A Profile of Foreign Language Majors Who Work, Study, and Travel Abroad

Abstract

experience. This article reports the findings of a nationwide survey of US students majoring in a foreign language who study, travel, and work abroad. Emerging from this study is a profile of traveling foreign language majors and the nature of their international experience. The first college study abroad programs for college students were linked to the formal study of language in the college curriculum. Archer Brown describes the origin of study abroad programs: the 1920s the University of Delaware and Sweetbriar and Smith Colleges introduced the concept of spending a junior year abroad for undergraduate language majors and, in so doing, began a pattern of study abroad that is still very much in effect.'1 The pattern Brown identifies can be seen in the publication of Marjorie Cohen's Work, Study, Travel Abroad: The Whole World Handbook, which describes study abroad opportunities for US students. In 1984, this Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) publication listed some 470 programs around the globe which emphasize the study of language and culture (pp. 299-339). The Institute of International Education estimates that 27,145 students participated in study abroad programs sponsored by US educational institutions in. 198283.2 Increasingly, high school students are encouraged to participate in international education opportunities in other countries. Underlying most of these programs is the assumption that immersion in another culture enances cultural learning as well as language learning.3 In addition to those programs linked directly to a language curriculum at the secondary and post-secondary level, students participate in programs initiated by private non-degree granting organizations. Still others pursue international exchange through a host of work, independent study, and travel opportunities. Brown's estimate (p. 72) that 750,000 US students studied, traveled, or worked abroad during the early years of this decade indicates large numbers of students choosing these alternatives.