A Study of Attrition in Foreign Language Enrollments in Four Suburban Public Schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study began with a survey of twenty‐eight school districts of Erie County, New York, and its aims were to determine and compare the attrition in foreign language. Additional data, obtained through discussion with teachers, interviews with students, questionnaires, and Flanders' Interaction Analysis assisted in the formulation of the following conclusions: (1) School districts situated in agricultural and industrial communities offered foreign language study beginning at grade nine while schools situated in residential communities tended to begin the study of foreign languages in the seventh grade. (2) The attrition of foreign language enrollments in high socioeconomic school districts was substantially less than that of schools sinated in lower socioeconomic background. The critical points in dropping foreign language study occurred at the end of the second and third level. (4) Fifty percent of the student discontinued their study because they had satisfied requirements for college entrance while the other fifty percent discontinued because (a) the second and third level was “hard,” (b) preferred another subject, (c) were not interested in continuing, (d) were advised by guidance counselor, and (e) did not like the teach (5) Teachers were aware that the amount the content required was not satisfactorily adjust to individual differences.