A research report from the University of Cambridge and RAND Europe shows that investing in languages education in the UK could return more than the investment cost. Researchers explored a gap in the evidence relating to the economic benefits of extending languages education and found that an increase in secondary-school pupils learning one of four…

Whereas major research universities may accommodate programs of study in Arabic, Chinese, or Persian, regional universities and liberal arts colleges have struggled to adapt to a wider and more complex array of world languages and literatures in the 21st century. Many have been forced to choose between radically restructuring or closing programs…

This document includes two technical appendices that accompany the full report, "English as a Second Language in California's Community Colleges." The two appendixes include: (1) Key terms, data and methods; and (2) Figures and tables. [These appendices were written with research support from Sergio Sanchez and Stephanie Pulles. For the…

Small undergraduate German programs can take various forms but can generally be classified as new and emerging or older and well-established programs. In today's academic climate it is necessary that instructors in both types work to enhance their curriculum and extra-curricular offerings as well as strive to prevent burnout and the over…

Portal: Your Door to World Languages and Cultures was a series of public cultural events, in a variety of formats, created through a new partnership between the credit and continuing education (noncredit) foreign language programs at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC). Portal was designed to cultivate interest in foreign languages…

The example of Lyons Township High School in Illinois is used to illustrate possibilities for increasing enrollments in high school foreign language departments. At a time of declining overall enrollment, the foreign language enrollment at Lyons increased from 33% to 55% of the student population. The first step in the process was image building,…

Presents a model for studying the process by which students decide to continue with, or to terminate, their second language studies. Previous research in the area is discussed. (MSE)

Describes the intensive French program at Western Maryland College. Concludes that the program has helped to reverse some of the dwindling enrollments in French. (EKN)

Describes the intensive German program at North Texas State University. Shows how the intensive course model may be adapted to tight budgets. (EKN)

A report is presented of work in syllabus construction and language planning in Finland from the middle of the 1960s to the present. An introductory chapter describes Finland's parallel educational systems, which provide for speakers of the two official languages, Finnish and Swedish, and for instruction in the other national language as well as…

Discusses an introductory course in basic conversational Spanish that raised enrollment. It is noted that the course interested students who desired a basic knowledge of spoken Spanish and those students who feared failure in regular courses. It was found that some students later enrolled in regular courses. (Author/AMH)

Reports from 12 state supervisors of foreign languages were compiled. Each report describes a state's elementary and secondary foreign language programs and activities as of November 1981. Topics covered include basic foreign language programs, trends in foreign language enrollment, teacher training, work with other divisions within the state…

An account of the way the Dartmouth Intensive Language Model was introduced and revised at Washington University. The topics discussed are the class organization, staffing, teaching methods, financing, the summer and year-long study-abroad programs, college administration support, student response, and enrollment trends. (AMH)

Presents the results of the Modern Language Association's fall 1995 survey of foreign language registrations in American institutes of higher education. Results are presented in tabular form and are broken down by grade level, language studied, and comparison with prior years. The survey contains data on commonly and less commonly taught…

The Chicago Board of Education's testing and tutoring program allows high school students to qualify for advanced classes, independent study, and credit in 29 foreign languages. Tapping the city's diverse ethnic resources for materials preparation and tutoring, the program has increased language enrollments by motivating students to explore their…