Foreign language teaching in American schools has declined over the past decade, but the teaching of Chinese is flourishing.

A New York Times report last week revealed that the number of US middle and high schools offering Chinese classes rose by three percent between 1997 and 2008.

Over the same period, the number of high schools teaching foreign languages remained fairly steady, but middle schools saw a significant decline. Just 58 percent now have foreign languages on the curriculum, compared with 75 percent in the 1990s.

French, German, Japanese and Russian were the main casualties, while the amount of Spanish teaching has remained about the same. Arabic and Chinese have seen a significant increase.

The findings come from a survey carried out by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) on behalf of the United States Federal Government.

The "disturbing trends" highlighted by the survey include a shortage of language teachers, with growing numbers of instructors being brought in from outside agencies and even other countries. The results also showed that private schools were offering more substantial language teaching than public schools.

The blame has been placed at least partially on the No Child Left Behind law. Critics say languages have taken a back seat to English and math, making finance and resources scarce.

"It's really changing the language education landscape of this country," Nancy Rhodes of CAL said.

The New York Times article said the overall decline was "dismal news for a nation that needs more linguists to conduct its global business and diplomacy."

24 January 2010