33, no. 1 (Fall 2001): 56-65 To the Editor Search

---

Table of Contents

Previous Article No Further Articles

No Works Cited

IN 1999, the Modern Language Association conducted a survey of English and foreign language departments’ use of tenured and tenure-track, full-time non-tenure-track, and part-time faculty members and graduate teaching assistants in colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The survey asked for information about who taught what in the fall semester of that year, including the number of instructors in each employment category and the number of undergraduate course sections that instructors in each category taught. The survey also asked about the professional support, benefits, and compensation for full-time non-tenure-track faculty members, part-time faculty members paid on a per-course basis, and part-time faculty members paid a fractional full-time salary.

The survey was designed as a census of all modern language departments in the United States and Canada. Accordingly, in November 1999 the MLA contacted 5,245 departments in two- and four-year institutions identified from its database of departmental administrators. Data collection was completed in April 2000. Overall, 2,182 of the departments returned questionnaires, a 42% response rate. United States institutions accounted for 4,969 departments that received a questionnaire (94.7% of the total) and 2,081 that responded (95.4% of the total). Canadian institutions accounted for 276 departments that received a questionnaire (5.3%) and 101 that responded (4.6%). Departments in institutions that grant the doctorate had the highest response rate (51%), those in institutions granting associate’s degrees the lowest (33%). Departments in four-year institutions (including doctoral departments) had a 46% response rate. The findings presented here summarize information for 1,991 departments—673 English departments, 889 foreign language departments, 187 combined English and foreign language departments, and 242 humanities divisions. (Excluded were responding departments of linguistics, comparative literature, English as a second language, and general education that had been part of the original mailing.)

Nine of the disciplinary societies that participate with the MLA in the Coalition on the Academic Workforce did surveys parallel to the MLA’s. Included here are results from societies representing anthropology, art history, cinema studies, independent composition programs (data on composition programs were collected by the Conference on College Composition and Communication of the National Council of Teachers of English), history, linguistics, classics, and philosophy. Comparative data for all ten disciplines—those given here plus English and foreign languages—can be accessed at the American Historical Association’s Web site, www.theaha.org.

The MLA survey’s design as a census of all English and foreign language departments in the United States and Canada originated in a motion that the MLA Delegate Assembly approved at its meeting in December 1998. The motion also provided for the MLA to make results available in a report that identifies departments by name together with the information those departments provided. Information for individual departments can be accessed at www.mla.org. Because the survey was designed as a census, collective findings should be regarded as indicating conditions in responding departments rather than as a statistically verified sample for generalization.

Percentages of Instructors in Different
Employment Categories

Table 1 reports head count, summarizing the percentage of instructors in different employment categories who taught undergraduate courses in responding departments in fall 1999. The percentages are broken down by the department type (English, foreign language, combined English and foreign language, humanities division) and by the highest degree a department grants.

Ninety-eight percent of the responding English and foreign language departments in four-year institutions reported employing tenured or tenure-track faculty members in fall 1999. The percentages are lower for two-year associate’s-granting departments: 79% for English and 84% for foreign languages. Part-time non-tenure-track faculty members were employed by 91% of the responding English departments and 83% of the responding foreign language departments, overall. The employment of full-time non-tenure-track faculty members varied according to the highest degree granted by the responding English or foreign language department. Eighty-six percent of the responding doctorate-granting and 81% of the master’s-granting departments reported employing full-time non-tenure-track faculty members in fall 1999, in comparison with 59% of the bachelor’s-granting and only 34% of the associate’s-granting departments.

Across responding departments, tenured and tenure-track faculty members made up only 35% of the total number of instructors teaching undergraduate courses in fall 1999 and less than half the faculty (i.e., after graduate TAs were excluded). Faculty members holding part-time appointments accounted for 32% of all instructors in the English departments and 29% of all instructors in the foreign language departments.

Two-year college departments reported the highest percentage of part-time instructors teaching in fall 1999: 62% in English and 69% in foreign language departments. In associate’s-granting departments, only 32% of instructors in English and 26% of instructors in foreign language held tenured or tenure-track appointments.

Graduate student TAs made up a plurality of the instructors in the responding doctorate-granting departments: 45% in English and 48% in foreign language departments. Faculty members holding tenured or tenure-track appointments made up the next largest category: 31% in English and 28% in foreign language departments. But if graduate student TAs are combined with part-time faculty members as an overall category of part-time instructors, this category in doctorate-granting departments (61% in English and 60% in foreign language) resembles the part-time instructor head count percentage for two-year colleges.

Departments granting the bachelor’s degree had the highest percentages of tenured and tenure-track faculty members in responding departments: 54% of instructors in English and 46% of instructors in foreign language. Part-time faculty members made up the next largest category in these departments: 36% in English and 35% in foreign language.

Percentages of Undergraduate Course Sections Taught by Instructors in Different Employment Categories

Table 2 shows the percentage of undergraduate course sections that teachers in each of the four employment categories taught in fall 1999, by the highest degree a department grants. Findings are shown in greater detail in table 3A (English departments) and table 3B (foreign language departments), which include percentages for first-year writing or first-year language sections, other types of undergraduate sections, and all undergraduate sections. To provide some context for the percentages of course sections taught, the percentage is also given of all undergraduate course sections that were first-year writing or first-year language. Table 4 shows the percentage, by instructor category, of undergraduate teaching that was made up of first-year writing or first-year language sections, broken down by the highest degree a department grants.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty members taught a plurality of undergraduate course sections in responding departments: 42.2% in English, 41.4% in foreign language. Part-time faculty members taught the next highest percentage: 28.6% in English, 25.5% in foreign language. But percentages are more revealing when broken down by the departmental degree granted and course type.

