Stewart-Strobelt Jody, Chen Huabin
Department of Modern Languages and Literature, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington, USA.
Adolescence. 2003 Spring;38(149):161-70.
There are some foreign languages that enjoy great status in the United States, while other foreign languages are rarely represented at the high school level. The present study explored the following questions: Why do students choose to take a particular foreign language? Do students gravitate toward it because it is widely thought to be the easiest language to learn or because they perceive greater career opportunities with proficiency in this particular language, or is it simply because there are more classes offered? As long as foreign language study is elective in high schools and as long as a variety of languages are offered, the answers to these questions will remain important for foreign language educators, especially in schools where the various language programs compete with one another for student enrollments and the programs' ultimate survival.
在美国，有些外语享有很高的地位，而其他外语在高中阶段却很少被开设。本研究探讨了以下问题：学生为什么选择学习某一门特定的外语？学生是因为普遍认为这门语言最容易学，还是因为他们觉得精通这门特定语言会有更多的职业机会，或者仅仅是因为开设的课程更多才倾向于选择它？只要高中阶段外语学习是选修课，并且只要提供多种语言课程，那么对于外语教育工作者来说，这些问题的答案就仍然很重要，尤其是在那些各种语言课程相互竞争学生入学名额以及课程最终生存的学校。
