The problem for foreign language education in the United States is there is an unanswered need for comprehensive bilingual studies focused on practical conversation. The United States has been regarded as a dominant power in the global economy. However, the Chinese economy is predicted to overcome the U.S. economy in size after 2030, and Latin America and South Asia are growing as well (Council of Foreign Relations). In addition, while there are 527 million English speakers worldwide; there are also 1.39 billion Chinese, 467 million Arabic, 588 million Hindu-Urdu, and 389 million Spanish speakers in the world (Washington Post). Evidently, a new solution is necessary to respond to the language requirements of an ever increasing global economy.
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According to the Education Commision of the States, only seven US states require foreign language learning. The remainder either do not have any requirement or allow students to substitute foreign language courses with other electives. The effectiveness of the requirements are also lacking tremendously. The US Foreign Service Institute divides foreign language fluency into five levels. Level one or elementary proficiency is defined as “the person is able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements.” To reach this level for French, one would need to study about 480 hours. If an average school period is 45 minutes, and an average school year is 180 days, it would take 3.56 years to reach only level one fluency. Due to the complexity of certain languages such as Mandarin, one would need 5.33 years. There is an obvious reason why taking two years of foreign language in high school would not allow one to be fluent using the current teaching …show more content…
Based on these students satisfaction with Lumiyo Tech’s application, the target market will expand to all secondary schools and eventually all secondary schools in the United States. According to the Michigan Department of Education, in 2015 there were about 823,395 secondary students in Michigan. In addition according to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2013 there were approximately 15,531,950 public and private school students that attend 41,368 public and private secondary schools in the United States. Thus, there is a large market of potential users in Michigan and in the United
According to the Education Commision of the States, only seven US states require foreign language learning. The remainder either do not have any requirement or allow students to substitute foreign language courses with other electives. The effectiveness of the requirements are also lacking tremendously. The US Foreign Service Institute divides foreign language fluency into five levels. Level one or elementary proficiency is defined as “the person is able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements.” To reach this level for French, one would need to study about 480 hours. If an average school period is 45 minutes, and an average school year is 180 days, it would take 3.56 years to reach only level one fluency. Due to the complexity of certain languages such as Mandarin, one would need 5.33 years. There is an obvious reason why taking two years of foreign language in high school would not allow one to be fluent using the current teaching …show more content…
Based on these students satisfaction with Lumiyo Tech’s application, the target market will expand to all secondary schools and eventually all secondary schools in the United States. According to the Michigan Department of Education, in 2015 there were about 823,395 secondary students in Michigan. In addition according to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2013 there were approximately 15,531,950 public and private school students that attend 41,368 public and private secondary schools in the United States. Thus, there is a large market of potential users in Michigan and in the United