APSU now offering foreign languages option for general ed core requirement

Foreign Languages at APSU

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee employers need more applicants with foreign language skills, and the Austin Peay State University Department of Languages and Literature is working to provide qualified candidates for the more than 3,700 bilingual jobs open in the state.

According to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, “more than 300 internationally owned companies have relocated or expanded in the Middle Tennessee region,” and this influx of international investment has led APSU’s foreign language faculty to target students early in their academic careers. To do that, the University has added its introductory foreign language classes into Austin Peay’s general education curriculum. Beginning with the Fall 2021 Bulletin, students can take French, German, Greek, Latin or Spanish 1010 or 1020 to fulfill part of their humanities and fine arts requirements.

Students also have the option of majoring in foreign language with a concentration in one of several languages, minoring in foreign languages or majoring in foreign language while working toward teacher licensure. Students studying a foreign language also benefit in other fields while learning a new language. According to a University of Michigan study, students who study a foreign language for just 90 minutes a week for one semester scored significantly higher in mathematics and language arts.

In a 2012 editorial for the New York Times, science writer Yudhijit Bhattacharjee explained that “scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.”

For more information on foreign languages at Austin Peay, visit www.apsu.edu/langlit.

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