Coding, like language study, has cognitive advantages. Learning a system of signs, symbols and rules used to communicate improves thinking by challenging the brain to recognize, negotiate meaning and master different language patterns. Multilingual people are more adept at switching between communication structures. Unfortunately, few high schools and far fewer middle and elementary schools offer courses in computer programming. Some educators are considering a programming language as fulfilling the requirement for a “second language.” Why teach coding outside a computer science class? Should it count as a “second language?” How is a programming language comparable to a spoken language? What should we be teaching as coding?

1. Coding as a (second) Language
Ken Ronkowitz | NJIT

2. Learning about code, like learning about
grammar, is about understanding how a system
of communication works below the surface.
v
This is not about becoming a programmer.

3. Why teach coding
outside a computer science class?
Computer Science, Meet Humanities

4. • A new major at Stanford University is called
CS+X.
• Its goal is to put students in a middle ground,
between computer science and any of 14
disciplines in the humanities, including
history, art, and classics. And it reduces the
number of required hours that students
would normally take in a double major in
those subjects.
• CS+Music major includes courses like
"Psychophysics and Music Cognition," which
examines the neuroscience of music.
• Students in other CS+X majors may study
natural-language processing or learn to create
visualizations that analyze the ancient world.

5. Cognitive Advantages
Learning any system of signs, symbols and rules used
to communicate improves thinking by challenging the
brain to:
• recognize & negotiate meaning
• working within structures & rules
• master different language patterns
– In linguistics, code-switching occurs when a speaker
alternates between two or more languages, or language
varieties, in the context of a single conversation.

6. Cognitive Advantages
• Memorizing rules and learning new vocabulary
strengthens overall memory. (Multilingual people
are better at remembering lists or sequences.)
• Language study & coding force a focus on knowing
important information & excluding extraneous
information
(“beautiful” language, code, equations)

7. Engineering in 9th Grade
Like engineering & other STEAM subjects, part of the
appeal of coding is the hands-on, real-world applications
(and job prospects) - but learning to think like an engineer
could be useful no matter what students decide to pursue.
Photo: Science Leadership Academy (Philadelphia) - all 9th graders
take a one-semester introduction-to-engineering course
in this project-based, inquiry-centered school.

8. Should it count as a
“second language?”

9. Being that I am married to a teacher of French, it would be
dangerous for me to recommend that coding counts as fulfilling
a second language requirement!
I believe computer languages should supplement both English &
world language classes - and STEM courses too.

10. The Code as a Second Language National Initiative
http://www.loftcsl.org
Tech professionals & software engineers introduce students to
coding in after-school classes, Coding Jams etc.

12. How is a programming language
comparable to a spoken
language?

13. Conditional sentences in English have at least 2 clauses: IF & THEN
THEN clauses present the results
IF I save $1000 by the end of the month, then I can book a vacation.

14. The need to proofread (debug) and revise

15. Insert the word ONLY anywhere in this sentence (syntax)
and you change its meaning (That’s semantics)
She told him that she loved him.
You would understand
“the dog my homework ate”
but a computer would not...

16. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING
– syntax/semantics interface & models of language
analysis, interpretation & generation

17. HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY
– large scale (Google search, Siri & speech…)
COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS
– Grew out of early Machine Translation efforts –
mechanized linguistic theories

18. What should we be teaching as coding?

21. JAVA is the most popular programming
language
The AP computer science exam uses a Java subset
• Classic object-oriented program
• One of the most frequently used languages in
teaching.
• Community is enormous
• Lots of documentation
• and you can introduce Java concepts via
Minecraft

22. MODS for MINECRAFT
makes things a bit more
beginner-friendly
Remember LOGO?

23. ^
language arts & humanities
Needs to be included in the ARTS of STEAM

24. Not everyone loves STEM…

25. Ken Ronkowitz
www.ronkowitz.com @ronkowitz