A National Survey of K-12 Foreign Language Education
Lucinda Branaman, Nancy Rhodes, and Jeanne Rennie

The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), through funding from the U.S. Department of Education, conducted a survey of elementary and secondary schools in 1997 to gain a greater understanding of current patterns and shifts in foreign language enrollment, languages and programs offered, curricula, teaching methodologies, and teacher qualifications and training and to determine the schools' reactions to national reform issues.¹ The survey was designed to replicate CAL's 1987 survey so that trends over the 10-year period from 1987 to 1997 could be analyzed.

Survey Highlights

	In the past decade, the number of U.S. elementary schools offering foreign language instruction increased by nearly 10 percent, from 22 percent to 31 percent of all elementary schools.
	The percentage of secondary schools offering foreign language instruction remained fairly stable: 87 percent in 1987 and 86 percent in 1997.
	In 1997, the percentage of students enrolled in foreign language classes was as follows: more than 14 percent of elementary school students, about 36 percent of middle school and junior high school students, and almost 52 percent of high school students.
	Spanish instruction increased significantly--from being included in 68 percent of elementary school foreign language programs in 1987 to 79 percent in 1997 and from 86 percent of secondary school programs in 1987 to 93 percent in 1997. Spanish is currently the most commonly taught foreign language in school.
	French was the second most commonly offered language at all school levels, but the number of schools offering French decreased significantly at the elementary level (from 41 percent in 1987 to 27 percent in 1997) and slightly at the secondary level (from 66 percent to 64 percent).
	Offerings in certain other languages have also increased from 1987 to 1997. On the elementary level, increases were recorded in Spanish for Spanish speakers (from 1 percent to 8 percent), Japanese (from 0 percent to 3 percent), Italian (from less than 1 percent to 2 percent), and American Sign Language (from less than 1 percent to 2 percent). At the secondary level, instruction increased in Spanish for Spanish speakers (from 1 percent to 9 percent), Japanese (from 1 percent to 7 percent), and Russian (from 2 percent to 3 percent).
	The percentage of secondary school foreign language programs offering advanced placement classes increased significantly--from 12 percent in 1987 to 16 percent in 1997.
	The primary goal of most elementary school foreign language programs is to provide introductory exposure to the students. Only 21 percent of the schools offer programs where language proficiency is a goal.
	Well-articulated K-12 foreign language programs aimed at producing students who have high levels of proficiency are still uncommon. In 26 percent of the responding school districts, secondary school students who studied a foreign language in elementary school were placed in Level I classes with students who had no prior exposure to the language.
	The most frequently cited problems facing elementary school foreign language programs were funding shortages, inadequate inservice teacher training, inadequate transitioning from elementary to secondary school classes, and a high ratio of students to teachers.
	In addition to the problems cited by elementary schools, the most frequently cited problems facing secondary school foreign language programs were teacher shortages, lack of quality materials, and poor academic counseling for students.

For information about the availability of the full survey report, visit CAL's Web site at http://www.cal.org or contact Lucinda Branaman or Nancy Rhodes by phone at 202-429-9292 or by e-mail at survey@cal.org.

Note

¹ The 1997 survey was sent to a randomly selected sample of principals at approximately 6 percent of all public and private elementary and secondary schools in the United States. The surveys were completed by principals and foreign language teachers at 1,534 elementary schools and 1,650 secondary schools (a 56 percent response rate). The respondents represented public and private schools, preschool through 12th grade, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Survey results provide information about foreign language education at elementary and secondary school levels both nationally and on a state-by-state basis.

Trends and Challenges

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