The Empirical Evidence of Foreign Language Study

Abstract

This article examines national transcript samples that were set up at different times with different samples and different rules. College transcript samples covering the period 1972-86 show a flat participation rate in foreign language study but increases occurred among business majors and at nonselective institutions. Trends across five high school transcript samples (from 1969 to 1990), on the other hand, leave too much to speculation. Data from the 1991 National Household Education Survey are used to conclude that foreign language study in adulthood is largely a matter of personal interest, not economic interest, and that participation rates are very low. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 allow us to examine the long-term relationships between foreign language study and adult life. Findings indicate that those who studied foreign language in college were more likely to be working in human service occupations at age 32 or 33 than those who studied no foreign language and that, in terms of earnings and unemployment, the benefits of foreign language study are negligible.