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FOREIGN language educators in the United States have pondered for decades ways of increasing minority study and mastery of foreign languages. In the nineties this concern is becoming even more critical as higher education grapples with the complex issue of diversity among faculty members, staff, and students. How those responsible for foreign language teaching promote language study among our nation's minorities is a significant challenge facing the professoriat today. Recent world events in Eastern Europe—particularly in the former Yugoslavia, where ethnic fighting threatens world peace—remind us how frail political systems are and how important language is in redefining and reshaping world cultures.
In a country where daily thousands of immigrants speaking a host of languages enrich our culture, biased attempts by state legislatures to canonize English as the official language of education and commerce threaten to further isolate Americans from the world community. The continual debate on this issue is, of course, perplexing to language educators, who are accustomed to viewing the world as a global village.
As a nation of immigrants we weave the multicolored fabric of cultures that makes up the American way of life. Ethnic differences and intolerance aside, we are a nation of one forged from the many. Immigrants often speak their native languages in their homes and at social gatherings, less from a fear of speaking English incorrectly than from a sense of pride in their origins and a desire to keep alive their cultural roots.
These new minorities from Central America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, with the existing Native, Hispanic, Asian, and African American minorities, are expected to become the majority in population in this country within a few decades and will make up a large percentage of the workforce. Hence, the need for a well-educated minority population is vital to our nation's survival as a world power. And if we are to maintain our global strength in economics, commerce, technology, and political affairs, our minority citizens must be conversant in the languages of the world.
I must begin this essay by asking how effective modern language departments have been in increasing minority participation in our field. I do so timidly, for as a member of the language-teaching professoriat I share responsibility for attracting and retaining minority students. Available data corroborate a classroom impression that I imagine most of us share: we have not been very effective in fulfilling our responsibility. According to figures presented by Bettina Huber in 1990 and 1991, the percentage of bachelor's degrees in foreign languages going to minorities increased by less than 1% during the first eight years of the 1980s (from 14.2% in 1978–79 to 15.1% in 1986–87). 1 By way of comparison, the percentage of all bachelor's degrees received by minorities increased during this period by 1.5% (from 11% to 12.5%). Asian Americans made substantial gains in relative representation among all degree recipients, as well as among those in foreign languages, while the representation of American Indians held steady. The percentage of African Americans receiving foreign language degrees remained fairly stable during the first part of the 1980s, though the percentage of African Americans receiving bachelor's degrees in all fields during this period declined. The opposite held true for Hispanics: their representation among foreign language degree recipients declined between 1978–79 and 1986–87, but increased among all degree recipients. In 1986–87, Hispanics received 8.1% of all bachelor's degrees granted in foreign languages, while Asian Americans received 3.4%, African Americans 3.2%, and American Indians 0.2%. The equivalent figures for all bachelor's degree recipients are 2.8% for Hispanics, 3.4% for Asian Americans, 5.9% for African Americans, and 0.4% for American Indians. While talking about percentages, we should remember that the actual numbers involved are small. Of approximately 962,000 bachelor's degree recipients in 1986–87,120,244 were minority group members, among whom 1,497 graduated with degrees in modern foreign languages. Of the latter, 803 were Hispanics and 694 were members of other racial and ethnic minorities.
The global advantages of foreign language learning should be of great importance in any initial steps to invite enhanced appreciation of foreign language among students, particularly among minorities. There are many reasons for students to learn a second or even third language: improved higher-order thinking skills, cross-cultural experiences, advanced self-esteem, and personal satisfaction. But these arguments alone are not sufficiently persuasive. We need to highlight the more practical career applications of foreign language study. No matter how vociferously we might lament the loss of altruism and of the thirst for knowledge among our college youth, these students are after all in our classrooms preparing for careers. We need to explore with them how language proficiency affords opportunities in a plethora of careers in law, education, government, industry, business, and not-for-profit fields.
To respond to our students' practical motivations and yet to allow language learning to continue to be the joyful experience that motivated many of us to enter our profession, we must apply language to the situations in life that students confront daily. Discussions on topical issues, such as the drug problem, teenage pregnancy, child abuse, date rape, violence, and homelessness are sure to be stimulating, as are discussions on the students' hopes and fears for the future. This strategy is particularly necessary with disadvantaged youth who view the study of the soft sciences and humanities as a waste of precious tuition dollars that leads to low-paying careers or, to put it more bluntly, to no job at all. If minority students see the practicality of language, they will begin to think of language as a humanistic as well as practical tool that not only enhances self-confidence but provides marketable linguistic skills.
