African lgs (Arabic, Hausa, Swahili)

African lgs (Swahili, Zulu, Hausa)

Hausa

Chinese

Chinese

Czech

Dutch

Hebrew

Hindi-Urdu

Hindi

Japanese

Japanese

Japanese

Maori

Persian

Persian

Polish

Russian

Samoan

Serbo-Croatian

Tagalog

Tongan

* Enrollment Note: Two respondents supplied specific enrollment figures for courses and terms. Eleven others gave approximate numbers, or total numbers for all courses in a year. Most gave general impressions, and some said they would bring enrollment figures with them to the summit.

Reasons cited for increases in enrollment:

• Increased publicity for the courses, including more advertising on campus and in the community, more recruiting by the instructors and more favorable word of mouth from former students.
• An increase in the number of heritage students for Hindi, Tagalog, and Persian, and for Yoruba, greater interest in African languages and cultures and an awareness of the importance of Yoruba heritage for African Americans.
• For Chinese, the development of a curricular track tailored to the needs of heritage students, as well as a mandatory placement test, are reasons given for the increased retention enrollment rates.
• For Chinese and Japanese, the increased potential for business opportunities in Asia.
• For Japanese, students who took it as a high school language course.
• For Hawaiian, the sovereignty issue has sparked increased interest in the language
• An overall increased awareness of LCTLs.

Reasons cited for decreases in enrollment:

• For Japanese, the economic decline of Japan.
• For Russian, enrollments have dropped 30-70% nationwide since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Students no longer think it is important or will "help" them get a job, many government agencies have stopped hiring Russian specialists, there has been a decline in the popularity of a Russian language/literature major.
• For others: a lack of publicity and awareness; lack of departmental support (including lack of up-to-date material and inconsistent teaching, and discouraging graduate students from taking the course for graduate credit); university policies which favor MCTLs, such as credit for high school work, and unlimited sections of MCTL classes.

Reasons for increases:

• More job opportunities (EFL instruction and business internships) are available. Also, the number of students increases as more resources/materials for study become available.
• At the high school level: students have already taken a MCTL, are interested in languages, want a challenge, like the opportunity to learn on their own.

Reasons for decreases:

• New York state policies on high school language requirements and secondary school availability have led to an increase in enrollments for Spanish and a corresponding decrease in LCTLs.