When it comes to language learning, Wesleyan has a very distinctive profile. Language learning at Wesleyan is both broad and deep. Our breadth, in fact, is unique: Wesleyan offers classroom language instruction in more languages than any other co-ed liberal arts college.

Wesleyan currently offers courses in Arabic, American Sign Language, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi/Urdu, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili. Students may also take advantage of Alternative Language Study Options (ALSOP) if they would like to study a less commonly taught language.

Through the Language Data Project, we have been able to gather data, trends, and statistics to illustrate how and why Wesleyan is a national leader in liberal arts language instruction, as well as the many challenges and opportunities that still exist for us.

The most significant finding from the 2020-21 report is that 61% of 2021 graduates studied a language on campus during their undergraduate careers. This is a 4% increase from the 2020 graduating class (57%). This increase is very promising given that we have not seen an increase in percentage of on-campus language study since 2013.

Within the Class of 2021, 35% of students took advanced language courses on campus and 13% took courses in more than one language. In addition, when language courses taken abroad were factored in, the percentage of 2021 graduates who studied a language rose to 66.14%.

On average across all languages, Class of 2021 students who studied a language took 3.03 courses in their chosen language. This is the fourth year in a row we have seen an increase in the average number of language courses taken by students who study languages.

Despite these promising figures for the Class of 2021, the total on-campus language enrollment declined from 1,691 total enrollments in 2019-20 to 1,598 total enrollments in 2020-21. Enrollments in advanced and intermediate language courses also declined last year, but enrollments in introductory courses increased. This decline in overall enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year is not particularly alarming, however, since the 2019-20 school year saw a sharp spike in enrollments. Taking the 2019-20 year out of the picture, we see that language enrollments in 2020-21 were the highest recorded since 2014-15.

Many more details about language study at Wesleyan may be gleaned from the Language Data Project. Please see the tabs at the bottom for further data.