To survive institutionally, language study must be accepted as a vibrant component of the core or liberal arts curriculum. If faculties insist that this general body of knowledge will enable individuals to be independent and critical thinkers, language departments can facilitate this goal by forming partnerships with other disciplines and with the campus placement office. At my institution, most language majors are also pursuing degrees in, for example, business, prelaw, history, or political science. Many colleges and universities have taken even bolder steps toward an interdisciplinary approach by closely tying language learning to subjects such as politics, economics, law, engineering, history, literature, and international relations. I particularly like such models because joint disciplinary study has practical applications and because the programs show that language study is not an isolated exercise in learning merely for the joy of learning.
If we are to attract minorities to study languages, we must also teach languages as the domain of all peoples who speak them and not as the exclusive property of majority groups. For example, the European nations do not hold the copyright on the Latin languages. These languages are spoken across the globe by different ethnic groups and people of color in great numbers. In Third World communities the languages of Europe are thriving and full of vitality. Indigenous cultures have embellished and molded the semantic and syntactic structure of these languages to produce resonant phrasing and words with new images and meaning. James J. Davis, an African American professor at Howard University, in an explanation of how he teaches African American students to appreciate languages, states simply that “we tend to look at culture in the foreign language context in terms of the big icons of civilization such as the Eiffel tower—culture with a big ‘C.’ But what we foreign language teachers need to do is teach culture with a little ‘c’ by taking students inside the map to the people who inhabit other places, to learn what makes them tick, how they behave” (Turner 26). Minority students need to understand how languages have shaped both low and high cultures of the African diaspora, as in the creole dialects of the Caribbean and Louisiana. Even in such high culture as the poetry of Aimé Césaire the indigenous idiom that roots the poet in the world is visibly and audibly striking.
In preparing my thoughts for this essay, I asked a colleague and friend who is an African American professor of French at a major eastern university why she chose to study languages and what kept her committed to teaching language and literature. Her immediate and enthusiastic response was that through language and literature she has been able to forge links with other people that transcend national definitions. Language crosses political, cultural, intellectual, and ideological boundaries and has introduced her and her students to new ways of looking at the world. Languages connect her to people of color across the globe; they are the tools with which she communicates with the people of Africa and the Caribbean and explores and becomes acquainted with the complexities and warmth of the human experience.
Such affinities and experiences need to be brought into the classroom to attract minority youngsters to language study. Minority students will have a greater interest in foreign languages if we use our classes to show them that the experience of people of color is not defined exclusively by the American experience and that as people of color they belong to a world that reaches beyond the borders of the United States. Language classes can offer a global perspective on the relation of people of color to world society and on the variety of their experiences. And if we are to retain minority students' interest, we must convince them of the unlimited opportunities available to them through such study.
We who are head over heels in love with language, who cherish the beauty and passion of words, who pride ourselves in our abilities to communicate, must somehow celebrate that love, passion, and power with our students. We must demonstrate that competency in a second language leads to empowerment and a fuller realization of self. These tasks are perhaps simpler than we imagine. Many ethnic communities have affinities to the rhythm and harmony of language because of their cultural heritages and experiences of dance and music. We often hear that minority students perform less satisfactorily academically because of poor language skills and that they do poorly on standardized tests. And sadly many educators simply shrug their shoulders, feeling that mastery of language eludes minority youngsters. But have we kept in tune with the language of the inner city—of the barrios and the ghettos? It is a language rich in imagery, simile, metaphor, and alliteration. It is a language that resonates. The syncopated rhythm of rap and the harmony of Latin popular music captivate even the smallest of children, who commit these songs and colloquial phrasings to memory.
The point I wish to make is that language learning has to be vital. As language teachers we must rethink the cultures we study in our discipline. Languages no longer belong exclusively to the Old World communities; they belong to the world at large. We should no longer view our disciplines as we did in graduate school, as isolated bodies of knowledge to which we apply various literary and linguistic theories. We and our students must now see our disciplines not as merely the study of language for the pure joy of mastery, as noble as that goal is, but as part of the study of world cultures in a broad intellectual context. We must probe the natural multicultural elements of our disciplines. If we do this earnestly, we will be sure to attract and retain minority language students.
Another creative yet practical step we might take is to work with government agencies and companies that do business abroad, particularly in Third World countries, to develop minority-student internships that require some facility with a foreign language. If invited, some of these countries may wish to cover expenses for students to participate in the programs. Such liaisons would naturally be attractive since many minority students need summer work to pay for college. Institutions should be encouraged to offer tuition remission as an incentive to minority youngsters. Various arrangements could be made to combine language study with other areas of interest or to offer tuition remission to students who achieve a certain level of language proficiency.
