This article examines the various language ideologies and cultural models that inform Hawaiian-language learners' experiences, language practices, and socio-ethnic identity as they attempt to become speakers of their heritage language. While Hawaiian-language education is often noted as a revitalization success story, and certainly is in terms of…

How many students in K-12 schools in the United States are studying foreign languages? Are these numbers on the increase or decrease--and in which languages? What do educators, administrators, and researchers need to know about these trends? This publication presents enrollment data in U.S. public schools in two years: 2004-05 and 2007-08,…

Study abroad is often treated in terms of individual student outcomes, and has recently been discussed as potentially detrimental to smaller language programs--in that student participation in semester- or year-long programs subtracts from enrollments in upper-level courses. In this article, the promotion of study abroad in a small German program…

This study reports the results of a national survey of Portuguese instructors that investigates enrollment growth in regions and institutions of higher education in the United States. It details the reasons why Portuguese enrollments have grown steadily since 1998, while providing data on the numbers of students enrolled in classes and the number…

This article identifies recent indicators of the state of German Studies in the United States with special attention to postsecondary enrollments in German. It additionally reviews challenges to the postsecondary teaching of German as they manifest themselves both locally and nationally, including the positioning of German Studies in the life of…

Having acquired some degree of oral proficiency but low (or non-existent) literacy, the learning of Chinese heritage learners' (CHLs) learning needs are different from those of Chinese foreign language learners (CFLs), who have learned Chinese only in the classroom setting. Although researchers have advocated for a separate curriculum for…

Total enrollments (undergraduate and graduate) in languages other than English dropped by 9.2% between fall 2013 and fall 2016, as reported in the Modern Language Association's twenty-fifth language enrollment census. Despite the overall drop, there were gains in nearly half of all language programs (45.5%) that mitigate somewhat the downward…

This paper presents the findings of a six-week telecollaborative project between sixteen American students enrolled in a second-semester German class at an American university and sixteen German students enrolled in an advanced English course at a high school in Germany. Students discussed various cultural topics with their partner in two e-mails…

In a period of renewed efforts to encourage language study in Australia, with a particular view to increasing the number of students completing secondary school and studying a language, consideration of the reasons behind retention and attrition of students becomes paramount. In this preliminary study, which surveyed nearly 200 students entering…

This study in Conversation Analysis investigates the organization of other-initiated repair sequences in American learners of German, i.e., it examines how learners deal with troubles in hearing or understanding that they encounter in naturally-occurring talk-in-interaction. Data for the project were collected during informal interaction in…

In 2005 the BBC reported that in reply to a survey conducted by the European Commission, 66% of English respondents indicated that they spoke no language other than their mother tongue. This proportion was far higher than in any other European Union nation taking part but compares fairly favorably with the United States, where one-fourth of adults…

Small undergraduate German programs can take various forms but can generally be classified as new and emerging or older and well-established programs. In today's academic climate it is necessary that instructors in both types work to enhance their curriculum and extra-curricular offerings as well as strive to prevent burnout and the over…

The current interest in learning Chinese has been fueled by the growing strength of the Chinese economy and the need for Americans who are able to communicate at an advanced level in fields of business, science, and government. The present study reports the results of a survey of secondary school students enrolled in Chinese language classes with…

The qualitative research describes the experience of an instructor, participants, and researcher in a community college-based Chinese language class. Tse's (2000) Foreign Language Autobiographies (FLA), classroom observations, student vignette interviews and observations accompanied by field notes were the sources of data for this study.…

Higher education plays a fundamental role in the construction of a European citizenship that demands the development of plurilingual competences. Although the Bologna Process highlights that development (relating it to mobility, employability and lifelong learning), language education does not seem to be a priority in the agenda of higher…