Languages in a Flat World
December 2007
Rajen Vurdien, Ph.D.Vice-President of Instruction
Saddleback College
Craig Justice, Ph.D.Vice-President of Instruction
Irvine Valley College
Why languages in a flat world?
Linguistic diversity is in danger
UNESCO has concluded that by 2050 more than half of the world’s languages could be extinct
Globalization has led to the realization that people would be better off speaking the same language, whether it is English, Spanish, Chinese, or any language
World will be closer together
Access to the same information
Less room for misunderstandings
The continued spread of English today is a consequence of and a contributor to globalization.
Growth in international trade and multinational corporations
The ever widening reach of American mass media
The expanding electronic network created by the Internet
The linguistic impact of American songs, dress, food, sports, and recreation
Growth in the study of English overseas
Swelling number of students who go abroad to study in English speaking countries
More than half of foreign students enrolled in 6 English mother-tongue countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA
A Genuinely Global Language
The Inner Circle: USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland
The Outer Circle: Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Zambia
The Expanding Circle: China, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, USSR, Zimbabwe
International Languages
International Languages 6700 languages according to UNESCO 21 countries with Spanish as official language 1.12 billion speakers of Mandarin Chinese
France spends hundreds of millions of Euros to support French language and culture world wide
Muslim organizations spend millions of dollars to promote Arabic
Germany fund 78 Goethe Institutes worldwide to promote German
Singapore has a “Speak Mandarin only” campaign
The future of non English languages will essentially rest with the growth of intimate local connections and regionalization
Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College
LANGUAGE Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006
ARABIC 9.89 8.19 9
CHINESE 10.43 8.82 9
FRENCH 26.89 21.99 20
GERMAN 15.02 19.95 14
HEBREW 4.34 4.72 5
ITALIAN 28.29 28.96 26
JAPANESE 15.65 13.6 14
KOREAN 0 2 0
PERSIAN 9.24 10.92 14
SPANISH 136.5 137.68 129
Total 256.25 256.83 240
FTES Fall 2004-2006
Spanish generates the highest number of FTES among all of the foreign languages offered at Saddleback.
Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College
LANGUAGE Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006
ARABIC 2 3 2
CHINESE 3 3 2
FRENCH 11 11 9
GERMAN 10 11 9
HEBREW 2 2 2
ITALIAN 11 11 9
JAPANESE 3 3 3
KOREAN 0 1 0
PERSIAN 4 2 7
SPANISH 41 45 37
Total 87 92 80
Number of Sections Offered Fall 2004-2006
Spanish offers the most sections among all of the foreign languages offered at Saddleback.
Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College
Enrollment Fall 2004-2006
LANGUAGE Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006
ARABIC 93 78 93
CHINESE 104 88 95
FRENCH 261 212 199
GERMAN 146 193 139
HEBREW 44 45 50
ITALIAN 281 289 254
JAPANESE 153 133 140
KOREAN 0 22 0
PERSIAN 92 104 145
SPANISH 1378 1358 1301
Total 2552 2522 2416
Spanish has highest enrollment among all of the foreign languages offered at Saddleback.
Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College
FALL 2004 FALL 2005 FALL 2006
ARABIC 74.2% 70.8% 91.7%
CHINESE 66.3% 53.7% 71.7%
FRENCH 52.5% 58.7% 51.9%
GERMAN 63.7% 73.4% 71.0%
HEBREW 65.2% 66.7% 58.3%
ITALIAN 69.5% 61.6% 71.8%
JAPANESE 72.9% 77.8% 73.6%
KOREAN 0.0% 95.5% 0.0%
PERSIAN 78.6% 58.8% 72.0%
SPANISH 65.9% 68.4% 73.5%
Total 66.0% 67.0% 71.8%
Success Rate Fall 2004-2006
The overall success rate is almost 70% in the three year span. Arabic, Japanese and Spanish have high success rates.
Foreign Languages Course Data Saddleback College
Retention Rate Fall 2004-2006
FALL 2004 FALL 2005 FALL 2006
ARABIC 91.0% 75.0% 97.6%
CHINESE 98.1% 92.7% 92.5%
FRENCH 83.2% 79.6% 81.5%
GERMAN 79.3% 86.4% 83.2%
HEBREW 91.3% 91.1% 100.0%
ITALIAN 82.0% 87.1% 90.0%
JAPANESE 87.9% 92.9% 90.7%
KOREAN 0.0% 100.0% 0.0%
PERSIAN 97.6% 98.0% 88.8%
SPANISH 85.5% 88.4% 89.8%
Total 85.9% 87.9% 89.4%
Overall the retention rate for foreign languages is approximately 88%. Chinese and Hebrew have high retention rates.
American Sign LanguageSaddleback College
Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006
Number of Sections 17 19 19
Enrollment 449 465 452
Success 80.0% 80.2% 75.4%
Retention 95.1% 94.2% 92.5%
Awards (degrees & certificates) 9 5 10
American Sign Language continues to have strong enrollments each year.
Foreign Languages Course Data Irvine Valley College
FTES Fall 2004-2006
Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006
Chinese 13.91 15.17 15.69
French 21.55 22.95 22.57
Japanese 30.95 39.65 50.44
Spanish 57.62 56.98 59.30
TOTAL 124.03 134.75 148.00
Overall FTES growth in the foreign languages have grown over the past 3 falls semesters. Spanish generates the largest number of FTES at Irvine Valley College.
Foreign Languages Course Data Irvine Valley College
Number of Sections Offered Fall 2004-2006
Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006
Chinese 5 6 5
French 10 8 9
Japanese 9 11 11
Spanish 18 13 13
TOTAL 42 38 38
Spanish offers the most sections at Irvine Valley College.
Foreign Languages Course Data Irvine Valley College
Enrollment Fall 2004-2006
Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006
Chinese 156 164 166
French 133 137 125
Japanese 242 268 320
Spanish 391 349 366
TOTAL 922 918 977
Enrollment has grown in foreign languages over the past 3 semesters. Spanish enrollment has dropped slightly and Japanese has increased from Fall 04 to Fall 06.
Foreign Languages Offered at our satellite campus Advanced Technology & Education Park (ATEP)
Fall 2007 & Spring 2008
7 Sections of Foreign Language offered at ATEP: Chinese 1 French 1A Japanese 1 Korean – Introduction to Korean Culture Persian 2 Spanish 1 and 1A
Opportunities and Challengesfor SOCCCD
Discussion Topics
English, the Killer Language Teaching Partnerships with foreign countries Prepare foreign students to attend US universities and
colleges Agreements with foreign universities Teacher exchange
Promote Foreign Language Continue Study abroad Understanding of foreign cultures through student/faculty
exchange Promote regional languages (Spanish, Japanese,
Chinese, Korean)
SOCCCDan International Community
482 students on F-1 Visa from 48 countries Saddleback College – 162 students from 38
countries (68% from Japan, China, Taiwan & Korea)
Irvine Valley College – 320 students from 37 countries (57% from Korea, Japan, Taiwan & China)
About 75 different languages spoken from Quechua to Swahili
Students come from Australia to Yugoslavia and all 6 continents