French for Professional Purposes in US Undergraduate Education: An Analysis of Course Offerings and Student Demand
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2021
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<jats:p>In the past decade, there has been a significant decline in French language enrollments in US higher education institutions, despite a growing demand for French proficiency in the North American job market. These trends illustrate the need to offer French for Professional Purposes (FPP) courses, which allow students to develop language skills adapted to the professional environment. Our research aims to analyze the supply and demand for FPP courses. In this current study, we assessed the proportion of four-year colleges and universities that offer FPP courses, and we compiled the variety of their course offerings. We then conducted a survey of students enrolled in the FPP courses. Among the 545 institutions reviewed, a majority offered at least one FPP course, usually Business French. Institutions offering more than one course and a wider diversity of course topics were less common. Based on questionnaire responses, we found a significant mismatch between the supply of courses and students’ demand for FPP course offerings. We also found that, if given the possibility, most undergraduate students in the first through third years would like to enroll in another FPP course in the following academic year. These results call for further developments of FPP courses nationwide and greater diversification of course offerings.</jats:p>
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Bouche, Hélène, and Deborah S Reisinger (2021). French for Professional Purposes in US Undergraduate Education: An Analysis of Course Offerings and Student Demand. Global Business Languages, 21. 10.4079/gbl.v21.4 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23969.
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Deborah Reisinger
Deb Reisinger, Ph.D., is Professor of the Practice in Romance Studies and affiliate faculty in the Duke Global Health Institute. She is Director of Duke's Language Outreach Initiatives, overseeing the Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) program and the Shared Course Initiative for Less Commonly Taught Languages with UVA and Vanderbilt. She is currently serving as Interim Dean of Academic Affairs for Trinity College.
Deb is lead author of Affaires globales: S'engager dans le monde professionnel en français - niveau avancé (Georgetown Press, 2021), co-author with Joan Clifford of Community-based Language Learning: A Framework for Educators (Georgetown Press, 2019), and author of Crime and Media in Contemporary France (Purdue Press, 2007). She has published numerous articles on language pedagogy, community-based learning, and French for Specific Purposes.
Deb teaches courses in service-learning, global displacement, and French for Specific Purposes, including global health, public policy, and marketing. Her current research focuses on transformative learning and community-based pedagogies.
She chaired the College Board's World Languages Academic Advisory Committee from 2016-2023 and served as co-chair of the AP French Language and Culture Exam development committee from 2018-2021. From 2013-2018, she served as Chair of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) Commission on French for Specific Purposes.
Deb regularly directs Duke summer study abroad programs, including Duke in Provence, Duke in Provence-virtual, Duke in Aix-en-Provence, Duke in Montréal, and Duke in Paris.
In 2022, she was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Republic.
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