Thursday, November 16, 2023

Fewer U.S. college students are studying a foreign language − and that spells trouble for national security

“The world is increasingly interconnected, and the need for knowledge of languages other than English is even more important. Institutions of higher education have an obligation to both prepare their students for their future careers and create well-informed citizens. If they are going to fulfill these obligations, they have to prioritize investing in and supporting language education.”

The Conversation

Foreign language classes becoming more scarce

Nov 16, 2023,07:34am EST

College Student Enrollment In Foreign Language Courses Plummets

A total of 2,455 degree-granting colleges and universities, or 92.2% of all eligible institutions, were included in the newest census. That’s a bit lower response than the census’s historic rate of 95% or higher.

However, the lower response rate did not significantly affect the percentage decline in enrollments. Comparing enrollments only between those institutions that responded both in 2016 and in 2021 showed a decline of 15.6%, only one percentage point better than the headlined number.

Spanish and French reman the two most studied languages.
American Sign Language is in third place,
followed by Japanese and German.
Rounding out the top ten are Chinese/Mandarin, Italian, Arabic languages, Latin and Korean, in order.
In 1974, the five most commonly taught languages were all European in origin, but in 2021, only three were.

German had the biggest decline, 33.6%, followed by Arabic (27.4%) and Modern Hebrew (26.0%).

> Five European languages had losses of around twenty percent: French (23.1%), Portuguese (21.8%), Latin (21.5%), Italian (20.4%), and Spanish (18.0%).

On a more positive note, the report also includes case studies of ten institutions where language programs were thriving. Among the factors that might account for their success, the report highlights

“access to robust institutional and financial support,
the development of close ties between language programs and local communities,
an emphasis on real-life language application and
professional advancement, and
courses that highlight the cultural component of language learning.”

“In a difficult time for language study, it is vital that we learn from these extraordinary success stories,” said Paula M. Krebs, the executive director of the MLA, in a news release. “These strong programs offer valuable strategies for institutions with struggling programs, and they speak to how transformative full- throated institutional support can be for language learning.”

The decline in foreign language course enrollments comes as no surprise to higher education observers, many of whom have decried the decreasing student interest in humanities studies and the corresponding termination of many foreign language departments at colleges across the country.

“In the current professional and cultural climate, we can't afford to devalue the study of languages,” added Krebs. “The world is increasingly interconnected, and the need for knowledge of languages other than English is even more important. Institutions of higher education have an obligation to both prepare their students for their future careers and create well-informed citizens. If they are going to fulfill these obligations, they have to prioritize investing in and supporting language education.”

Forbes

2 hours ago