FOREIGN-LANGUAGES ON THE CAMPUS - ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

The 1980s witnessed substantial increases in enrollments in foreign la nguage courses at American universities. Adjusted to take account of v arious factors, however, these increases are far from impressive and l eave universities more monolingual than in the 1960s. Federal options for improving this are limited, but state and campus-based initiatives hold much promise. Generally, the emphasis should be on developing ma stery by reducing attrition rather than on merely increasing gross enr ollments at the introductory level.