Why Don't Students Study Russian?

Autor/in	Watzke, John
Titel	Why Don't Students Study Russian?
Quelle	(1994), (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Beigaben	Tabellen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Schlagwörter	Tagungsbericht; Educational Environment; Enrollment Influences; High School Students; High Schools; Language Attitudes; Language Enrollment; Russian; School Surveys; Second Language Learning; Student Attitudes + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Lernumgebung; Pädagogische Umwelt; Schulumwelt; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Sprachverhalten; Russisch; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Schülerverhalten
Abstract	A survey conducted in a large, predominantly white suburban high school in the midwest investigated student attitudes toward study of Russian and other foreign languages. Respondents were 815 students of Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Latin at three levels of instruction. Students were first asked to rank the reasons they chose the language they were studying, then to indicate their level of satisfaction with that choice. Finally, they were asked to rank the reasons they did not choose to study Russian. Analysis focuses on responses to the last question. Most common reasons for not studying Russian included perceptions of its academic difficulty, lack of interest in the culture, interest in pursuing languages begun in middle school, and lack of job or career potential associated with Russian study. It is concluded that: students choose their languages to satisfy future college requirements; parents, friends, and siblings have tremendous influence on the foreign language chosen, while counselor influence is minimal; students study languages with cultures that interest them; and students are generally satisfied with their language choices. Considerations and recommendations for secondary school Russian language program development, based on these findings, are outlined. (MSE)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2004/1/01