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Inside Higher Education
Language by the
Shrinking Numbers
A new report from American Academy of Arts and Sciences makes a
data-based case for building U.S. capacity for foreign languages.
By Colleen Flaherty
December 15, 2016
Language education is dwindling at every level, from K-12 to
postsecondary, and a diminishing share of U.S. residents speak
languages other than English, according to a new report from the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “The State of Languages in the
U.S.: A Statistical Portrait” is a precursor to another forthcoming
report from the academy about how the U.S. might build language
capacity to meet the needs of the increasingly global economy and
otherwise “shrinking world.”
“While English continues to be the lingua franca for world trade and
diplomacy, there is an emerging consensus among leaders in business and
politics, teachers, scientists, and community members that proficiency
in English is not sufficient to meet the nation’s needs,” the new
report says.
John Tessitore, senior program adviser at the academy, helped compile
the statistical portrait based on existing data on second-language
learners and speakers in the U.S. for the academy’s Commission on
Language Learning. He said the commission believes that foreign
language should be of a higher priority throughout the American
education system -- not at odds or competing with other priorities,
such as science and math, but alongside them.
“This is about increasing access and making language learning
available,” he said. “Every student should have access and should be
able to learn a language over the course of their educational life,
whether they go to college or not.”
National Snapshot
According to U.S. Census Bureau data included in the report, more than
60 million residents over age 5 -- or about 20 percent of the
population -- speak a language other than English at home. But other
research suggests that just 10 percent of the population speaks a
second language proficiently, and most are "heritage speakers," the
report says. Of those who speak a language other than English at home,
57 percent were foreign born.
Nearly two-thirds of foreign language speakers speak Spanish, but the
remaining one-third represent incredible linguistic diversity -- some
350 languages, according to the report. Those include 169 Native
American and indigenous Alaskan languages, which are listed as
vulnerable or critically endangered by UNESCO. A number of projects are
dedicated to their revival.
The Modern Language Association and other groups have highlighted the
need for providing more opportunities for heritage language learners,
and one study included in the new report demonstrates why. The study,
in Southern California, found that even in an era with a very high
percentage of non-English speakers, language proficiency declines
precipitously with each generation. More than 45 percent of immigrants
who arrived before age 13 were able to speak and understand a
non-English language well, even if they weren’t literate in it. But by
the third generation, fewer than one in 10 were able to communicate
well in their heritage languages.
Early exposure is best when it comes to language learning, most experts
say, yet fewer and fewer elementary schools, especially public ones,
offer such opportunities. In 2008, 25 percent of all elementary schools
taught languages other than English, a six-point decline from about a
decade earlier. Middle school offerings also have decreased, and only a
small minority of high school students are taking intermediate or
advanced language courses, where proficiency begins to form, according
to the report.
Elementary and secondary school language enrollments also vary by
region, with the highest density in the Northeast. Nationwide, 22
percent of elementary and secondary school students are enrolled in
language classes or programs. Dual-language immersion courses are even
more rare but offer real benefits, according to a recent study included
in the commission’s report. By the time dual-immersion students reached
the fifth grade, they were an average of seven months ahead in English
reading skills compared with their peers in nonimmersion classrooms. By
the eighth grade, students were a full academic year ahead.
Regarding instruction, the number of public high school teachers
specializing in world languages has not changed substantially over the
most recent decade for which data are available, even though there is a
well-documented teacher shortage. “The one exception is Spanish
teachers, whose numbers increased by over 10,000 from 2004 to 2012,”
the report says. “Unfortunately, over that same time period, the share
of students in French, German, Latin and Spanish language classes who
had a teacher with a college degree in the subject fell between 5
percent and 11 percent.”
Colleges and Universities
At the college and university level, Spanish is the most commonly
studied world language, accounting for more than 54 percent of all
student enrollments in 2013. Other European languages account for most
of the other enrollments, but three of the 14 federally designated
“critical need” languages are among the most popular: Japanese, Chinese
and Russian.
With the exception of American Sign Language, the number of students
enrolled in the most commonly studied languages fell from 2009 to 2013,
based on the most recent data from the MLA. Prior to 2009, enrollments
in Spanish had grown dramatically since the mid-1980s, while the number
of students enrolled in some of the other commonly studied languages
had been trending lower, the report says. It notes that the sharp
growth in the number of students taking Spanish since 1986 is “slightly
deceptive,” however, since the total number of students enrolled in
college also has increased over that period. So the ratio of modern
language enrollments per 100 students has been rising and falling in a
narrow range, from about eight to nine.
Undergraduate degrees conferred in modern languages also are on the
decline since 2010. Over the longer term, the number of students
earning degrees in European languages other than Spanish has fallen by
one-third since the early 1990s, but the study of languages from
Africa, Asia and the Middle East has grown since that time and remains
above or near the number of degrees conferred in 2010.
American students can attain advanced or professional levels of
proficiency in a foreign language by the time they graduate from
college by enrolling in standards-based language courses at their home
university together with a year of integrated study abroad, the report
says. Language Flagship, a national initiative aimed at graduating
professionals fluent in critical languages, includes intensive domestic
training and a capstone year abroad. The State Department's National
Security Language Initiative for Youth and Critical Language
Scholarship programs also support more than 1,000 students in overseas
study of critical languages annually.
“The data indicate that most students can learn a language
successfully, given proper instruction and adequate support,” reads the
commission’s report.
The commission also highlights a handful of recent studies about state
and local job markets’ need for bilingual employees. A study in
Massachusetts, for example, found a sharp increase in online job
postings seeking a candidate who could speak a language other than
English, from 5,612 openings in 2010 to 14,561 in 2015.
The report ends with a series of questions that the data alone can’t
answer, such as, how many of the people who report proficiency in a
language other than English can use it effectively in personal and
professional communications? How many heritage students develop
proficiency in their heritage languages in addition to English? How
does a lack of language requirements, both at the K-12 and the
university and college levels, impact language acquisition in the U.S.?
And what is the impact of language acquisition, or lack thereof, on
career success and business, diplomatic or other opportunities?
The forthcoming report, expected in February, will explore some of
these questions and suggest ways to increase second-language capacity.
Rosemary Feal, executive director of the MLA, helped prepare both
reports as a member of the commission. A major takeaway of the first,
she said, is that "we have about 20 percent of people in this country
who are basically bilingual or very fluent in another language, but
virtually all of them are from heritage speaking backgrounds. So as a
nation we are far behind other countries in having students acquire
advanced language proficiency through education." Part of the problem
is lack of opportunities for language study, particularly in public
schools in the early grades.
At the same time, she added, there's an incredible number of languages
spoken here -- a kind of untapped resource.
“If we as a nation would put those things together -- language
diversity and language education opportunities -- we could really work
toward the goal of having a larger percentage of U.S. residents fluent
in more than one language.”
Feal said that the commission’s goals are dependent on support from the
Education Department, Congress and other policy makers, and it’s
unclear how the new administration will embrace language education, if
at all. Yet Feal pointed out that future First Lady Melania Trump is
multilingual and that her son, Barron Trump, is learning several
foreign languages.
“I hope that Americans emulate that model,” she said.
Feal said it’s important that decision makers understand that while
language study is an important aspect of the humanities, it’s also
important for business. “We rarely stop and think when we’re talking
about the need for students to prepare vocationally -- which there’s a
big push toward in the current environment -- about language, and how
it’s a hugely marketable skill in the business world, and many other
worlds.”
Read the article with charts and graphs at Inside Higher Education
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