in
part, favorableness plays some significant role in the academic setting (Taboada, 2011). This
favorableness is less common, but regardless has advantages and disadvantages of its own. Some argue
that standardized testing is ideal in its uniformity. Many of these tests, including placement tests in
college, and core competency tests in grade school offer ideal challenges for students, in general. When
teachers and administrators test students or implement tests for students based on their level of reading
comprehension, advocates for standardized testing argue that it holds students behind (Poulin, 2016).
Favoring comprehension levels is no different for those with students speaking English as their second
language. Without standardization, some argue that future problems will result in poor responses,
because of lack of experience in solving these issues (Shanahan, 2006).
Favoring students in need also has advantages for the student. Learning how to read at their own
level, by lowering expectations can lead to greater learning environments for students (Williams,

2009). Effective methods for teaching the struggling foreign bilingual student can also assist in
understanding, for both the student and teacher, where that student struggles the most, and which
resources they must take advantage of in order to meet the skills of their peers (Taylor, 2000).
Considerations such as these are ideal for struggling students, in general, but particularly for the foreign
bilingual student who is more at risk of dropping out when grades are suffering. Accommodations
provided by faculty and administration can often result in a positive influence not only with the
student's problematic grade, but also in other classes where the student might be struggling (Lesaux,
2006).
Furthermore, bilingual skills can assist in problem solving and generate more opportunities for
diversity. According to the US Census, there are 41 million native fluent Spanish speakers living in the
United States as of 2015 (Lopez et al.) Fluent speakers of German living in the US total 1.4 million as
of the year 2000, and that number has risen since. Such a high-rate of fluency demands to be met with
at least some bilingual skills in the job market. These skills in the workforce are often essential when
considered in nominations during the interview-process at jobs. Many employers will even reject
applications before the interview-process if the applicant lacks secondary language skills. Some jobs
vary, but since most entry jobs involve some amount of customer service, bilingual skills become a
primary concern when hiring external applicants.
Cognitive inhibition has proven to be more common among those who know a secondlanguage. In a study conducted at Florida Atlantic University, they found that bilinguals were more
efficient at inhibiting irrelevant information when tasked with cognitive exercises. The stronger the
bilingualism resulted in higher bilingual advantages in terms of inhibitory control (Salvatierra, 2016).
Such advantages represent that the more bilingual an individual is, the more they are able to function
during tasks involving complex thinking skills. Such is the case for students and their ability to achieve
higher grades in education.
The research-study below considers ethnicity, gender, and bilingualism. The purposes of this

small-scale study concerns finding appropriate demographics on the issue of bilingualism relative to
GPAs through empirical observations .The study was conducted at the Salt Lake Community College.
It was gathered at South city, Redwood, Jordan and Miller campuses. I asked questions to different
students with different backgrounds (ethnicities). This was a random sampling of participants, but
gender and ethnicities are considered. The participants' names were left anonymous. Before
conducting the questionnaire, I asked them for permission. I informed them that the process might take
up to 15 minutes. Four questions were asked of the participants. The first three questions were as
follows:
What is your age and gender? Ethnicity origin (or Race): Please specify your ethnicity?
How many languages they are fluent in?
For the purpose of this research, fluency was defined as the ability to express oneself readily and
effortlessly. The last question requested the participants to disclose their overall grade point average
(GPA). If students were first-year students they were asked to give their high-school GPA. Options for
this question were broken into the following categories: 0.00-0.66 (F), 0.67-1.66 (D), 1.67-2.66(C),
2.67-3.66 (B), 3.67-4.0 (A)
1.1

What is your gender and age?

Gender and age

Female 18-40 years old
Male 18-40 years old
Total

Frequency
26
14
40

Percentage
65%
35%
100%

Table 1.1 shows the distribution of respondents based on their gender. This table shows that of the 40
participants that answered this specific question on the survey, a majority of them, 65%, were female
while only 35% were male. This indicates that there is an unintentional unequal gender distribution
among students who completed my survey.

1.2
Ethnicity origin(or race)
American
Hispanic
Asian
African American
Other
Total

Frequency
23
9
5
2
1
40

Percentage
57.5%
22.5%
12.5%
5%
2.5%
100%

Table 1.2 shows the distribution of respondents based on their ethnicity. The majority of them (57.5%)
were Americans in contrast with the lower that was 5% from African American and others.
1.3
Languages they are fluent
1
2
3
4+
Total

Frequency
23
13
3
1
40

Percentage
57.5%
32.5%
7.5%
2.5%
100%

Table 1.3 shows the distribution of students based on their language fluency. Of the 40 students who
answered this question, only 13 (32.5%) of them identified themselves as multilingual; an
overwhelming 57.5% of students surveyed only spoke one language.
1.4
GPA
1.67-2.66
2.67-3.66
3.67-4.00
Total

Frequency
13
23
4
40

Percentage
32.5%
57.5%
10%
100%

This study showed that grade point average is not significantly correlated with multilingualism. When
measuring this against grade point average, this is visible in Table 1.4. A majority of the sample, 57.5%,
indicated that they had a GPA between 2.67 and 3.66. This group claimed to only speak one language;
compared to the 32.5% who claimed to speak two languages.

In conclusion being multilingual can have its advantages and disadvantages like the ones
presented in this project. Surprisingly for the data part shows that being multilingual is equal to having
a low GPA than being monolingual. Many factors can vary the results of my survey because this data
was based on a small group and trusting in the answers that the participants provided.

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