Languages in a Flat World

December 2007

Rajen Vurdien, Ph.D.Vice-President of Instruction

Saddleback College

Craig Justice, Ph.D.Vice-President of Instruction

Irvine Valley College

Why languages in a flat world?

Linguistic diversity is in danger

UNESCO has concluded that by 2050 more than half of the world’s languages could be extinct

Globalization has led to the realization that people would be better off speaking the same language, whether it is English, Spanish, Chinese, or any language

World will be closer together

Access to the same information

Less room for misunderstandings

The continued spread of English today is a consequence of and a contributor to globalization.

Growth in international trade and multinational corporations

The ever widening reach of American mass media

The expanding electronic network created by the Internet

The linguistic impact of American songs, dress, food, sports, and recreation

Growth in the study of English overseas

Swelling number of students who go abroad to study in English speaking countries

More than half of foreign students enrolled in 6 English mother-tongue countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA

A Genuinely Global Language

The Inner Circle: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland

The Outer Circle: Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Zambia

The Expanding Circle: China, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, USSR, Zimbabwe

International Languages

International Languages 6700 languages according to UNESCO 21 countries with Spanish as official language 1.12 billion speakers of Mandarin Chinese

France spends hundreds of millions of Euros to support French language and culture world wide

Muslim organizations spend millions of dollars to promote Arabic

Germany fund 78 Goethe Institutes worldwide to promote German

Singapore has a “Speak Mandarin only” campaign

The future of non English languages will essentially rest with the growth of intimate local connections and regionalization

Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College

LANGUAGE Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006

ARABIC 9.89 8.19 9

CHINESE 10.43 8.82 9

FRENCH 26.89 21.99 20

GERMAN 15.02 19.95 14

HEBREW 4.34 4.72 5

ITALIAN 28.29 28.96 26

JAPANESE 15.65 13.6 14

KOREAN 0 2 0

PERSIAN 9.24 10.92 14

SPANISH 136.5 137.68 129

Total 256.25 256.83 240

FTES Fall 2004-2006

Spanish generates the highest number of FTES among all of the foreign languages offered at Saddleback.

Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College

LANGUAGE Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006

ARABIC 2 3 2

CHINESE 3 3 2

FRENCH 11 11 9

GERMAN 10 11 9

HEBREW 2 2 2

ITALIAN 11 11 9

JAPANESE 3 3 3

KOREAN 0 1 0

PERSIAN 4 2 7

SPANISH 41 45 37

Total 87 92 80

Number of Sections Offered Fall 2004-2006

Spanish offers the most sections among all of the foreign languages offered at Saddleback.

Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College

Enrollment Fall 2004-2006

LANGUAGE Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006

ARABIC 93 78 93

CHINESE 104 88 95

FRENCH 261 212 199

GERMAN 146 193 139

HEBREW 44 45 50

ITALIAN 281 289 254

JAPANESE 153 133 140

KOREAN 0 22 0

PERSIAN 92 104 145

SPANISH 1378 1358 1301

Total 2552 2522 2416

Spanish has highest enrollment among all of the foreign languages offered at Saddleback.

Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College

FALL 2004 FALL 2005 FALL 2006

ARABIC 74.2% 70.8% 91.7%

CHINESE 66.3% 53.7% 71.7%

FRENCH 52.5% 58.7% 51.9%

GERMAN 63.7% 73.4% 71.0%

HEBREW 65.2% 66.7% 58.3%

ITALIAN 69.5% 61.6% 71.8%

JAPANESE 72.9% 77.8% 73.6%

KOREAN 0.0% 95.5% 0.0%

PERSIAN 78.6% 58.8% 72.0%

SPANISH 65.9% 68.4% 73.5%

Total 66.0% 67.0% 71.8%

Success Rate Fall 2004-2006

The overall success rate is almost 70% in the three year span. Arabic, Japanese and Spanish have high success rates.

Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College

Retention Rate Fall 2004-2006

  FALL 2004 FALL 2005 FALL 2006

ARABIC 91.0% 75.0% 97.6%

CHINESE 98.1% 92.7% 92.5%

FRENCH 83.2% 79.6% 81.5%

GERMAN 79.3% 86.4% 83.2%

HEBREW 91.3% 91.1% 100.0%

ITALIAN 82.0% 87.1% 90.0%

JAPANESE 87.9% 92.9% 90.7%

KOREAN 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%

PERSIAN 97.6% 98.0% 88.8%

SPANISH 85.5% 88.4% 89.8%

Total 85.9% 87.9% 89.4%

Overall the retention rate for foreign languages is approximately 88%. Chinese and Hebrew have high retention rates.

American Sign LanguageSaddleback College

  Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006

Number of Sections 17 19 19

Enrollment 449 465 452

Success 80.0% 80.2% 75.4%

Retention 95.1% 94.2% 92.5%

Awards (degrees & certificates) 9 5 10

American Sign Language continues to have strong enrollments each year.

Foreign Languages Course Data Irvine Valley College

FTES Fall 2004-2006

  Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006

Chinese 13.91 15.17 15.69

French 21.55 22.95 22.57

Japanese 30.95 39.65 50.44

Spanish 57.62 56.98 59.30

TOTAL 124.03 134.75 148.00

Overall FTES growth in the foreign languages have grown over the past 3 falls semesters. Spanish generates the largest number of FTES at Irvine Valley College.

Foreign Languages Course Data Irvine Valley College

Number of Sections Offered Fall 2004-2006

  Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006

Chinese 5 6 5

French 10 8 9

Japanese 9 11 11

Spanish 18 13 13

TOTAL 42 38 38

Spanish offers the most sections at Irvine Valley College.

Foreign Languages Course Data Irvine Valley College

Enrollment Fall 2004-2006

  Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006

Chinese 156 164 166

French 133 137 125

Japanese 242 268 320

Spanish 391 349 366

TOTAL 922 918 977

Enrollment has grown in foreign languages over the past 3 semesters. Spanish enrollment has dropped slightly and Japanese has increased from Fall 04 to Fall 06.

Foreign Languages Offered at our satellite campus Advanced Technology & Education Park (ATEP)

Fall 2007 & Spring 2008

7 Sections of Foreign Language offered at ATEP: Chinese 1 French 1A Japanese 1 Korean – Introduction to Korean Culture Persian 2 Spanish 1 and 1A

Opportunities and Challengesfor SOCCCD

Discussion Topics

English, the Killer Language Teaching Partnerships with foreign countries Prepare foreign students to attend US universities and

colleges Agreements with foreign universities Teacher exchange

Promote Foreign Language Continue Study abroad Understanding of foreign cultures through student/faculty

exchange Promote regional languages (Spanish, Japanese,

Chinese, Korean)

SOCCCDan International Community

482 students on F-1 Visa from 48 countries Saddleback College – 162 students from 38

countries (68% from Japan, China, Taiwan & Korea)

Irvine Valley College – 320 students from 37 countries (57% from Korea, Japan, Taiwan & China)

About 75 different languages spoken from Quechua to Swahili

Students come from Australia to Yugoslavia and all 6 continents