National Defense education Act 411 1958, as Amended SEC. 601 (a)The Commissioner is authorized to arrange through vont nets with institutions of higher education for the establishment and operat ion by them, during the period begin- ning July 1, 195, and ending with the close of June 30, 19(15, of centers for the teaching of any modern foreign language with respect to which the Commissioner determines (1) that individuals trained in such language are needed by 11w Federal Government, or by business, industry, or educa t ion in the I 'fined States, and (.) that adequate instruction in such language is not readily available in the United States.Any such contract may provide for instruct ion not only in 'such modern foreign language but also in other fields needed to providea full understanding of the areas, regions, or countries in which such language is commonly used, to the extent adequate instruct log in such fields is not readily available, including fields suchas history, political science, linguist ics, economics, sociology,geog- raphy, and anthropology.Any such contract may cover not more than ")() per centun of the cost of the establishment and operation of the center with respect to which itis made, in- cluding the cost of grants to the staff for travel in the foreign areas, regions, or countries with which the subject matter of the field or fields in which they areor will be working is con- cerned and the cost of travel of foreign scholarsto such centers to teach or assist in teaching therein and the cost of their return, and shall Is' made on such conditionsas the Commissioner finds necessary to carry out the purposes of this section. 0E-56016 Bulletin 1964, No. 41 NDEA Language and Area Centers A Report on the First 5 Yews DONALD N. BIGELOW Chief, Language and Area Centers Section I,Ymtoi H. LEOTERS 11, Specialist, Language and Area Centers Section cv U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education ANTHONY J. CELEBREZZE FRANCIS KEPPEL Secretary Commissimer Contents Pape Introduction_ dW 1 Concept and Practice in Non-Western Area Studies 5 The Language and Area Centers Program 16 Impact of the Centers Program 37 Outlook 50 Selected Bibliography Appendix A: U.S. Office of Education Policy Bulletinson the NDEA Language and Area Centers PioRam__ _ 68 1. A Statement of Policy, Language Development Program, Cen- ters and Research and Studies, March 10, 1959 68 2. A Statement of Policy, Language Development Program, Cen- ters and Research and Studies, June 17, 1959 71 3. Language and Area Centers: The Curriculum, December 1, 1959 73 4. etermination That Latin American Spanish is Eligible for Financial Aid Under Title VI, Section601(a) of NDEA, June 1, 1961 75 Appendix B: Statement of 63 University Foreign Language and Area Center Directors on Title VI of the National Defense Education Act, October 14, 1962_ 78 Appendix C: A Survey of Intensive Programs inthe Un- common Languages, Summer 1962, by Henry M. Hoenigswald and Others, September 30, 1962__ 82 appendix D: Report on Chicago Seminar -OT the Committee on Summer ProgramsinConnection With NDEA Language and Area Center Programs, August 1-2, 1963 109 III IV CONTENTS Page Appendix E: Tables 11a 1. Amount of Federal support to NDEA languageand area cen- ters, by sponsoring institution: Academicyears 1959-60 to 1963-64_ 114 2. Amount of Federal support to NDEAlanguage and area centers, by State: Academic years 1959-60to 1963-64_ 118 3. Amount and percentage of Federalsupport to NDEA lan- guage and areacenters, by world area:Academic years 1959-80 to 1963-64. 119 4.Critical languages offered at NDEAlanguage and area cen- ters, by center and support status: Academic year 1963-64__ 120 5.Critical languages offered at NDEA-language and area cen- ters, by sponsoring institution: Academicyears 1959-60 and 1 963-64_ 122 6. Number of area courses offered at NDEAlanguage and area centers, by discipline: Academic years 1959-60 to 1962-63__ _ 125 7. Number of area courses offeredat NDEA language and area centers, by world area and discipline: Academicyear 1962-63_ _ 126 8. Amount and percentage of Federal supportjeNDEAlanguage and area centers, by purpose: Academicyears 1959-60 to 1963-64.. -127 9. Number of intensivesummer programs supported by Federal funds at NDEA language andarea centers, by world area: Summer 1960 to summer 1964 128 10. Amount and percentage of Federalsupport to intensive sum- mer programs at NDEA language andarea centers, by world area: Summer 1960 to summer 1964 128 11. Federally supportedsummer intensive language programs, by world area, sponsoring institution,languages offered, course level, number of contact hours, andcredits given: Summer 1964. 129 1. !).