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Russian Language Journal

Keywords

Russian language, Foreign Area Studies, student motivation

Abstract

Russian language enrollments have been dropping in recent years at colleges and universities in the United States. In contrast to this national trend, the number of students studying Russian language at the United States Naval Academy (USNA) has remained robust over the past decade and is poised to increase in the near future as a relatively new interdisciplinary major, Foreign Area Studies (FAS), is expanded and revised. This paper traces recent developments at USNA that have led to the development and expansion of Foreign Area Studies, integrating language study into an interdisciplinary curriculum featuring courses related to nations and cultures in Eurasia, Asia, and the Middle East. With the addition of a Russian language specialization within the FAS major, plans are being developed to expand the number of instructional hours for all critical languages (including Russian) during the first two years of study from 48 per semester to 80 per semester. At the same time, the FAS curriculum, which was first introduced three years ago, is being revised to support the expansion of the major. This study will review the evolution of the FAS major at USNA and review the motivation and rationale for the expansion of the Russian language program, discuss why developing geopolitical expertise is increasingly viewed as a priority for future Naval officers in the United States.

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