dr. dan e. davidson president, american councils for international education
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Strategic Investments in Language and Culture Capabilities for the DOD and the Nation: Myths and Realities of U.S. FL Education
Dr. Dan E. Davidson
President, American Councils for International Education
Professor of Russian and SLA (Bryn Mawr)
January 25, 2011
Myth I: US schools are not particularly interested in world languages
Reality:
A Preliminary Report on the Study of Less Commonly Taught Languages in U.S High Schools: the 2009 American Councils Census of Secondary School Programs in the U.S. offering study in the Less Commonly Taught Languages.
Conducted a nationwide survey of U.S. high schools to identify schools that offer less commonly taught languages
Data supplemented by information obtained from the Asia Society, CAL, Univ/MN LRC, Teacher Associations.
29,000 public, private, parochial schools contacted Response rate = 91.8 percent.
3,698 programs offering less commonly taught languages in schools around
the country, employing approximately 3,679 full- and part-time teachers with
an estimated enrollment of about 221,000 students
Distribution of LCTL Programs by State
California
Oregon
Washington
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
UtahColorado
Arizona New Mexico
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Hawaii
Minnesota
Iowa
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
MississippiAlabama
Georgia
Florida
South Carolina
Tennessee
Kentucky
Illinois
Wisconsin
IndianaOhio
Michigan
West Virginia
Virginia
North Carolina
MarylandDelaware
District of Columbia
New JerseyPennsylvania
New York
ConnecticutRhode Island
Massachusetts
Vermont
Maine
Nevada
Alaska
Red = Over 100 schoolsGreen = 50-99 schoolsYellow = 21-49 schoolsBlue = Under 20 schools
New Hampshire
Myth II: US schools and universities do not prepare Americans for professional- level work in world languages
Reality: Americans who start language study with articulated sequences of
language study at the K-12 level achieve 1+/2-level proficiency by the time they begin college;
Americans who enter college with 1+/2-level proficiency in an L-2 have a good possibility of attaining 3-level proficiency by graduation.
Americans who undertake the study of a major world language in college can also attain professional-level (3-level) proficiency in 4 or 5 years of study.
The ACTR Student Records DatabaseFrequencies
Valid cases 3453
Mean Age 22.7612
Median Age 22.0000
Mode Age 21.00
Age at the time of the exchangeOctober 2009
Pre- to Post- Program Change in Listening Proficiency Scores for Summer Students
Chart Date: October 19, 2005, N=505
1 unit gain
24%
1 Thres. + 1 unit
3%
1 Thres. + 2 units
15%
Nul
51%
Loss
1%
1 Thres. + 3 units
5%
2 Thres. + 3 units
.4%2 Thres. + 4 units
1%
Pre- to Post- Program Change in Listening Proficiency Scores for Semester Students
Chart Date: October 19, 2005, N=1392
1 unit gain
20%
1 Thres. + 1 unit
3%
1 Thres. + 2 units
19%
1 Thres. + 3 units
5%
2 Thres. + 3 units
2%2 Thres. + 4 units
2%
Loss
2%
Nul
47%
Pre- to Post- Program Change in Listening Proficiency Scores for Academic Year Students Chart Date: October 19, 2005, N=92
1 unit gain
17%
1 Thres. + 1 unit
8%
1 Thres. + 2 units
30%
1 Thres. + 3 units
16%
2 Thres. + 3 units
2%
2 Thres. + 4 units
10%
Loss
2%
Nul
15%
Comparison of Pre- and Post-Program Oral Proficiency Scores Academic Year Students Through October 2005
