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National K-12 Foreign Language Survey Preliminary Results
Title VI 50th Anniversary Conference U.S. Department of Education
Nancy RhodesIngrid Pufahl Center for Applied Linguistics
Photo: Center for Democratic Studies, University of Haifa, Israel
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Background
Survey conducted 2007-08
Goal: Collect comprehensive data on foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools
Focus on national and regional data (not state data)
Replicate 1987 and 1997 surveys
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Sample Selection
Stratified random sample includes 5,115 public and private elementary and secondary schools
Sample representative of all U.S. schools
Stratification:
-- public/private -- urban/suburban/rural
-- school size -- geographical region
-- SES -- minority enrollment
Random: Each school in the subgroups had an equal probability of being selected
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Methodology
4-page questionnaires; separate questionnaire for elementary and secondary schools (20-21 questions)
Superintendents were notified of survey
Principals and FL teachers were given option: respond online or in paper copy
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Response Rate
76% response rate
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US Elementary Schools Teaching Foreign Languages (Public, Private, Total) (1987, 1997, 2008)
22%
34%
17%
31%
53%
24% 25%
51%
15%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% o
f E
lem
en
tary
Sc
ho
ols
1997 2008 1987 1997 2008 1987 1997 2008
Public Private Total
1987
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US Middle and High Schools Teaching Foreign Languages (Total) (1987, 1997, 2008)
72%
95%
75%
90%
58%
91%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Middle Schools High Schools
% o
f S
ec
on
da
ry S
ch
oo
ls
1987 1997 2008 1987 1997 2008
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Foreign Languages Offered by Secondary Schools With Foreign Language Programs (1997, 2008)
93%
46%
14%
13%
8%
4%
4%
4%
3%
1%
1%
1%
0.3%
93%
64%
24%
20%
9%
1%
2%
3%
7%
0.2%
0%
1%
3%
Spanish
French
German
Latin
SpSpSpkrs
Chinese
ASL
Italian
Japanese
Hebrew
Arabic
Greek
Russian
La
ng
ua
ge
s O
ffe
red
% of Secondary Schools
2008
1997
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
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Foreign Languages Offered by Elementary Schools With Foreign Language Programs (1997, 2008)
0.2%
1%
1%
2%
1%
2%
2%
3%
6%
7%
11%
88%
1%
0.1%
3%
2%
2%
2%
5%
0.3%
3%
8%
27%
79%Spanish
French
SpSpSpkrs
Latin
Chinese
German
ASL
Hebrew
Italian
Japanese
Arabic
Russian
Lan
gu
ages
Off
ered
% of Elementary Schools
20081997
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
10
FLEX 7%
LANGUAGE FOCUS 6%
IMMERSION 2%
NO LAN-GUAGE IN-
STRUCTION 85%
FLEX
LANGUAGE FOCUS
IMMERSION
NO LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION
Foreign Language Instruction in Public Elementary Schools in the U.S. (2008)
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Use of National Foreign Language Standards in Elementary and Secondary Schools With Language Programs (1997, 2008)
Public ES Private ES Public SS Private SS0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Public ES; 1997; 25%
Private ES; 1997; 13%
Public SS; 1997; 31%
Private SS; 1997; 21%
Public ES; 2008; 76%
Private ES; 2008; 47%
Public SS; 2008; 89%
Private SS; 2008; 60%
1997 2008 1997 2008 1997 2008 1997 2008
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Foreign Language Use in Secondary School Language Classrooms (1987, 1997, 2008)
28%
54%
18%
32%
47%
22%21%
43%
35%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Foreign Language Use in Classroom
% of S
econdary
Schools
1987 1997 2008
Less than 50% of time
1987 1997 2008 1987 1997 200850-74% of time 75% or more of time
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NCLB: Influence on Foreign Language Instruction in Public Schools
Approximately one third of elementary and secondary schools reported that FL instruction had been affected negatively by NCLB:
Mostly rural schools
Mostly high minority schools
Mostly low to mid SES schools
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Reasons for Decline in Elementary FL
Budget cuts
Shortage of teachers
Constraints of NCLB
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Funding/Budget Cuts: Comments
“I really don’t think [we can offer FL]. Spanish teaching stopped 2 years ago due to budget cuts (in the millions). Over 300-400 teachers in the district might not have jobs next year due to the deficit.” (CA public elementary school)
“County is going to begin to switch over to foreign language teaching, but school has to wait for the computer teacher to retire.”(VA public elementary school)
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Shortage of Teachers: Comments
“Absolutely! We would not be subcontracting out to a private language school for our teacher if there were qualified teachers available.” (Public elementary school)
“It’s difficult to find teachers certified for elementary school [who are] French native-like speakers.” (Public elementary school)
“We taught Spanish for 2 years, lost the teacher, and will teach again if a new teacher is found.” (Illinois private elementary school)
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NCLB: Comments
“Funds and time have been directed to reading and math. In some cases, we pull students from foreign language and other non-tested content classes in order to provide more extensive reading and math support.” (Public elementary school)
“High stakes testing which does not include World Languages makes it impossible to get additional time for our elementary [language] program. Schools are more focused on the subjects that are tested.” (Public elementary school)
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The Lighter Side
Is your school planning to offer FL instruction in the next 2 years?
“What we do is that we offer foreign language as an elective, but no one has elected it.” (Private K-12 New Mexico school with small enrollment).
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Key Findings
Decrease in public elementary and middle schools teaching languages
Decrease in % of schools teaching languages other than Spanish
Shortage of teachers
Increase in Chinese and Arabic
Increase in the use of language standards and target language in classroom
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iGracias!
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