Along with using heritage communities, Pratt wants to see educators place more emphasis on advanced language competency and create a pipeline to encourage those who are skilled in language acquisition.

Bimodal bilinguals, like oral-language bilinguals, exhibit a wide range of language competency in their first and second languages.

As a youngster, Kanzi acquired language competency by simply watching humans attempt to teach language to Matata, the wild-caught grandmother of the family.

P.A.C.T+: This is an educational intervention program whose aim is to promote language competency and Mathematics amongst school children of Ethiopian origin.

"As long as the pool of students with real language competency is small, we will have to focus a lot of the study on language."

As part of the strategy, which includes teaching maths in English, officials have adopted the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) to measure language competency.

Currently, local school districts can develop their own exams to assess foreign language competency and allow for students to meet the Advanced Designation requirement.

Olivet College of Language Education (OCLE) seeks to provide language competencies needed within the missions profession.

"Parental involvement and language competency are basic," Mr. Cavazos told an audience of 1,500 Laredo principals and teachers.

A salient feature of language is that while language competency is inherited, the languages themselves are transmitted via culture.