This monograph presents data and conclusions derived from one phase of an investigation of objectives and methods in the teaching of modern foreign languages in high schools and colleges. A committee of specialists operating under the auspices of the American Council of Education and with financial assistance received from the Carnegie Corporation has been, and still is, conducting an investigation to discover, first, the aims which are guiding teachers of modern foreign languages in high schools and colleges; and, second, the outcomes of their instruction. The committee on direction and control, believing that it would be important to ascertain to what extent modern foreign languages are used after graduation from high school and college, determined to secure data relating to the matter by requesting graduates of high schools and colleges who had pursued modern foreign languages for at least two years either in high school or in college, or in both, to give testimony regarding the extent to which these languages have been read since graduation. This document further describes the organization of the inquiry and treatment of the data. More than 6,000 persons who had studied French, German, or Spanish, responded to the questionnaire. Chapters explore whether those who studied modern foreign languages read new material in the original, read the languages in the original, or re-read in the original any material previously read in high school or college; as well as whether they read material in these languages in translation after graduation, and to what extent they are placed in situations in daily life in which they feel the need of a foreign language. Most respondents have said that the time which they devoted to the study of modern foreign languages in school and in college was well spent. The report compares the foreign language situation in America to other countries, and discusses whether we can teach modern foreign languages in America so that they will be read more generally than they are now, and what impact composition and conversation have on acquiring a mastery of a language. (Contains 40 tables.) [Best copy available has been provided.]