THE U.S. FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEFICIT, LANGUAGE ENTERPRISE, AND LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

At present, there is a gap between the need for foreign language skills and their availability in the U.S. marketplace, resulting in a monolingual American in a multilingual global workplace. The Language Enterprise, a partnership of government, academia, and the private sector, can collaborate to effectively address the U.S. foreign language deficit and to close the gap between the availability of foreign languages skills and the need for them in the U.S. workplace. High profile partnerships, such as the “Many Languages One World” (MLOW) Essay Contest and Global Youth Forum, and advocacy initiatives such as the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) Commission on Advocacy, the National Organization of Business Language Educators (NOBLE), the Joint National Committee for Languages and the National Committee on Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS) will be described. This article will also examine career opportunities as language specialists and other careers enhanced by foreign language skills, as well as the importance of creating a sustainable framework for motivation in order to empower U.S. students studying foreign languages to achieve the level of foreign language proficiency needed in the workplace. In order to bring about the needed paradigm shift, a sustainable framework for successful foreign language learning would also require pre-professional and career-oriented programs in foreign languages included under the umbrella of Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) and Business Language Studies (BLS). The recommendations of the Modern Language Association report, “Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World,” with its proposed transformation of the traditional 2-tier system into an “integrative approach with multiple pathways to the major, clearly demonstrate the importance of programs in Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) and Business Language Studies (BLS). Conclusions and future needs also include the significance and importance of high-profile partnerships such as “Many Languages One World,” (MLOW), the establishment and enforcement of foreign language requirements, the importance of heritage language speakers, and the necessity for a unified strategic advocacy campaign bringing together all sectors of the Language Enterprise