\.. ,v) a i VVS n .0%4 ...dr (seu n oo-n 'a n waoale, vos n o ql rc Introduction N RECENT YEARS American higher education, like the society I of which it is a part, hascome to realize that non-Western areas have become as important as Europe once was toan understanding of the cultural, economic, and political developments that affectour future. Already the movement in non-Western studies has inspiredmany graduate schools and a significant number of liberal arts colleges to reassess student interests and faculty skills, modify curriculums, shift library acquisition Jpolicies, emphasize research and study abroad, and drastically alter their attitudes toward the uncommon' modern languages of the world. The last of these changes is perhaps themost important, for the uncommon languages are the essentialmeans by %ditch we learn to understand those parts of the worldwe have hitherto .neglected. Although the universities made these changeson their own initiative, they were substantially aided by support from foundations and, during the last 5 years, from the Federal Government.The principal contribution of the latter has been made under title VI of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (NDEA) whichencourages and supports language development in a variety of ways.Section 601(a) authorizes the U.S. Commissioner of Educationto arrange, on a matching fund basis, for the establishment and operation of language and area centers by means of contracts with institutions ofhigher education.It is the intent of the Act that such support, judiciously administered in keeping with the objectives and wishes of theacademic community, should assist institutions in safeguarding the accomplish- ments they had made and at the same timeencourage them to improve instruction in the uncommon modern languages. While title VI is generally concerned with language'development, section 601(a) also authorizes support for instruction inarea studies, includingsuch academicdisciplinesashistory,anthropology, geography, political science, sociology, linguistics, andeconomies, all of which were properly consideredgermane to language develop- ment.Thus language- and area studieswere combitie,d in the Act, The term "uncommon" bused throughout tereter to those lenguegee in whichinstruction Is not readily mailable throughout-American higher education. 1 J . .\ 2 NDEA LANGUAGE AND AREA CENTERS as Pideed they already were in the curriculums of those few universities which offered instruction in the uncommon languages priorto its passage.With the support afforded under title VI, the NDEA language and area centers program has contributed strengthand momentum to the movement in non-Western studies.Under NDEA, area studies, as they were originally called, soon -came to be knownas language and area studies, emphasizing the relationshipbetween the two but at the same time indicating the basic role that languagewas to play in the development of non-Western studies. What the Federal Government has contributedto the improvement of language and area studies is reported in the followingpages.But, while the report deals specifically with the activities undertakenwith Federal kinds, it cannot but be concerned also with the largerrole of language and area studies in higher education.Since the NDEA program is only one element among many in this nationwide move- ment, it can scarcely be isolated from other related developments. Nor would it be desirable to do this.Such.a,separation would ignore other important contributions to the advance of language andarea studies and at the same time needlessly minimize the indirectstimulus NDEA has given to educational effort and thought. The financial resources allotted to the language andarea centers program, as authorized under title VI, were fully committed in fiscal year 1962, about halfway through the 7 years for which support has been authorized.The Federal funds available under the title VI appropriation have been insufficient to meet the expandingneeds of the language and area centers program since that time. Nevertheless, two fundamental conclusions have become readily apparent.First, as this report clearly shows, non-Western studies have receivtd material assistance underNDEA without which the present high level of scholarly activity at 55 language andarea ce aters would not have been possible and without which the increase i manpoWer trained in modern foreign languages would not have been effected. Second, all this has been accomplished without suggestion ofFed- eral interfererce.Of particular relevance hereis the statement (see app. B) made by the 53 representatives of the 33 collegesand universities which had, by the fall of 1962, obtained Federalsupport for language and area centers. One part of thisstatement, which constitutes perhaps the most accurate summation yet male ofopera- tions