In today’s global community, or whichever clichéd expression you prefer, it is surprising to imagine monolingualism being on the rise.  Unfortunately, according to a recent study, that appears to be the case.  The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) has published a new report offering a glimpse into the state of foreign language instruction across the country (and regionally).  CAL publishes such a report approximately once every ten years (beginning in 1987) and looks at various aspects of foreign language programs offered in private and public schools ranging from grades K-12.  According to the CAL website, the survey specifically focuses on the following aspects:

• Foreign language enrollments
• Number of schools offering foreign languages
• Types of foreign language programs offered
• Foreign language curricula and methodologies in use
• Teacher qualifications and training
• Effects of No Child Left Behind legislation on foreign language instruction

This report, or at least what is available at this point, has brought to light some disturbing news regarding the direction in which schools are taking their foreign language programs.  While this report touches on a wide range of important issues, I feel there is one aspect that reveals a particularly troubling trend.  There seems to have been a national decline in foreign language instruction in elementary schools and middle schools. 

Middle schools seem to have experienced the most significant cutbacks over the previous decade.  According to the CAL report, the percentage of middle schools with foreign language programs has declined from 75% to 58% from 1997 to 2008.  While the United Kingdom, for example, is planning on making it mandatory for public schools to offer foreign language instruction for students aged seven and older, the United States has gone in the opposite direction.  U.S. schools are making foreign language instruction less available for students that have not yet reached high school. 

Elementary schools experienced a less drastic decline of six percentage points in public and private schools offering foreign language programs.  The decline was significant, however, when you consider the drop in public schools offering foreign language programs.   In 1997’s survey, 24% of public elementary schools offered such programs compared to 53% among their private counterparts.  CAL’s most recent survey indicates that only a meager 15% of public elementary schools offered foreign language instruction in 2008 while 51% of private elementary schools offered such programs.  It seems to be a missed opportunity for foreign language enrichment at an early age.  Meanwhile, countless studies have indicated that learning second languages during such young ages could be a tremendous benefit to a child’s developmental process.

As the nation continues to struggle with our current economic situation, I believe we need to ask ourselves how valuable is it to successfully communicate with people of other countries, cultures and languages.  Today we find ourselves, as a nation, significantly less competitive than we were ten years ago.  With other nations surging in political and economic power, should we continue to take away our children’s resources to speak other languages?  How much will this affect our competitive edge in another ten years?

Visit http://www.cal.org/projects/flsurvey.html for more information on CAL and its survey.