1. 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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

7. 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.

9. The ACTR Student Records Database Frequencies Valid cases3453 Mean Age22.7612 Median Age22.0000 Mode Age21.00 Age at the time of the exchange October 2009

14. 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)

17. Factors Affecting Gains on Three Language Modalities (from ILR 1 to 2; 2 to 3 and above) VariableETS Listening ETS Reading OPI (0/1)OPI (0/1/2) OPI 1+ to 2  MLAT34.45*--- MLAT4**--- MLAT5----- MLATSF-6.73--- QualGram----- QualRead*3.40--- QualGen*-2.002.162.60 ETSL1-16.501.66--2.74 ETSR17.808.982.482.40- OPI1---9.04-9.72- Numbers are t-stats from “good models,” Brecht, Ginsberg, Davidson, 1994; Davidson 2010.

18. Three Additional Predictors (Golonka) Means Model Strength = 59.9% Canonical Correlation =.774

19. Flagship-Level 2 to 3 (and above): Average L-2 Weekly Time-on-Task by Activity Type

20. 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 – 803/3+ 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+

21. Percentage of Total Time Spent in L-2 Activities Friends15% Host Family13% (3+), 9.5(3), 8.6(2+) Academic40% Reading 14% (3+), 11%(2+/3) Cultural events 4%(3+), 3.1% (3), 1.7% (2+) Internships 10% Other 4%

22. http://www.americancouncils.org Ddavidson@actr.org