Ball State University senior Gina Schouten has been studying Spanish for nine years, but whether she will actually use the language after graduation is still "up in the air."
But that doesn't mean getting a Spanish major was meaningless, she said. She plans to eventually work with immigrant children teaching English as a second language, and learning Spanish made traveling abroad much easier.
"I think it's important for you to get a sense of yourself and the world," Schouten said.
Schouten, who is also a philosophy major, is one of a growing number of college students nationwide who are majoring in a foreign language. Experts say studying a foreign language is beneficial because the United States is becoming more diverse and other nations are becoming more important internationally.
And that's one reason why Ball State is working to add Arabic and Korean to its list of language program choices, which currently include Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Latin and occasionally Italian and Russian. Limited Chinese and Arabic have been taught in the past at Ball State.
"That's our intent," said Chris Luke, assistant chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics and assistant professor of foreign language education. "Whether it happens or not, we'll have to wait and see."
President George Bush earlier this year announced plans to boost foreign-language study in the United States in an effort to engage other nations and prevent terrorism. Bush recently approved $114 million to help develop critical languages for national security, including Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Korean, Luke said.
BALL STATE PROGRAMS
Ball State has about 300 students majoring in foreign languages and 70 students majoring in foreign language education this year. About 40 students plan to graduate in May, with half double majoring in a language and another subject area, Luke said.
Although the number of foreign language majors has increased by 90 students during the past three years, the number of education majors has been steady, said Luke and Christine Shea, department chairwoman.
Education majors must take about 36 hours beyond the introductory courses, as well as study abroad and take education classes required of teaching majors. While both regular majors and education majors take a department proficiency exam, education majors graduate with a teaching license.
Ball State does not have a university-wide foreign language requirement, but various campus departments such as the English and political science departments require students to have at least four semesters of a language, Luke said. However, that could change as university officials work to revise the core curriculum, with the goal of implementing their proposal by Fall 2007.
"There are a lot of universities that do not have university-wide foreign language requirements, and I know that has been quite discussed lately about perhaps implementing a four-semester foreign language requirement," Luke said. "So I think there is a possibility that we will go that way."
BENEFITS
Many foreign language majors enter graduate school or seek jobs in the business sector or as interpreters or translators, Luke said. But no matter where they go, they are sure to be in demand - especially with the Latino population growing five times faster than the rest of the population since 1980.
"Language with something in business is a very marketable degree," Luke said.
Melinda Messineo, assistant professor of sociology, said learning additional languages was becoming more important for students because of increased globalization, especially with China taking greater precedence in the marketplace.
"We are not just competing on a local, statewide or national level," Messineo said. "We are competing on the global market now, too."
Today's educators place great focus on classes such as math and science, so foreign language is not a major priority in the public school system, Messineo said.
Since so many people speak English, United States citizens feel they do not need to learn another language, Messineo said.
However, foreign language should be a required part of the curriculum in high school, although it is simply an elective in many places, Luke said. Students should also learn a foreign language in middle school because the earlier a child begins, the higher his proficiency level will be in the end, he said.
CHALLENGES
Finding professors to oversee new language programs such as Arabic and Chinese, money to support the programs and students to join them is easier said than done, Shea said.
Most universities favor western European languages because studying and teaching a language that is not Indo-European takes three times as long. With 700 languages worldwide, choosing only a few to teach is also a challenge, she said.
"Arabic has been neglected, and this is a language that has been spoken by 800 million people worldwide," Shea said.
University language departments try to expand the number of programs based on student demand, but often not enough students are willing to enter them, Shea said. With the number of tenured faculty declining against the number of contract faculty - who carry lighter loads - not enough people are available to run long-term language programs.
Also, a Ph.D. professor in Arabic would cost much more than another mainstream language professor, Shea said. Even if the department receives grant money, finding money to keep the language program going is often a struggle, Shea said.
"It gets rough," Shea said. "It gets hard to find that money."
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