L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 6 ENZA ANTENOS F oreign language edu- cation is making head- lines once again, thanks to the recent report by the Modern Language Association. Foreign language enrollments grew steadily since 1998, peaking in 2009, but they have since dipped. New data continues to be less than encouraging. The latest numbers collected during the fall 2016 semester indicate that enrollments have dropped 9.2% nationally for the 15 most commonly taught languages. This is the second biggest drop recorded by the MLA, the first taking place in 1972 when lan- guage enrollments plummeted by 12.6%. A closer look at the data demonstrates some rather sur- prising information. Of particu- lar interest, is the overall down- ward in enrollment numbers. In the most recent report, only Japanese and Korean showed any growth. Spanish, although it still lays claim to the majority of language enrollments, has also seen fluctuations in enrollment trends which makes it just as vulnerable as other foreign lan- guages. With Spanish still in the lead, the remaining top five lan- guages are French, American Sign Language, German, and Japanese (replacing Italian). With these overall trends, it is time to better understand what the future is for Italian in higher education. The language wit- nessed a significant decrease (20.1%) in numbers of enrolling students and questions rise about whether this should be consid- ered a lone exception or if it may become the norm. In the past, when enrollments in language studies grew, Italian recorded modest improvements. When they overall dropped, so did those of the Italian language, which suffered thus more than others. Globally, interest in the study of Italian flourishes, yet the formal study of it in the US suffers. Italy is the number one non-English destination of stu- dents studying abroad, yet the language is valued less than the culture by our students. Italian in California Data show Italian enrollments decreased dramatically in Cali- fornia, with a drop of 22.4%. Further pattern analysis provides us with an understanding of the numbers, but not a rationale for the decrease. The number of four-year institutions in California offering Italian has decreased by 13.5%, which means only 37 institu- tions, as of today, offer Italian as a subject. Data reveals that, of these institutions, more than half have experienced drops in enrollments. But it is not all doom and gloom. Four institutions that did not report enrollments in 2013 have reported enrollments in 2016. Moreover, 14 programs have had steady enrollment pat- terns and some have substantially grown. Research I have recently conducted, showed for instance that the University of California, Davis, California State Universi- ty, Long Beach, and the Univer- sity of San Francisco, which all offer sizable programs, have shown strong growth in enroll- ments.Of the smaller programs, California Polytechnic Universi- ty, San Luis Obipso and Califor- nia State University, Chico,have also experienced steady growth. Clorinda Donato, the George L. Graziadio Chair of Italian Studies at California State Uni- versity, Long Beach offers the following reflection, "In times of budget shortfalls, universities often cut language requirements and therefore, language pro- grams. Such cuts in recent years have affected all languages on college and university campuses. Italian thrives where there are strong community-university partnerships and full-time faculty in place to offer program stabili- ty from year to year. The engagement of the Italian gov- ernment is also a crucial factor. Languages that have increased, like Japanese and Korean, have benefited from government fund- ing to universities to augment full-time positions, as well as strong community and donor support. Small programs are vul- nerable to cuts, while big pro- grams weather budgetary vagaries. I encourage the Italian government and the Italian and Italian American communities of California to renew their com- mitment to the teaching of Italian through the establishment of more endowed chairs and schol- arships for Italian language study." It is not only a matter of fund- ing and community support, but also of hard work on Italian departments' behalf, as Federico Pacchioni, the Marybelle and Paul Musco Chair in Italian Studies at Chapman University explains - Chapman Universities is one of the few smaller institu- tions to have witnessed rises in the number of Italian students in recent months: "It's essential that Italian Studies programs find ways to contribute to various dis- ciplines on campus through the offering of new interdisciplinary courses and powerful event pro- gramming. To increase their vitality and relevance, our pro- grams need to activate the extremely rich reservoir of Ital- ian culture in connection to other disciplines (music, art, literature, science, food studies, environ- mental studies, etc.) as well as become a point of reference for the surrounding Italian commu- nity." But the involvement of the community remains central for Pacchioni, too: " I invite the Ital- ian and Italian American com- munity to become more interest- ed in the intellectual and cultural life of Italian university pro- grams, and to seek ways to con- nect with students and faculty while sharing in the learning experience." A comparison of enrollment data between the 2009 peak and today reveals there are a number of institutions that are bucking the trend, deeming them worthy of attention in terms of curricular innovation and other strategies: there is still a place for optimism. To understand these dips in foreign language enrollments in higher education and remain optimistic is challenging. Some have suggested a chicken and egg situation that has evolved into a vicious cycle: is it institu- tional disinvestment or students' waning interest? We see what the consequences are but we can nei- ther identify their origin, nor understand the trend. We must not be complacent. World lan- guage education is increasingly important if we wish to be seen as globally competent citizens. The average student in Europe learns two languages, not to mention the linguistic capabili- ties of students in the rest of the world. It is our responsibility as foreign language educators to save our programs, to become even more invested, to mobilize, to learn from our peer programs that have demonstrated steady and/or growing enrollments, to reverse the prevailing trend. "If not us, then who? If not now, then when?" Numbers of students choosing Italian as a subject at University have been decreasing: a negative trend departments can try to tackle by collaborating with their local Italian communities Italian language university enrollment decreases worryingly: what can be done? NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

• Cover