The Changing Role of Languages in Higher Education in the US

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The Changing Role of Languages in Higher
Education in the US

• And How That Role Might Expand
• H Stephen Straight
• Thematic Network Project in the Area of Languages
  
• TNP3 Conference on Multilingualism
• in the knowledge-based society
• Copenhagen, 2005-10-01

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H Stephen Straight Biodata

• Professor of Anthropology and of Linguistics
• Vice Provost for UG Ed International Affairs
• BA in English Language Literature, U Michigan
  MA PhD in Linguistics, U Chicago
• Mayanist, developmental psycholinguist, language
  program innovator, international educator
• NDEA Fellow/NSF Grantee, research in Yucatán
• Fulbright Senior Lecturer, U of Bucharest,
  Romania
• Founding Dir, Lgs Across the Curriculum, Bing U
• Mellon Fellow, National Foreign Language Center
• Senior Associate, American Council on Education

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Topics Covered In This Talk

• Review of the status of languages other than
  English (LOTEs) in US institutions of higher
  education (IHEs)
• Pre-9/11 upturn in college study of LOTEs
• Post-9/11 urgent calls for learning LOTEs
• Prospects for two-way Lg X English bilingual
  education in selected language/discipline pairs
  at US IHEs in partnership with non-US IHEs

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Report from the Association of Departments of
Foreign Languages

• Foreign Language Enrollments in United States
  Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2002
• Elizabeth B. Welles
• ADFL Bulletin, Vol. 35, Nos. 23, Winter-Spring
  2004
• http//www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf

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http//www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf
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http//www.adfl.org/resources/enrollments.pdf
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Secondary School Enrollments, Fall 2000 A
Similar Pattern
Draper Hicks, May 2002, http//www.actfl.org/fil
es/public/Enroll2000.pdf
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Report from the Modern Language Association

• Successful College and University Foreign
  Language Programs,199599, Part 1
• David Goldberg and Elizabeth B. Welles
• Profession 2001, pp. 171-210
• http//www.mla.org/pdf/succollege_p1.pdf

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Ratio of Introductory Enrollments to Majors, By
Institutional Type
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Ratio of Advanced Enrollments to Majors, By
Institutional Type
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Double Majors Minors, 1995-1999

• Most departments (60.3 percent) reported a gain
  in the number of double majors, 35.3 percent
  reported a stable number, and 4.5 percent a
  decline.
• For minors, 69.2 percent reported an increase,
  25.9 percent stability, and 4.9 percent a loss.
• In other words, the majority of departments
  offering these options reported that the options
  are increasingly utilized by students.

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Graduate Enrollments, Fall 2003 Bad News for
Languages
Syverson Brown, Council of Graduate Schools
http//www.cgsnet.org/pdf/2003GEDRep.pdf
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Languages in US IHEs Recapitulation

• Decline of The Big Two (French and German)
• Hegemony of The Big One (Spanish)
• Despite anti-Spanish English-Only politics in
  US
• Rise of LCTLs, esp. heritage languages
• Continuing shortfalls in LOTES with respect to
• enrollments, especially in LOTS
• levels of study, both undergrad grad
• variety of specialized disciplinary expertise

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Pre-9/11 Upturn in LOTEs

• General Education Globalization globalism,
  diversity internationalism

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Missouri Southern Universitys Global Learning
Outcomes

• Understanding of how cultures and societies
  around the world are formed, sustained, and
  evolve.
• Empathy for values and perspectives of cultures
  other than their own, and awareness of
  international multicultural influences in their
  own lives.
• Ability to identify and discuss international
  issues and cultures other than their own.
• Communicative competence in a second or third
  language.
• Experience, or desire to experience, a culture
  other than their own.

