Historical trends of foreign language requirements in U.S. higher education and insights from a college Chinese program survey

This study adopts a historically informed approach to examine the evolution, current structure, and implications of foreign language requirements in U.S. higher education. It draws on a survey of 161 Chinese programs at four-year institutions to examine the structure and variation of these requirements. Quantitative results show that approximately 82.6% of surveyed institutions maintain some form of foreign language requirement and that such requirements are typically clustered around two- and four-semester models. No significant differences in requirement length were found across institution types (e.g., public vs. private; liberal arts colleges vs. universities); however, a significant association was observed between requirement length and departmental affiliation. Interviews with program representatives further suggest that the weakening, restructuring, or elimination of foreign language requirements is often followed by immediate and sometimes substantial enrollment declines. The study concludes by arguing that effective advocacy for foreign language requirements requires attention not only to the length of such requirements, but also to clearer policy articulation of the educational value of language study, including intercultural competence, intellectual development, and global engagement.

本研究采用历史视角，考察美国高等教育中外语要求的历史演变、当前结构及其影响。研究基于美国四年制高校的161个中文项目的调查结果，分析外语要求的结构及其差异。定量结果显示，约82.6%的受访院校仍保留某种形式的外语要求，且此类要求通常集中于两学期和四学期两种模式。不同院校类型之间，如公立院校与私立院校、文理学院与大学，在外语要求时长方面未发现显著差异；然而，外语要求时长与项目所属院系之间存在显著关联。对项目代表的访谈进一步表明，外语要求的弱化、重组或取消，往往与学生注册人数下降相关联，且降幅有可能颇为明显。本文最后指出，有效倡导外语要求，不仅需要关注要求本身的时长，也需要在政策层面更清晰地阐明语言学习的教育价值，包括跨文化能力发展、智识发展以及全球参与等。