In English departments, undergraduate sections that tenured and tenure-track faculty members taught ranged from a high of 59% in bachelor’s-granting to a low of 31% in doctorate-granting departments. The corresponding figures for foreign language departments are a high of 54% in bachelor’s-granting and a low of 26% in doctorate-granting departments.

In doctoral departments, graduate student TAs taught a plurality of the undergraduate sections: 35% in English, 41% in foreign language. Part-time faculty members taught an additional 19% of undergraduate sections in English and 14% in foreign language.

First-year writing and first-year language accounted for almost half the undergraduate course sections the departments taught in fall 1999. At the associate’s-degree level, first-year writing accounted for more than 60% of all sections, first-year language for more than 78%.

The survey findings reflect that, while undergraduate enrollments have grown, the size of the professorial faculty has not grown proportionately. Consequently, institutions, particularly institutions with doctoral programs, assign tenured and tenure-track faculty members to the advanced undergraduate and graduate courses for which those faculty members are most qualified and rely on part- or full-time adjunct faculty members (or, where they are available, graduate student teaching assistants) to handle the many sections of introductory writing and language courses. In the doctoral English departments, tenured and tenure-track faculty members taught 6% of the first-year writing sections, which represented 9% of the undergraduate sections such faculty members taught. In the doctoral foreign language departments, tenured and tenure-track faculty members taught 7% of the first-year language sections, 13% of the undergraduate sections they taught. By contrast, in departments that grant the bachelor’s as their highest degree, tenured and tenure-track faculty members taught 42.2% of first-year writing sections and 41.8% of first-year language sections, representing 34% and 37%, respectively, of the undergraduate sections taught by that group. Tenured and tenure-track faculty members in two-year colleges taught the highest percentage of the first-year writing and first-year language sections in their departments, 44.8% in English and 40.5% in foreign languages, representing 57% and 77%, respectively, of the teaching they did.

The teaching duties of part-time faculty members and graduate student TAs were concentrated in first-year writing and first-year language courses. Graduate student TAs in doctoral English departments taught 52% of the first-year writing sections (70% of all sections those TAs taught); in doctoral foreign language departments, TAs taught 57% of the first-year language sections (62% of all sections they taught). Part-time faculty members taught an additional 24% of the first-year writing sections and 16% of the first-year language sections in doctoral departments. In the bachelor’s-granting departments, where graduate students are not available as teaching assistants, part-time faculty members taught 41% of the first-year writing sections and 35% of the first-year language sections. Across all responding departments, two-thirds of the undergraduate sections taught by part-time faculty members were first-year writing or first-year language.

Salaries, Benefits, and Professional Support

Table 5 shows average pay in fall 1999 reported for part-time faculty members who are paid by the course. Table 6 shows 1999–2000 average annual salaries reported for full-time non-tenure-trac faculty members, and table 7 shows average annual salaries for part-time faculty members who are paid on a fractional basis.

Per-course pay for part-time faculty members was highest in doctoral departments, lowest in associate’s-granting departments. Departments reported that, on average, part-time faculty members paid by the course taught two courses in their departments in fall 1999. The two-course average held across all degree-granting types, regardless of the varying teaching loads that tenured and tenure-track faculty members assume.

The average annual salary for full-time non-tenure-track faculty members was $33,559 in English departments, and $33,912 in foreign language departments. The national salary survey conducted annually by the College and University Personnel Association (CUPA) provides a useful comparison. The CUPA survey for 1999–2000 reports that on average faculty members in English holding the rank of instructor earned $28,027 in public institutions and $31,405 in private institutions. In foreign languages those holding the rank of instructor earned $28,983 in public institutions and $32,294 in private institutions. That same academic year, salaries for new assistant professors in English, CUPA reports, were $38,300 and $36,619 in public and private institutions, respectively. In foreign languages, salaries for new assistant professors were $38,593 and $36,736 in public and private institutions, respectively. The average annual salary for part-time faculty members paid by the fraction was $21,951 in English, $21,213 in foreign language.

For non-tenure-track faculty members, there were significant differences in benefits offered between those who worked full-time and those who worked part-time. Table 8B shows that no more than 20% of departments reported health benefits for part-time faculty members who were paid by the course, while 70% of English departments and 65% of foreign language departments reported that these faculty members were offered no health, retirement, or life insurance benefits at all. By contrast, three-quarters or more of departments reported offering health, retirement, and life insurance benefits to full-time non-tenure-track faculty members, and fewer than 2% of departments reported that these faculty members were offered no benefits (table 8A). Availability of benefits for part-time faculty members paid by fraction falls between benefits for full-time non-tenure-track faculty members and benefits for part-time faculty members paid by course (table 8C).

Instructors of all categories and across all degree-granting department types generally receive basic professional support such as office space; access to a computer, telephone, mailbox, and photocopying; and library privileges. The quality of the support, however, differs markedly with the category of instructor. More than three-quarters of full-time non-tenure-track faculty members in responding departments enjoy a private office and private computer access, whereas more than three-quarters of part-time faculty members who are paid per course must share office space, and two-thirds share computer access (table 9A and table 9B).

© 2001 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.

ADFL Bulletin 33, no. 1 (Fall 2001): 56-65

---

Table of Contents

Previous Article No Further Articles

No Works Cited