Within the professoriat there is grave concern about the lack of minority professors. I am often the lone African American at language and literary seminars. In 1990, of the 3,820 doctorates awarded in the arts and humanities, just 2.3% went to African Americans, 1.2% to Asian Americans, 3.6% to Hispanics, and only 0.3% to Native Americans (Huber, “Minorities”). In 1984–85, there were 363 PhDs awarded in modern foreign languages. Of that number, 0.6% went to Native Americans, 1.7% to Asian Americans, 2.5% to African Americans, and 11.3% to Hispanics (Huber, “Incorporating”). In 1991–92, 415 PhDs were awarded in modern foreign languages. Of this number, 0.2% went to Native Americans, 3.4% to Asian Americans, 1.7% to African Americans, and 14.9% to Hispanics (National Research Council). These are not very encouraging statistics. If we do our job well in teaching minority students, we will undoubtedly attract some of them to advanced study and to careers as language professors and literary scholars. But that simply will not be enough, for the number of African Americans and other minorities with PhDs in languages remains pitifully low even in relation to the number in undergraduate programs.
Teaching students well is the essential first step in attracting them to careers in language teaching. The next steps include developing role model programs in which gifted minority students are mentored by gifted faculty members. All of us can recall special people who nurtured our interest in language study, encouraging us to pursue graduate work. In addition, graduate departments of language must develop financial aid packages and teaching assistantships for minority students.
Once minorities enter the profession, retaining them must be a high priority. Like all junior faculty members, they must be guided in their teaching and research by senior faculty members. And when these minority faculty members are ready to be considered for tenure and promotion, university faculties must be willing to validate the new interests in research and scholarship that minorities bring into the ivy walls of the university. University faculty members become socialized to view scholarly productivity rigidly; they continue to accept as valid only traditional methodologies and fields of study and often reject equally rigorous work in subject matter outside the traditional canon. Interdisciplinary and nontraditional methodologies in research centered on minority issues and interpretations must be accepted as potentially intellectually enriching and challenging approaches and as original contributions to intellectual debate within the disciplines. Diversity in interpretive scholarship must be valued within our universities just as diversity among ethnic and racial minorities must be. We cannot substitute one for the other. A good way to expose our campuses to diversity in faculty members and diversity in academic approaches would be to include in our faculties professors from those cultures whose languages we teach. The teaching of language should rightfully include those whose interpretive expression of that language differs from the mainstream culture's.
I have tried to outline different, if not entirely new, approaches to the question of how to invite broader participation by minorities in language study. To achieve increased numbers of students in the classroom we need to connect language study to job opportunity. We must also introduce the natural linkages between the study of diaspora cultures and the study of languages, building on the minority students' affinity with these cultures. We must continue to teach language as a living tool reflective of the cultural and ethnic groups that enrich language. And lastly, we must not overlook the importance of faculty-student, mentor-protégé relations. We should be working diligently to grow our own colleagues, encouraging our brightest students to imitate and follow us.
Universities must be proactive in the recruitment of minority faculty members. Even in times of financial difficulties, additional lines need to be created for qualified and potentially outstanding minority faculty members. Yet the most distinctive component in any such recruitment and retention effort is commitment. That element, and the resources to allow these new faculty members to participate actively as teachers and scholars, must come from the president and the provost. Minority recruitment and retention must be a priority and an integral part of the university's strategic plan, and it must be accepted broadly throughout the university community, particularly in the departmental ranks.
The proposals I have outlined are doable. Whose language is it anyway? is not a valid question, for language belongs to all of us. A better question is, Are we ready to take the next steps? This essay describes only the initial measures. How far we travel depends largely on whether our courage and willingness will push us to take the necessary bold action.
1 The figures for 1986–87 have been updated with information from Huber's records.
Huber, Bettina J. “Incorporating Minorities into Foreign Language Programs: The Challenge of the Nineties.” ADFL Bulletin 21.2 (1990): 12–19. [Show Article]
———. “Minorities in the Modern Languages: How Well Represented Are They?” MLA convention. San Francisco, 29 Dec. 1991.
National Research Council. Summary Report 1992: Doctorate Recipients from US Universities. Washington: National Academy Press, 1993.
Turner, James S. “Foreign Language Study at Black Colleges.” Humanities Jan.-Feb. 1992: 25–26.
© 1994 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
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