Kristal Bivona details the MLA’s new report on world language enrollments
The Modern Language Association (MLA) published a new report on the state of language education at the post-secondary level. The report, Enrollments in Languages Other than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, covers enrollments in 2013 at 2,696 institutions. The MLA’s has gathered and analyzed data on world language enrollments since 1958, with recent reports showing enrollments in 2009, 2006, and 2002. This year’s findings are a mixture of good news and bad news for language departments at U.S. colleges and universities: enrollments in world languages decreased by 6.9% from 2009 to 2013. Despite this, enrollments in advanced courses increased for many languages, meaning that although fewer students are enrolling in language courses overall, more students are continuing their language education and becoming more proficient.
