The Pennsylvania State University Foreign Language Survey: A Summary for Teachers of German

Abstract

In an attempt to understand better the attitudes and opinions students hold about the foreign languages they are studying, a survey was administered by the College of the Liberal Arts of the Pennsylvania State University during the Winter term, 1967.1 It is hoped that the results of this survey will aid counselors and advisors in guiding students who are seriously seeking a meaningful learning experience. The results are also intended to help individual language departments to better structure and administer their basic language programs. Of the total group of 1549 students in the beginning language sections at the University Park campus who completed a brief free-response questionnaire, 1380 were enrolled in courses for one of the three major languages: 507 in French, 464 in German, and 409 in Spanish.2 Although this distribution can be considered normal, the ratio between males and females in the various languages showed marked differences. The total group was made up of approximately three males for every two females. This ratio prevailed among the students in the Russian and Spanish classes; in French, however, the ratio was reversed: there were two males for every three females. In the German classes, the difference was even more noticeable with three males for every female. These ratios supply a first indication of the problems facing language teachers. Some of the reasons underlying this enrollment pattern will be discussed in the following. High school and university counseling had only a limited influence on the student's choice of a FL. Ninety percent of the students stated they did not select their particular FL on the advice of their parents, high school teachers, counselors, or principals, pre-orientation university counselors, or university professors. One third of the students reported they had simply continued the language begun in high school; two thirds of these gave as one of their main reasons for taking the language in high school that they expected to enjoy it. The survey also showed that the advice of friends and classmates who were taking or had taken a FL was more valued than that of school personnel. It is not surprising that at the high school level students are not sure about their future needs and do not have definite goals to guide them, and it may be that