Last summer, we wrote a post about multilingualism in the U.S. In it, we cited some encouraging statistics for language lovers. For example:
- According to the 2014 American Community Survey, a language other than English is spoken in 21% of households in the U.S.
- Multilingualism is on the rise: the number of Americans 18 years of age or older who speak more than one language rose from 9.2% to 15.7% from 1980 to 2014.
This is all great news for anyone interested in learning a new language because with more multilingualism comes greater opportunities to speak a language other than English. But what about the opportunities to study a foreign language, we wondered. How does the U.S. stack up against other countries when it comes to foreign language education in schools and universities?
Unfortunately, not so well. As the Center for Applied Linguistics writes on their website, “Despite the one in five Americans who report speaking a language other than English at home, vital heritage language resources are being underutilized or lost.” Foreign language requirements are on the decline in the U.S. despite the rise in multilingualism in American homes.
Post-secondary Education
According to a survey conducted by the Modern Language Association, “In 2009–10, 50.7% of institutions had a language requirement for the baccalaureate, a decline of almost 17 percentage points from 1994–95, when 67.5% of institutions had a requirement.” In their 2013 survey, they found that (unsurprisingly) enrollment in foreign language courses at universities was also down by 6.7% from 2009 to 2013.
Primary and Secondary Education
There is no national requirement for students in primary and secondary schools in the U.S. to study a foreign language while in Europe, most children are expected to study a foreign language by age 9 according to the Pew Research Center. In Belgium, 3 year old children are required to start learning a foreign language. In the U.S. without a national requirement, many public schools are opting out of foreign language instruction. According to a 2008 survey by the Center for Applied Linguistics in 1997, 31% of elementary schools offered foreign language instruction, and this already low number dropped to 25% in 2008. This drop occurred mainly at public schools; at private schools, the rate remained roughly the same. For middles schools, the same figure dropped from 75% to 58%.
The Rise of Lesser-Studied Languages
A bright spot in all of this is the fact that enrollments are up at universities for the so-called less commonly taught language (LCTLs) such as Korean, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese and American Sign Language. For example, graduate enrollments in American Sign Language courses went up 216% from 2009 to 2013! That’s a veritable boom for ASL. And some universities are resisting the monolingual trend: Princeton, for one, proposed recently that all students - even those already proficient in a foreign language - be required to study foreign language as part of the baccalaureate requirements.
Why should we care?
We know that not everyone takes as much joy in mastering the intricacies of French liaison and Mandarin tone change rules as we do, so why all the fuss about foreign language instruction when we all know that English is the lingua franca of international business and travel? What’s the advantage to an English speaker to learn how to speak another language when they can go practically anywhere in the world and find people who can communicate in English? As we wrote back in August:
Aside from the enriching effect linguistic diversity has on culture, multilingualism has been shown to have positive impacts on health, especially in old age, and is associated with higher earnings on the job and better decision-making.
Need more motivation? According to this BBC story, in situations where English is the lingua franca among a group of international people, native English speakers have been found to be more likely to create misunderstandings due to their lack of awareness of a language other than English. Knowing a second language can make you a better communicator because you are more aware of not just your new language, but language in general.
If you are interested in learning a foreign language on your own or mixing class instruction with work on your own, this is a great time to get started. This month on the LL blog, we’ll be posting a story per week with tips for anyone just getting started learning a new language.