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Manpower in the Neglected Languages, Fall 1962

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Extract

This report on the study of neglected languages in United States colleges and universities in 1962–63 shows that the neglect is diminishing, with enrollments of some 17,000 in foreign languages except the “big five”: French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. In 168 colleges and universities in the United States, 68 “neglected” foreign languages are being taught in 270 departments by over a thousand teachers to more than eleven thousand students, a figure we reach by estimating that each student is enrolled in about one and a half courses in the language. The five languages in which the largest enrollments were reported are Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and Norwegian.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1964 by The Modern Language Association of America

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References

1 The research reported here was performed pursuant to Contract No. OE 2-14-032 with the U. S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The complete report contains 444 pages in mimeographed form and may be obtained from the MLA Materials Center for $7.00. The parts of the report are: I, Text and Tables; II, Enrollments by Institution; III, Enrollments by Language; IV, A Roster of Teachers by Language; V, An Alphabetical Roster of Teachers; VI, A Roster of Students by Language; VII, An Alphabetical Roster of Students; VIII, Textbooks; IX, Summer School, 1963; X, Extracts from the Roster of Linguists Compiled by the Center for Applied Linguistics; XI, Teachers of Neglected Languages in Secondary Schools; and XII, The Teaching of Chinese in Secondary Schools. Parts I, IX, XI, and XII are abstracted here.

2 The figure 15,707 combines totals given for neglected languages in two MLA surveys: Table VI of Modern Foreign Language Enrollments in Colleges and Universities, Fall 1961 by John Harmon and Hannelore Tierney and Chart E of Modern Foreign Language Teaching in Junior Colleges, Fall 1961 by J. Wesley Childers.

3 The breakdown of 1960 and 1961 data has been arranged to conform with that available for 1962: “unclassified” enrollments have been added into the undergraduate figure, except for enrollments from the Army Language School, the only institution on the 1962 list with enrollments in the “unclassified” category.

4 The figure 13,765 combines totals given for neglected language enrollments for 1960 in Critically Needed Languages in Four-Year Colleges and Universities, 1958–1960 by Mara Vamos, Frank White, and Hannelore Fischer-Lorenz and Table 7 of Modern Foreign Language Teaching in Junior Colleges, Fall 1959, Fall 1960 by J. Wesley Childers and Barbara B. Bell. This figure is revised upward from the 13,472 given as the 1960 total in the complete version of the present report, because of additional research since the time of publication. Where pertinent, per cents based on 1960 figures have also been revised.

5 Totals for these years have been taken from the following MLA publications: for 1958, 1959, and 1960 4-year institutions, from Critically Needed Languages in Four-year Colleges and Universities, 1958–1960 by Mara Vamos, Frank White, and Hannelore Fischer-Lorenz; for 1959 and 1960 2-year institutions, from Modern Foreign Language Teaching in Junior Colleges, Fall 1959, Fall 1960 by J. Wesley Childers and Barbara B. Bell; for 1961 and 1962 2-year and 4-year institutions, from the complete version of the present report.

6 27.2 per cent combines the per cent of all graduate enrollments (21.4) and the per cent of “unclassified” enrollments (5.8).

7 Inadvertently, an additional NDEA Institute for 20 Secondary School Teachers of Chinese at San Francisco State College was omitted from this report. No data are included for Enrollments, Teachers, or Students.

8 Information on neglected language enrollments in secondary schools appears in another MLA report, Foreign-Language Offerings and Enrollments in Secondary Schools (Public Schools: Fall 1961, Fall 1962 and Nonpublic Schools: Fall 1962) By James N. Eshelman and Nancy W. Lian, a summary of which appears in this issue, pp. 107–112.

9 By Columbia, San Francisco State College, Seton Hall, and Yale.

10 The second conference elected a five-member committee: John Bruscemi, Williamstown High School, Williamstown, N. J., Chairman; Harry L. Chin, Edison Senior High School, Stockton, Calif.; Beatrice Y. Hee, State Dept. of Public Instruction, Honolulu, Hawaii; Lily Shang, Thayer Academy, Braintree, Mass.; and Richard Yang, Washington Univ., St. Louis, Mo.