As language programs are endangered in K-16 contexts due to low enrollments, and for budgetary reasons, it is more important than ever to find enduring ways to help promote the study of languages and to make studying languages enjoyable for everyone. For sustainable language education, we need to focus on and promote the true purpose of…

The decline in foreign language learners in tertiary education is a concern in many countries. While factors influencing students' persistence in second language learning have been explored, there has been limited discussion on the potential of language programmes that develop students' self-formation alongside language learning. This study aimed…

Between 2006 and 2016, American universities experienced a significant decrease in student enrolment in foreign language (FL) courses. This decrease corresponded with the dissolution of over 650 foreign language programmes between 2013 and 2016. Using self-determination theory (SDT) as its theoretical framework, this study sought to advocate for…

Portuguese is the fifth most-spoken language in the world, with about 260 million speakers (and growing to an expected 400 million by 2050), the third most spoken in the West, the most widely spoken in the Southern Hemisphere, an official language in 9 countries and other regions. It is present in Europe, South America, Africa, and parts of Asia.…

A research report from the University of Cambridge and RAND Europe shows that investing in languages education in the UK could return more than the investment cost. Researchers explored a gap in the evidence relating to the economic benefits of extending languages education and found that an increase in secondary-school pupils learning one of four…

This paper presents a case study of the cross-institutional arrangements for Japanese language education between two universities in Canberra, Australia (University of Canberra and The Australian National University), investigating the effects of replacing on-campus course delivery with cross-institutional arrangements. It closely follows the…

The Department of World Languages and Cultures (WLAC), housed in the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, has been through a series of transitions over the last twenty years due to university structural changes, but mostly because of curricular needs. Originally there were three separate departments, French, Spanish and German, as each of these core…

Both of the participants in this dialogue are professors of German, and both were involved in recent efforts to develop Global Studies programs at their institutions. While one teaches at a small, private, liberal arts college and the other at a large, urban, public research university, both participated in these projects with the pragmatic desire…

Purpose: Bilingual programs in the United States, particularly two-way dual language immersion (TWDL) programs, have been implemented since the 1960s to support the education of English Learner-classified (EL-classified) and language minoritized students. Over the past decade, TWDL programs have grown significantly across the United States. This…

Whereas major research universities may accommodate programs of study in Arabic, Chinese, or Persian, regional universities and liberal arts colleges have struggled to adapt to a wider and more complex array of world languages and literatures in the 21st century. Many have been forced to choose between radically restructuring or closing programs…

Changing public demands and decreasing enrollment numbers have challenged the traditional concept of teaching languages, cultures, and literatures in the U.S. Although nationwide enrollment numbers in German programs have been declining, "global" German Studies programs such as the ones at the University of Connecticut and the University…

The decline in the numbers of students learning foreign languages in secondary schools in England, together with the low and decreasing number of top grades in these subjects, has raised concerns among educationalists, employers and politicians in the last few years. The aim of this research was, therefore, to investigate the uptake of and…

University students who enrol in foreign language (FL) programmes are motivated by various needs, but in particular the need to achieve communicative fluency, which generally requires interaction with others. This study therefore explores the notion of 'interactivity,' as conceptualised in second language learning theories and how it might be…

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…