Language Attrition

It’s back to school month! Here’s a 💎 of a topic that our undergraduate research assistant @iisaaciius dug into! Have you heard of language attrition? Read on to learn more.. 🧠

In the US, it’s common for attrition to happen in subtractive only educational environments that prioritize English-only. There tends to be a major shift in dominance toward English as the school years progress. Without continued use of the non-English language, it can become more difficult to use that language over time. This may look like forgetting lots of words, making it difficult to form sentences, many grammatical errors and fillers, which makes it unpleasant to try to communicate in the language 😫

Before you start ‘losing’ it, help yourself out by giving yourself opportunities to hear and use that language by prioritizing language maintenance activities!

Been hearing English all day at school? Watch a show or listen to a podcast in your other language. Make a friend who speaks that language, call a family member who speaks the language, read a book in the language! They all count. 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

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