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California State U-Stanislauss Global Learning
Outcomes

• Multiple Perspectives
• Recognize that people in different cultures have
  profoundly different perceptions of the world.
• Interdependence
• Understand how the worlds systems are
  interdependent and how local economic and social
  patterns have global impact.
• Equity/Living Responsibly
• Understand how the behavior of individuals,
  groups, nations affects others, in terms of human
  rights and economic well being, both within and
  beyond the U.S.
• Sustainability
• Understand the cost of individual and national
  actions to the physical and social environment
  both within and beyond the U.S. (e.g. population
  growth, resource use, health issues).
• Intercultural Communication
• Including required language study appeared in
  original, later dropped

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Language Requirements, 1995-1999 (Goldberg
Welles)

• Of the responding institutions, 23.7 percent had
  an entrance requirement and 60.1 percent had a
  graduation requirement in 1999.
• In comparison with the percentages reported in
  the MLAs 1995 survey (Brod Huber), entrance
  requirements rose from 21 percent in 1995 to 31
  percent in 1999, and graduation requirements from
  68 percent to 75.4 percent.
• In two-year colleges entrance requirements rose
  from 3 percent to 8.4 percent and from 23 percent
  to 30.9 percent for graduation.

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Language Requirements, By Institution Type, in
1999
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One Language Requirement

• Harvard Colleges Foreign Cultures requirement
  can be met in any one of the following three
  ways, only the second of which actually requires
  use or study of a foreign language
• A one-term course listed under Foreign Cultures
  devoted to a culture or cultures distinct from
  that of the United States and other anglophone
  cultures . This course may be taught in English
  or in the language of that particular culture, .
  Courses on French, German, and Spanish cultures
  are usually taught in the language of the
  culture.
• A two-term foreign language course listed under
  Foreign Cultures, in which the substance of the
  course, in addition to language study, meets the
  specifications of the Foreign Cultures
  guidelines. Students choosing this option must
  complete both semesters to meet the requirement.
• A pre-approved summer program of study abroad.
  Consult the Core Office for details regarding
  this option.

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A Graduation Requirement

• Foreign Language skills are ensured by requiring
  that students pass either a 3rd-semester
  college-level course in one foreign language or a
  second-semester course in two foreign languages,
  or satisfactorily complete some other significant
  activity that requires second-semester foreign
  language proficiency as a prerequisite, such as
  study abroad in a non-English environment or an
  internship serving people who can communicate
  only in a language other than English.
• Students may fulfill the foreign language
  requirement prior to enrolling in college either
  by completing four or more units of one high
  school foreign language with a course grade in
  the fourth year of 85 or better, or three units
  each of two high school languages with course
  grades in each third unit of 85 or better, by
  passing the Advance Placement examination (or its
  equivalent) with a score of 3 or better, or by
  demonstrating equivalent proficiency in some
  other fashion.
• Binghamton University, State University of New
  York

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Pre-9/11 Upturn in LOTEs

• General Education Globalization globalism,
  diversity internationalism
• Language Specialist Proficiency-oriented
  content-based pedagogy

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National Standards for Foreign Language Learning

• Communication
• Cultures
• Connections
• Comparisons
• Communities
• National Standards in Foreign Language Education
  Project (1996)
• a collaborative project of ACTFL, AATF, AATG,
  AATI, AATSP, ACL/APA, ACTR, CLASS/CLTA,
  NCSTJ/ATJ

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Communicate in Languages Other Than English.

• Standard 1.1 Students engage in conversations,
  provide and obtain information, express feelings
  and emotions, and exchange opinions.
• Standard 1.2 Students understand and interpret
  written and spoken language on a variety of
  topics.
• Standard 1.3 Students present info., concepts,
  and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers
  on a variety of topics.

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Standards for Foreign Language Learning

• Communication
• Cultures

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Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Other
Cultures.

• Standard 2.1 Students demonstrate an
  understanding of the relationship between the
  practices and perspectives of the cultures
  studied.
• Standard 2.2 Students demonstrate an
  understanding of the relationship between the
  products and perspectives of the cultures studied.

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Standards for Foreign Language Learning

• Communication
• Cultures
• Connections

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Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire
Information.

• Standard 3.1 Students reinforce and further
  their knowledge of other disciplines through the
  foreign language.
• Standard 3.2 Students acquire information and
  recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are
  only available through the foreign language and
  its cultures.

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Standards for Foreign Language Learning

• Communication
• Cultures
• Connections
• Comparisons

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Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and
Culture.

• Standard 4.1 Students demonstrate understanding
  of the nature of language through comparisons of
  the language studied and their own.
• Standard 4.2 Students demonstrate understanding
  of the concept of culture through comparisons of
  the cultures studied and their own.

