Data Sources
Estimate of Language Skills of U.S. Population Aged Five Years and Older, 2009–2013
The estimate of the share of the total population that speaks a non-English language at home is based on the American Community Survey. See United States Census Bureau, “Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for United States: 2009-2013,” American Community Survey, October 2015, . Estimate of skill levels of adults eighteen and older drawn from Tom W. Smith, Peter Marsden, Michael Hout, and Jibum Kim, General Social Surveys, 1972–2014 [machine-readable data file] (Chicago: National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, 2016), . Skill levels for children imputed using available research.
Main Languages Spoken at Home by U.S. Residents Aged Five Years and Older, 2008–2010
American Community Survey, 2008–2010 merged files as quoted in RubĂ©n G. Rumbaut and Douglas S. Massey, “Immigration and Language Diversity in the United States,” ¶Ůæ»ĺ˛ą±ôłÜ˛ő 142 (3) (Summer 2013): 146.
Dimensions of Non-English Language Proficiency, by Generation, in Southern California, 2001–2004
Alejandro Portes and Rubén G. Rumbaut, Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS), 1991–2006, ICPSR20520.v2 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2012), ; and Rubén G. Rumbaut, Frank D. Bean, Leo R. Chávez et al., Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (IIMMLA), 2004, ICPSR22627.v1 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2008), . See also Rubén G. Rumbaut, “English Plus: Exploring the Socioeconomic Benefits of Bilingualism in Southern California,” in The Bilingual Advantage: Language, Literacy, and the U.S. Labor Market, ed. Rebecca M. Callahan and Patricia C. Gándara (Bristol, United Kingdom: Multilingual Matters, 2014).
Language Shift and Bilingualism, by Generation, in Southern California, 2001–2004
Merged samples of Portes and Rumbaut, Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study; and Rumbaut et al., Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles.
Where English-Speaking Adults Who Are Fluent in Another Language Acquired the Non-English Language, 2006
Analysis of data collected by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago in the General Social Survey for the Humanities Indicators.
Share of Elementary Schools Teaching Languages Other than English, by Control of School, Academic Years 1986/1987–2007/2008
Nancy C. Rhodes and Ingrid Pufahl, Foreign Language Teaching in U.S. Schools: Results of a National Survey (Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, 2010), 22.
Share of All K–12 Students Enrolled in Language Courses Other than English, by State, 2014–2015
American Councils for International Education, American Council on the Teaching for Foreign Languages, Center for Applied Linguistics, and Modern Language Association, The National K–16 Foreign Language Enrollment Report 2014–15 (Washington, D.C.: American Councils for International Education, 2016), . Statistics on European students from Eurostats, “Foreign Language Learning Statistics,” September 2016, .
Share of Secondary Schools Teaching Languages Other than English, by School Level, Academic Years 1986/1987–2007/2008:
Rhodes and Pufahl, Foreign Language Teaching in U.S. Schools: Results of a National Survey, 23.
Estimate of the Number of Months Students in Dual-Language Immersion Classes are Ahead of their Peers in Monolingual Classrooms in English Reading Skills, 2012–2015
RAND Corporation, American Councils for International Education, and Portland Public Schools, “Study of Dual-Language Immersion in the Portland Public Schools: Year 4 Briefing,” November 2015, . See also Jennifer L. Steele, Robert O. Slater, Gema Zamarro, Trey Miller, Jennifer Li, Susan Burkhauser, and Michael Bacon, “The Effects of Dual-Language Immersion Programs on Student Achievement: Evidence from Lottery Data,” American Educational Research Journal (Centennial Issue) 53 (5) (forthcoming).
Number of Language Teachers in Public High Schools, 2003/2004–2011/2012
Humanities Indicators analysis of data in Beth A. Morton, Pia Peltola, Michael D. Hurwitz et al., Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Core Subjects: Evidence from the 2003–04 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, 2008), 27; Jason G. Hill and Kerry J. Gruber, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Core Subjects: Evidence from the 2007–08 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, 2011); and Jason Hill and Chelsea Stearns, Education and Certification Qualifications of Departmentalized Public High School–Level Teachers of Selected Subjects: Evidence from the 2011–12 Schools and Staffing Survey (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2015).
Distribution of Postsecondary Course Enrollments in Languages Other than English, 2013
Humanities Indicators analysis of data in Modern Language Association, Language Enrollment Database, (accessed March 28, 2016). Tabulation excludes enrollments in American Sign Language, which had the third-largest number of enrollments in language other than English.
Postsecondary Enrollments in the Most Commonly Taken Language Courses (Other than English), 1960–2013
Ibid.
Postsecondary Enrollments in the Most Commonly Taken “Critical Need” Language Courses, 1965–2013
Ibid.
Undergraduate Degrees in Languages Other than English, by Geographical Category or Subject Area, 1987–2014
Humanities Indicators analysis of data in National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS [Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System] (U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences), accessed and analyzed via the National Science Foundation’s online data system, WebCASPAR, . For an inventory of the specific degree programs included in the broad disciplinary categories of the humanities accounted for in this indicator, see . Geographical aggregations are based on the Modern Language Association, Language Enrollment Database, 1958–2013, . Due to the disproportionate size in the current number of Spanish degrees, degrees in the subject are tabulated separately from the other European languages.
Professional-Level Proficiency by Graduation: Measured Outcomes of Integrated Study Abroad in the Language Flagship Programs, 2013–2014
Dan E. Davidson, “The Development of L2 Proficiency and Literacy within the Context of the Federally Supported Overseas Language Training Programs for Americans,” in To Advanced Proficiency and Beyond: Theory and Methods for Developing Superior Second-Language Ability, ed. Tony Brown and Jennifer Bown (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2015), 117–150. Language Flagship partners and funders available at .
Number of Online Job Postings in Massachusetts Seeking Bilingual Candidates, 2010 and 2015
Partnership for a New American Economy, “Language Diversity and the Workforce: The Growing Need for Bilingual Workers in New Jersey’s Economy,” (accessed September 1, 2016); Partnership for a New American Economy, “Language Diversity and the Workforce: The Growing Need for Bilingual Workers in the Massachusetts Economy,” (accessed September 1, 2016); and Northern Illinois University, “Bilingual College Grads are in Demand, Says NIU Survey,” (accessed September 1, 2016).