enrollments query

[Benjamin Rifkin]

Dear SEELANGers:

I have heard anecdotally from some colleagues around the country that
enrollments in Slavic language courses have gone up significantly.
That is certainly our experience here in Madison.

I would like to suggest that we all ask our students, especially in
first-year courses:

Why did you decide to study this language?
Did you see any publicity that the department put up? (posters, ads, website)
Was this language or course recommended by another student, by an
advisor, or by another faculty member?
Did you take a course in another discipline about the culture where
this language is spoken (e.g., Russian politics or Polish history,
etc.)?

Perhaps we could share the results of such polling with one another
through SEELANGs or through the AATSEEL Newsletter.

It is possible that in the case of enrollments in the US, some
students are electing to study less commonly taught languages in the
aftermath of September 11. (I've heard some students talking about it
in this context.)  However, it is also possible that in the aftermath
of September 11 more advisors are willing to recommend less commonly
taught languages to their students.  I think it would be very useful
for us, as a profession, to know if there is a new trend in
enrollments in Slavic language courses.  If some departments have had
increases due to certain kinds of publicity, perhaps that information
could be shared with the field to help everyone look to greater
numbers.

Here in Madison we had 63 students in first-year Russian last fall.
This fall we have over 100.  We've seen increases, though not as
dramatic, in Czech (3rd semester only, 1st semester is not offered
this year), Polish and Serbo-Croatian, as well. I am in the process
of conducting a survey of students in first-year Russian courses and
will report any interesting findings to the list.

- Ben Rifkin

--
=================
Benjamin Rifkin

Professor of Slavic Languages, Slavic Dept., UW-Madison
1432 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr.
Madison, WI  53706 USA
voice: 608/262-1623; fax: 608/265-2814
http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/slavic/rifkin/

Director of the Russian School
Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT  05753
voice:  802/443-5533; fax: 802/443-5394
http://www.middlebury.edu/~ls/russian/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                  http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------