N=208
10
24
35
18
10
21
00 0
13
22
38
17
8
2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0+ 1- 1 1+ 2-/2 2+ 3 3+
Oral Proficiency Scores
Per
cent
Pre-Program
Post-Program
Main Components of the Overseas Flagship Program
Formal Learning Language course work in small groups Individual presentations (written and oral) on
specialization area Professional Course Work with native students to
support knowledge/professional discourse development Individual Language Tutors
Internships Discussion groups Homestays Integrated cultural program (bi-weekly, tied to thematic units
of the Flagship course On-going evaluation (testing, site visits, teacher/tutor
reports, portfolio development, self-evaluation) Bi-weekly Language Utilization Reports (time-place,
function)
Arabic Overseas Flagship Program: OPI Scores for 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10
Academic Year Program (N=49)
12
28
18 20
4
49
10
35
1822
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 1+ 2 2+ 3 3+ 4 4+
Proficiency Levels
Per
cen
t
Pre-Program Post-Program
Factors Affecting Gains on Three Language Modalities (from ILR 1 to 2; 2 to 3 and above)
Variable ETS Listening
ETS Reading
OPI (0/1) OPI (0/1/2) OPI 1+ to 2
MLAT3 4.45 * - - -
MLAT4 * * - - -
MLAT5 - - - - -
MLATSF - 6.73 - - -
QualGram - - - - -
QualRead * 3.40 - - -
QualGen * - 2.00 2.16 2.60
ETSL1 -16.50 1.66 - - 2.74
ETSR1 7.80 8.98 2.48 2.40 -
OPI1 - - -9.04 -9.72 -
Numbers are t-stats from “good models,” Brecht, Ginsberg, Davidson, 1994; Davidson 2010.
Three Additional Predictors(Golonka)
Variable Null Gain High P
Qualifying Grammar Test 53.5 66.9 61 .097
Percentage of Errors 13 9.6 5.8 .012
Self-Corrected Errors 3.7 6.2 9.8 .023
Sentence Repair .7 2 5.2 .005
Number of Types 109 123 176 .002
Number of Tokens 296 313 588 .001
Means
Model Strength = 59.9%
Canonical Correlation = .774
Flagship-Level 2 to 3 (and above): Average L-2 Weekly Time-on-Task by Activity Type
157 Reports 332 reports 19 reports 5 reports
September 2005 to Present Average Across
All programs Arabic Russian Persian Central Asian Languages
Formal language learning classes 14.4 17.8 12.7 19.8 3
In homework and other preparation for formal language learning classes 1.2 0.7 1.4 2 0 Internship or specialization coursework 4.8 3.9 5.4 1.7 1.2 Language tutorial sessions 3.1 3.6 3 0.1 6.2 Professional/or academic reading 3.1 4.9 2.5 0.1 0.8 Academic Total 26.6 30.9 25 23.7 11.2 Cultural events 2.4 1.2 3 0.2 4 Host family 7.7 2.3 10 9 18.8 In public transportation or while shopping 3.2 2.6 3.5 1.9 5.1 Other 10.6 23.7 3.9 21.2 5.4 Reading for pleasure 2.9 0.7 4.1 0.9 0 Reading the press 2.5 0.7 3.3 4.5 2.4 Russian radio or television 4.7 2.1 6.1 1.1 3.2 With friends 8.9 5 11.1 1.7 10.2 Other Activity Total 42.9 38.3 45 40.5 49.1 Totals 69.5 69.2 70 64.2 60.3
Mean Time-on-Task by Categories of Activity 890 reports document approximately 60,000 hours of L-2 utilization over six years (N=56)
Activity Average Hrs/Wk Final All activities 70 – 80 3/3+
Homework 8.01 3+ 4.45 3 3.88 2+
Host Family 9.44 3+ 7.31 3 5.25 2+
Cultural Events 2.77 3+ 2.47 3 1.43 2+
Percentage of Total Time Spent in L-2 Activities Friends 15%
Host Family 13% (3+), 9.5(3), 8.6(2+)
Academic 40% Reading 14% (3+), 11%(2+/3)
Cultural events 4%(3+), 3.1% (3), 1.7% (2+)
Internships 10% Other 4%
http://www.americancouncils.org
Ddavidson@actr.org
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