enrollments query

[Emily Tall]

Ben, I checked with my successor on students' reasons for beginning Russian.
There was only one heritage speaker; about 3 had taken related courses; about 5
had a Russian-speaking boy/girlfriend or relative (a notable increase and a new
source of interest); also, about 5 said they wanted to try something new (had
already studied French or Spanish) That doesn't cover the whole class (about 22)
but it gives you a good idea. Emily Tall.

Benjamin Rifkin wrote:

> 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/
>
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