: Advocating for Hindi : The Role of Community Agency Findings from DesiLearn: South Asian Languages K-12 Research Study Anup P. Mahajan NCLRC

Title VI Foreign Language Resource Centers

Critical Languages BengaliMarathi GujaratiPunjabi HindiTamil KannadaTelugu KashmiriUrdu MalayalamNepali U.S. Department of Education Priority Languages U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, HHS, HUD, Interior, Labor, State, Treasury

Context Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi,Tamil, and Urdu are among the top 20 languages with the most speakers in the world. Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version:

DesiLearn Who is doing what and where in the U.S. for the teaching of: Bengali Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Malayalam Marathi Nepali Punjabi Tamil Telugu Urdu What do teachers and administrators report as their needs and challenges?

DesiLearn K-12 Survey + Teaching contexts + Teachers’ professional background + Work/employment situation + Professional development needs + Challenges (open-ended) + Needs (open-ended)

DesiLearn K-12 Survey Stage 1: Telephone-administered questionnaire Stage 2: Online survey

Trends in the U.S.

Key Findings Building capacity + Articulation Motivating and sustaining desire for proficiency in South Asian heritage languages + Public awareness and support + Sustainability

Thank you! Anup P. Mahajan Executive Director, NCLRC Washington, DC (202)