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Standards for Foreign Language Learning

• Communication
• Cultures
• Connections
• Comparisons
• Communities

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Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home
Around the World.

• Standard 5.1 Students use the language both
  within and beyond the school setting.
• Standard 5.2 Students show evidence of becoming
  life-long learners by using the language for
  personal enjoyment and enrichment.

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Standards for Foreign Language Learning

• Communication
• Cultures
• Connections
• Comparisons
• Communities
• National Standards in Foreign Language Education
  Project (1996)
• Executive Summary available in PDF format at
• http//www.actfl.org/

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Literary Emphasis Persists in HE
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Bad News Standards May Hurt Postsecondary
Language Study

• The long-term result of ignoring the Standards
  , as most postsecondary faculty are doing, will
  be a serious diminishment of student numbers in
  higher education foreign language courses. That
  diminishment will come because the content and
  instruction of such courses will be directly
  antithetical to students preparation, knowledge,
  experience, and capabilities as developed through
  K-12 adherence to the Standards.
• Dale Lange, ACTFL Newsletter, Vol. XI, No. 1,
  Summer 1999

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Pre-9/11 Upturn in LOTEs

• General Education Globalization globalism,
  diversity internationalism
• Language Specialist Proficiency-oriented
  content-based pedagogy
• Heritage Learner Language as civil right rather
  than as civic problem
• 32 million people in the US live in bilingual
  households but most heritage learners lack even
  high school level literacy

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Pre-9/11 Upturn in LOTEs

• General Education Globalization globalism,
  diversity internationalism
• Language Specialist Proficiency-oriented
  content-based pedagogy
• Heritage Learner Language as civil right rather
  than as civic problem
• Applied Language Language as a valued social
  resource

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Multilingualism Increasing Worldwide

• Despite the spread of English, the world is
  effectively becoming more rather than less
  multilingual.
• The number of speakers of the top 100 languages
  is increasing at a rate much faster than that of
  the world population in general (e.g. Bengali,
  Indonesian/Malay).
• The spread of first languages other than English
  (LOTEs) exceeds that of English.

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English Declining As 1st Language

• Despite the accelerating growth of English as the
  worlds favorite second language,
• there are more speakers of English in India
  than in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the U.S.
  put together
• many languages will probably surpass English in
  number of first-language speakers in the near
  future.
• Mandarin will stay at number one, while Spanish,
  Hindi/Urdu, and Arabic will overtake English by
  2050.
• And other languages (e.g. Bengali, Tamil, and
  Malay) are growing even faster than these!
• Meanwhile the vast majority of the worlds 6,000
  languages are dying at a rate of one per week.

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Language Skills More Valuable Than Ever, and
Employers Know

• There are more people to talk to, and more varied
  tasks to be performed.
• Purposes of use extend well beyond communication
  with cultured élites and other purposes demanding
  high-level skill.
• Widespread knowledge of English makes it easier
  to get help when you need it.
• Even low-level skill can be very helpful.

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Language Sells

• If you want to buy something, any language will
  do, but if you want to sell something be it a
  consumer product or a political precept you
  must learn the language of your customer.

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Languages on the Internet

• The growth of LOTEs on the Internet provides
  access to current, authentic language resources.
• A little more than one third of the worlds
  current Internet users use English.
• Another third use other European languages.
• Almost a third use Asian languages.
• Growth in use implies a reversal of the above
  ranking in the next decade.
• Source www.glreach.com/globstats

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Pre-9/11 Upturn in LOTEs Recapitulation

• General Education Globalization globalism,
  diversity internationalism
• Language Specialist Proficiency-oriented
  content-based pedagogy
• Heritage Learner Language as civil right rather
  than as civic problem
• Applied Language Language as a valued social
  resource

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Despite the Upturn,

• Thirty percent of high school students study a
  language other than English.
• Eight percent of college students do so.
• One quarter of these (two percent) study a
  language for more than two years.
• Except for language programs per se, universities
  do not offer courses of study employing some
  other language than English as the language of
  instruction.
• In fact, they dont offer many opportunities for
  meaningful use of students existing languages.

