Abstract
This chapter presents findings from a census survey of the full undergraduate student population at a U.S. university to investigate student reasons for (not) studying languages other than English (LOTEs) at the college level, and student ideas for how LOTE courses could be made more accessible and relevant to them. Participants in the study were undergraduate students who both had and had not enrolled in LOTE courses at the university. Findings suggest that for both groups of students, scheduling challenges, and the need to prioritize courses that fulfill degree requirements, were the main reasons students chose not to take LOTE courses. Student ideas for expanding access to LOTEs at the university included offering more options for class meeting times, fully or partially online courses, courses with fewer weekly class meeting times, and lower- or variable-credit courses. Student ideas for making LOTE courses more relevant to them were for courses to focus on aspects of contemporary life and culture in societies in which the language is used; to emphasize everyday language, especially in speaking; and to facilitate highly personalized learning in which LOTE study is linked with their individual academic and personal interests, and their professional goals.
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Notes
- 1.
The large body of research on L2 motivation is primarily based on English as an additional language, however, with scant studies that focus on the study of languages other than English (LOTEs) in English-dominant countries such as the United States (Boo et al., 2015; Mendoza & Phung, 2019; see also the Modern Language Journal 2017 special issue on Beyond Global English: Motivation to Learn Languages in a Multicultural World).
- 2.
More detailed information about the study methods, including details about the quantitative data analysis, is in Murphy et al. (2022).
- 3.
Following feedback from students in focus groups, LOTE proficiency was operationalized in the questionnaire as the ability to speak languages other than English.
- 4.
Students who did not give permission for the University Registrar to release their name and email address, or who were under age 18, were excluded from the study.
- 5.
Coding of the data was completed by the second author of this chapter and Kristin Dalby, former assistant director of the UW-Madison Language Institute.
- 6.
UW-Madison offers undergraduate certificates, not minors.
- 7.
The category of Health Sciences was created as a variable in Murphy et al. (2022) to account for students in the School of Nursing, School of Pharmacy, or who intended to apply for graduate programs in the School of Medicine and Public Health. Health Sciences is not a school or college at UW-Madison.
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Murphy, D., Martin, J. (2023). Amplifying Student Voices: US. Undergraduate Student Perspectives on Expanding Access and Increasing the Relevance of Courses in Languages Other Than English. In: Heidrich Uebel, E., Kronenberg, F.A., Sterling, S. (eds) Language Program Vitality in the United States. Educational Linguistics, vol 63. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43654-3_6
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