An Analysis Of The Policy Changes In Contemporary U. S.Foreign Language Education

With the increasing frequency of globally economic and cultural communication activities, foreign language plays an increasingly important role in intercultural communication. How people perform in international communication by using foreign language is, to a great extent, decided by a nation’s foreign language education policy. A nation’s foreign language education policy is, nevertheless, closely connected with its national interest.Since the1950’s, both China and the United States have witnessed major policy changes in foreign language education. The foreign language policies of two countries directly affect the degree to which two peoples are able to communicate through foreign language. They also reveal the orientation of two countries’national interest.This paper aims to study the background, contents, characteristics of the policy changes in contemporary U.S. foreign language education. Historical experience and lessons will be further analyzed. It is hoped that, through this study, people’s understanding of the contemporary foreign language education policies in the United States could be deepened. By taking the study of the U.S. case as a mirror, the author tries to analyze beneficial reference for the adjustment of foreign language education policies in China.This paper contains five chapters. The first chapter introduces the research background, purposes, significance, and contents of the study. The second chapter is literature review. Both historical background and previous studies of the U.S. foreign language education policies are reviewed in this chapter. The third chapter is methodology. It introduces the research subjects, methods, and procedures of the study. The fourth chapter is discussions. In this chapter, detailed contents and changing characteristics of the U.S. foreign language education policies are elaborated and analyzed. In addition, historical experience and lessons are also summarized in this chapter. The last chapter is conclusion. It concludes the fruits and limitations of this study. Besides, recommendations for adjusting foreign language education policies in China are also proposed by the author.