ment has made a major contribution through title VI of the Higher Education Act, originally known as the National Defense Education Act. These programs have a splendid track record, and in our opinion merit the continued recognition and support of the Congress. Valuable as they are, however, they are also highly specialized and therefore limited in the number of people they can serve and in the kinds of institutions where they can be housed. To meet the growing economic, political, and cultural needs of our citizens for communicative skills in the use of foreign languages, programs of study in languages and cultures need to be made accessible to students of all ages in as many communities as possible. Incentives need to be found to encourage schools, colleges, and universities to invest their own resources into setting up programs in a variety of languages. Incentives need to be found to encourage students, both in high school and in postsecondary education, to make the kind of commitment necessary for success, and above all, ways need to be found to insure an adequate supply of skilled teachers to meet anticipated needs and to retrain, refresh, and reequip experienced teachers to meet a growing demand. Like the study of science, language study requires a considerable investment of time and effort. Like science teachers, teachers of foreign languages can easily grow rusty in their skills and have a legitimate need for refresher training at regular intervals. As part of our own effort to build language competence in the Nation, leaders of our profession have recently embarked on a major effort to reach consensus on precise definitions of the stages of achievement in language study, ranging from novice level to survival skills, to the level of proficiency necessary for performing one's job. The achievement of consensus in these definitions will not only help us become more accountable to our public, it will also enable us to shift the basis of educational measurement in our field from credit hours, that is, seat time, to proficiency. In other words, we will be able to certify what our students can do with a language, not merely how much time they have spent in the classroom. We are working on this, and the imminent, we hope, achievement of these definitions will, we think, usher in a quiet revolution in the teaching, study, and appreciation of foreign languages in the United States. We believe that this particular change is in the national interest of the United States and that the kind of support and vision offered by such bills as S. 530 and H.R. 1310 will help us in accomplishing this goal. I can assure the committee that our profession in turn is eager to make its contribution to helping the Nation prepare for the 21st century. [The prepared statement of Mr. Brod follows:] STATEMENT PRESENTED TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, ARTS & HUMANITIES U.S. SENATE March 9, 1983 Presented by: Richard Brod Director, Foreign Language Secretary-Treasurer, Joint For Further Information Contact: J. David Edwards, Director Tele: 202/483-7200 THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN, AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE, FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO REPRESENT THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION LANGUAGES, THE CLASSICS, TRANSLATION, ENGLISH AS A SECOND IS NECESSARY AND TO STATE AGAIN OUR FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF IN SINCE 1979, WHEN THE PERKINS COMMISSION DECLARED THE STATE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY IN THE UNITED STATES "SCANDALOUS", THERE HAS BEEN A TENUOUS REVIVAL IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY. BUT THIS REVIVAL IS, AT THIS POINT, VERY SLIGHT AND VERY PURSUED A FOREIGN LANGUAGE BEYOND THE SECOND YEAR OF STUDY. ONLY EIGHT PERCENT OF THE COLLEGES OF THIS COUNTRY REQUIRED WE WILL SEE AN INCREASED DEMAND FOR LANGUAGE STUDY ALTHOUGH THE SLIGHT INCREASE IN THE RECENT DEMAND FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES HAS BEEN THE RESULT OF A NUMBER OF FACTORS: THE WILL CONTINUE THIS MOMENTUM WITH ITS FINDINGS WHEN ITS DIGEST, HARPERS AND SO FORTH; AND SOME NEW AND CREATIVE APPROACHES BY THE PROFESSION ITSELF SUCH AS COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION. WHILE THE SITUATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES IS, IN MANY THERE ARE ALSO PROBLEMS THAT ARE UNIQUE TO LANGUAGE TEACHING. SEVERE TEACHER SHORTAGES OF MATH AND SCIENCE EXCEPT WITH REGARD TO THE CLASSICS, THE LESS COMMONLY TAUGHT LANGUAGES AND DUAL LANGUAGE ABILITIES. IN OTHER LANGUAGES, WE ARE EXPERIENCING "EMERGING SHORTAGES" AS THE RESULT OF INCREASING DEMAND AND REIMPLEMENTATION OF REQUIREMENTS. IN A RECENT NON-SCIENTIFIC SURVEY BY JNCL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE SUPERVISORS IN TWELVE STATES, ELEVEN SPOKE OF "EMERGING" AND "SPOT" SHORTAGES. THESE SHORTAGES WILL BE EXACERBATED AS REQUIREMENTS ARE RE-INSTITUTED. FOR EXAMPLE, LAST YEAR SEVENTY COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES RE-INSTITUTED OR STRENGTHENED LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS. AMONG THESE WERE SOME FAIRLY LARGE STATE UNIVERSITIES, SUCH AS THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON AND UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT. THESE INCREASED OR STRENGTHENED ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS WILL PUT CONSIDERABLE PRESSURE ON SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO FIND TEACHERS AND INCREASE COURSE OFFERINGS. ANOTHER SLIGHT DISSIMILARITY FROM OTHER TEACHING PROFESSIONS IS THE VITAL NEED FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE METHODICALLY, AS THE DEMAND FOR COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS, DEVELOP CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE APPROACHES. THUS FAR, I HAVE FOCUSED PRIMARILY ON THE NEED FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS, THE REALITY IS THAT WE MUST ENCOURAGE INCREASED LANGUAGE STUDY FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT INTEND TO PURSUE CAREERS IN EDUCATION AS WELL. FOR EQUALLY IMPORTANT INTELLECTUAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REASONS, WE MUST PROVIDE LANGUAGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR FUTURE BUSINESSMEN, DIPLOMATS, SOLDIERS, SOCIAL WORKERS AND OTHERS. IN AN EDUCATIONAL SENSE, IT IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT THAT WE ENCOURAGE LANGUAGE STUDY IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS AS WELL AS IN POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTIONS. SECONDLY, |