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Richard Lambert, 1991

• "We expend almost all of our national resources
  for foreign language learning on first-time, low
  level language learning among high school and
  college students, then watch those minimal skills
  decay and disappear through lack of use or
  reinforcement...We need a set of institutions
  that will reinforce and build upon past language
  learning."
• From A National Plan for a Use-Oriented Foreign
  Language System
• Lambert founded the National Foreign Language
  Center in 1986, to improve the capacity of the
  US to communicate in languages other than
  English.

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A Possible New Approach?

• US colleges and universities,
• jointly with partner universities around the
  world,
• could offer two-way bilingual courses of study in
  many fields,
• employing English and a language other than
  English as the alternating languages of
  instruction.

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The Post-9/11 Imperative

• Devout monolingualism has left US vulnerable to
  attack from (and unable to deal effectively with)
  LOTE speakers.
• Department of Defense has joined the Departments
  of State and Education in support of new
  initiatives in LOTEs.
• Military, Congress, and populace in general
  (finally) see the need for multi-linguality in
  the 21st century.

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Devout US Monolingualism

• I consider it the paramount duty of public
  schools to form American citizens of its
  pupils by obliterating all their
  distinguishing foreign characteristics and traits
  as obstructive, warring, and irritating
  elements.
• Commissioner of the Common Schools of New York
  City, 1896 (quoted in Senator Paul Simon, The
  Tongue-Tied American Confronting the Foreign
  Language Crisis, 1980, p. 11)

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One U.S. Presidents View

• We have room but for one language here, and that
  is the English language, for we intend to see
  that the crucible turns our people out as
  Americans and not as dwellers in a polyglot
  boarding house.
• Theodore Roosevelt, 1919 (quoted in Senator Paul
  Simon, The Tongue-Tied American Confronting the
  Foreign Language Crisis, 1980, p. 91)

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The Foreign Language Problem

• The United States today carries new
  responsibilities in many quarters of the globe,
  and we are at a serious disadvantage because of
  the difficulty of finding persons who can deal
  with the foreign language problem.
• Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, 1953
  (Quoted by Rep. Rush Holt in his talk, Is
  American Security Being Lost in Translation?, at
  the first-ever National Language Conference, held
  on 22 June 2004)

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Another U.S. Presidents View

• The American people generally are deficient in
  foreign languages, particularly those of the
  emerging nations in Asia, Africa, and the Near
  East. It is important to our national security
  that such deficiencies be promptly overcome.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958 (quoted in Senator
  Paul Simon, The Tongue-Tied American Confronting
  the Foreign Language Crisis, 1980, p. 61)

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Languages and US National Security in the
Post-9/11 World

• unless we soon establish better
  communication with the countries whose names we
  not now even recognize, those names will erupt
  in unhappy headlines . The alternative to
  understanding and communicating is not
  isolation. It is chaos.
• Senator Paul Simon, The Tongue-Tied American
  Confronting the Foreign Language Crisis, 1980, p.
  9

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9/11 A Sputnik Moment

• In 1957 the Soviet Union jolted the US out of its
  smug superiority in science and engineering with
  the launch of Sputnik, the first outer-space
  vehicle.
• This led to the National Defense Education Act of
  1958.
• Similarly, beginning with the Al Qaeda attacks on
  New York and Washington in 2001 and continuing
  with the US reactions in Afghanistan and Iraq in
  2002 and 2003, the US has come to realize that
  its lack of cultural sensibilities and linguistic
  abilities has left it vulnerable to attack and
  unable to respond effectively.

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A New Day May Be Near

• We need a national commitment to languages on a
  scale of the NDEA commitment to science,
  including improved curriculum, teaching
  technology and methods, teacher development, and
  a systemic cultural commitment.
• Rush Holt, New Jersey member of the US House of
  Representatives, June 2004

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US Federal Support for Language Education

• 1958 National Defense Education Act identified
  critical languages for purposes of national
  defense
• 1988 Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP)
  to seed elementary and secondary language
  programs across the country as a response to the
  newly emerging needs of globalization
• 1991 National Security Education Program,
  charged with responding to the expanding federal
  needs for linguistically competent professionals
  brought about by the fall of the Soviet Union

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Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

• We simply must develop a greater capacity for
  languages that reflect the demands of this
  century. No technology delivers this capability
  it is a truly human skill that our forces must
  have to win, and that we must have to keep the
  peace.

