Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-5-2016
Abstract
Despite much talk about the importance of globalization,
the very places where most people in
the U.S. learn foreign languages – colleges and universities
– are offering fewer and fewer courses in
them. In a report published last year by the Modern
Languages Association (MLA), statistics show that
for the first time since 1995 we are seeing a drop
in enrollment in courses in all major European languages,
including Spanish. And the drop is significant:
6.7 percent overall since 2009 after increasing
steadily since 1995.
Spanish, the most studied language in colleges
and universities (more than all other languages
combined), took a big hit with an 8.2 percent
decrease since 2009, despite the fact that more diversified
Spanish courses for specialized areas such as
nursing, teaching and law enforcement have been
added.
Comments
This work was originally published in The Edwardsville Intelligencer.