AS the number of immigrants who came to the United States as children and those who were born here to immigrant parents soared, there is a sort of renewed sense of ethnic pride taking hold among the younger generations. Today more "heritage speakers" who grew up speaking a language other than English at home enroll in programs of their mother tongues, New York Times has reported.
The University of California, Los Angeles, with financing from the US Education Department, is conducting the first national count of college programs geared toward heritage students.
So far, 28 institutions have responded, from large state universities to small private colleges in all regions of the country. In all, they reported offering 54 foreign language courses, including 28 specifically for heritage speakers.
According to a survey by the Modern Language Association of America, the percentage of students enrolled in foreign language courses fell to 9 per cent in 2002 from 11 per cent in 1970, even as college enrollment nearly doubled overall. But enrollment in certain languages exploded during that period, mirroring immigration patterns, according to the survey.
Enrollment in Chinese classes, for example, grew to 34,000 students from 6,200. The number of students in Arabic classes grew to 11,000 from 1,300, and enrollment in Korean courses jumped to 5,200 from 100.
Unlike courses for new learners, which are often conducted in English, classes for heritage speakers typically are carried out in the language being taught from the start. Students work on learning the alphabet, if needed, and the rules of grammar while discussing politics and current events. In many cases, they also improve their conversational skills by rooting out the bad habits they have learned in an English-speaking environment.NEW YORK TIMES
