Language Study Today

Language Enrollments in Schools in the 20th Century

Estimates for foreign-language enrollments from 1900 to 1920 indicate that most students were enrolled in foreign languages, primarily Latin, followed by German, French, and Spanish. Latin was often a requirement for admissions to liberal arts colleges. After World War I, German language enrollment fell dramatically, although it experienced a comeback in the 1930s. During this period, there was also a shift from colleges primarily offering courses in Latin to “modern language instruction” that eventually outpaced the classical languages. From the 1920s to the 1950s, foreign-language instruction overall fell in the United States as the country became more isolated and xenophobic. In addition, an increasing number of students turned to fields of study other than languages.

The launch of the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, by the Soviet Union in 1957 resulted in a renewed, albeit short-lived interest in foreign-language studies, especially at the federal level. The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was passed in 1958 to encourage the advancement of education in science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages. One purpose of NDEA was to encourage the teaching of languages designated as “critical” or “strategic” by [Page 498]government entities and the Modern Language Association (MLA). The immediate purpose, however, was to move the United States ahead of the Soviet Union during the space race through better education. This had a direct impact on foreign-language enrollments, and by 1960, 86% of postsecondary institutions had foreign-language requirements. Although language enrollments continued to rise throughout the 1960s, enrollment fell off in the 1970s as a result of many colleges removing their foreign-language requirements for reasons that are not altogether clear.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter created the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies to investigate whether the United States was maintaining its commitment to the 1975 Helsinki Accords on foreign-language study and also address the concerns of the State Department and National Security Council regarding the nation's capability in foreign-language training and research. The commission discovered persistent problems at all levels of foreign-language instruction, including inadequate training of teachers, insufficient administrative support, a lack of imaginative curricula, poor coordination, and a lack of sound criteria for measuring progress in these fields. The commission made 65 recommendations; however, by the end of the 20th century, few of those recommendations had been implemented. Despite national reports detailing the need for Americans to be competent in languages and cultures other than their own, only a handful of states had mandated foreign language be taught in schools and only 60% of postsecondary institutions had a foreign-language requirement.

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