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Post-9/11 Moves By the US Department of Defense

• Increased Defense Language Institutes budget by
  more than 50 million
• Raised the Language Proficiency bonus for
  soldiers from 300 to 1000 per month
• Established the National Flagship Language
  Initiative
• for advanced training in Arabic, Chinese, Korean,
  and Russian
• Sponsored a National Language Policy Conference
  (June 2004)
• to discuss the needs of government, industry, and
  academia, and develop a comprehensive strategy to
  meet them
• 2005-03-31 Defense Language Transformation
  Roadmap,
• establishing a Defense Language Office in the
  Pentagon and recommending new initiatives to
  increase language readiness

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Gail McGinn, DepUndSecDef

• This is really more than just finding linguists
  and people with ability to speak languages. Its
  a transformation in the way language is viewed in
  the Department of Defense how it is valued, how
  it is developed, and how it is employed.
  Integrating language and cultural expertise into
  the military mindset will have far-reaching
  implications, affecting the way we conduct
  operations and the way we conduct ourselves in
  the world.

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Recent Action by Congress

• 2005-02-17 American Competitiveness Through
  International Openness Now (ACTION) Act
• S.455, to increase the numbers of international
  students and scholars in U.S. universities
• 2005-03-08 Resolutions designating 2005 as the
  Year of Foreign Language Study
• S.Res.28 H.Res.122 concludes that the study of
  languages contributes to the intellectual and
  social development of the student and the economy
  and security of the United States
• 2005-03-16 Resolution calling for a new U.S.
  international education policy
• H.Con.Res.100, includes specific calls for
  expanding number of languages taught and
  study-abroad sites visited and beginning language
  study at an early age and continuing it through
  college

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Bilingual University Education A New Day Dawning?

• How about two-way bilingual (Language X
  English) baccalaureate degrees? As follows
• In selected language/discipline pairs
• Offered jointly to incoming freshmen by pairs of
  institutions of higher education
• one in the US and the other where Language X is
  the (or a) national or local language
• Provided that both languages are known at a
  college-ready level of proficiency by sufficient
  numbers of qualified applicants to each partner

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Bilingual, Jointly Delivered Degrees in Various
Fields

• Enroll bilingual (XEng) students from 2-way K-12
  immersion programs at non-US IHEs
• Target disciplines with adequate stream of
  disciplinary resources in both languages (no
  English-dominant or X-specific fields allowed)
• With growing bodies of original scholarship in
  both
• Alternate years of study in US abroad
• E.g. years 13 at home, years 24 abroad
• Design each degree jointly with faculty from both
  IHEs and award a diploma from each
• Support faculty exchange to ensure high-level
  bilingual/bicultural instruction at both sites

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Sources of Support for Joint Bilingual
Dual-Diploma Degrees

• US and EU initiatives for language learning
• E.g. Nat Flagship Lg Init in US, TNP3 in Europe
• Heritage and national language communities
• Programs preserve LOTE while mastering English.
• Global internationalization of higher education
• Programs increase study abroad and international
  enrollment, internationalize curricula at both
  IHEs.
• English as a lingua academica to the world
• Potential partners exist in every corner of the
  globe.
• Global wish to curb hegemony of English
• Programs preserve and maintain traditions of
  scholarship in languages other than English.

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Topics Covered In This Talk

• Review of the status of languages other than
  English (LOTEs) in US institutions of higher
  education (IHEs)
• Pre-9/11 upturn in college study of LOTEs
• Post-9/11 urgent calls for learning LOTEs
• Prospects for two-way Lg X English bilingual
  education in selected language/discipline pairs
  at US IHEs in partnership with non-US IHEs

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The Changing Role of Languages in Higher
Education in the US

• And How That Role Might Expand
• H Stephen Straight
• Thematic Network Project in the Area of Languages
  
• TNP3 Conference on Multilingualism
• in the knowledge-based society
• Copenhagen, 2005-10-01