December 9, 2009 - Every decade, the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) conducts a national survey of foreign language instruction in public and private elementary and secondary schools. The goal is to provide an updated national and regional picture of foreign language instruction in the U.S. The three points in time covered in the analysis are 1987, 1997, 2008. For this project, CAL collaborated with Westat and received funding from the U.S. Department of Education's International Research & Studies Program.
The publication, Foreign Language Teaching in U.S. Schools: Results of a National Survey, provides detailed information on current patterns and shifts over time in five key areas: amount of foreign language instruction in schools, languages and types of programs offered, foreign language curriculum, teacher certification and professional development, and effects of education reform on language instruction.
The survey analysis draws some of the following conclusions and notes both positive and negative trends:
- Foreign language instruction remained relatively stable at the high school level from 1997 to 2008 but it decreased substantially in elementary and middle schools.
- There were inequities in access to foreign language education. Languages were offered in smaller percentages of rural schools and schools whose students were from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
- The teaching of French, German, Japanese, and Russian decreased at both the elementary and secondary levels. However, the teaching of Arabic and Chinese increased at both the elementary and secondary levels.
- Nearly one third of public elementary and secondary schools with language programs reported that language teaching had been negatively affected by NCLB.
- The disparity between public and private elementary school language offerings increased exponentially, with private schools offering languages at much higher rates.
- The shortage of language teachers was so severe that some schools were seeking alternative sources of teachers, such as agencies that provide teachers from other countries, commercial language schools, and foreign governments that send teachers to the United States.
- Language teachers at both the elementary and secondary levels were integrating national and state language standards into their teaching more than they did a decade earlier and using the target language in the classroom more frequently.
- More language classes were using authentic literature from the target culture than before.
Additional information, including a pdf of the Executive Summary and a link to purchase the full report, is available on the
CAL website.
