DDCI TESTIMONY BEFORE THE HOUSE EDUCATION AND LABOR SUBCOMMITTEE ON POST SECONDARY EDUCATION 15 JULY 1981

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R002100150043-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: June 16, 1981
• Content Type: REPORT

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Director of the Foreign Service Institute
Department of State
to the Subcommittee on PostsecondG y EducatiO.ct,.
Rouse Committee on Education acid Labor
Thursday, June 11 1981
Mr. Chairman, I welcome. this opportunity to speak op .t<
foreign language training and its importance to the. achievement.
of U.S. policy goals throughout the world- You persona?_.y-
are playing a vital role in bringing this issue tcz the
attention of the nation through your writing and other
initiatives, including these hearings..
The U.S. Foreign Service has a variety of difficult
jobs to carry out overseas- Political officers need a deep
understanding of the currents that are moving in the host.
country's society. Commercial officers should seek every-
opportunity to promote demand for U.S. products. Military-
attaches must be intimately familiar with the operational
effectiveness as well as the political mood of the local
military. Public affairs officers need to be persuasive in.
presenting American policies and accomplishments to the
audience-, they meeL- The s . iil -that all these officers
tr
they -cc to do h i job effectivel~~ 7 t e c .b2_ZJ_Li'
to 'co-Ounicate with the people with whom they deal. In the.
vast majority of embassies and consulates, this means doing
so in a foreign language-
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assignments, I have seen how the
performance Of our diplomats is directly related to their
capability in using the local language. I would make the
same observation about Americans who represent the private
sector abroad-
I agree with you, Mr. Cnairman, that the. American
educational system has.- not done an adequate. job in. pre arx-
our citizens to Work with foreign languages abroad either in.
government- or in business. Even among those students oriented
toward careers in foreign affairs, language competence 1S ?
limited. Over the last 20 years the percentage of new
Foreign Service officer candidates with a professional ievei
of competence in a foreign language has averaged about 25
percent. This limited base has put a heavy responsib.ili-tr
on the Foreign Service Institute to provide the necessarr-
training and imposed a -significant additional cost on thG
Department- it takes $10,000 in instructional cost to train
a U.S. Government employee for 44 weeks- in an intensive
language course at PSI --- plus the employee F's salary during
training, which is also a personnel cost.
I believe that FSI has a solid record of accomplishrcant
in language training and that we are on they 'way to improvi.n-
that record. Out of a total of 3'
681 Foreign Service Of
ricers,
2, 2 0 1 -it' oiessional level of competence in at least one
language (in other words about 77 percent)- Of-these, 911
have such co oetence in two languages; 263 in three; 81 in
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-? .~- ~-~s.G }uLCSU~ c~.c.~yca Jervice urrzcer_ can
receive career tenure, he must- now achieve professional
competence in at least one language.
To encourage candidates with language ,backgrounds to
apply for the Foreign Service, new members of the Service-
who bring professional level competence with them receive
additional pay- In addition, .officers- in Service who can
speak languages for which there is at critical requirement,
receive pay incentives when they-achieve certain levels of
proficiency. The Foreign Service Act of 1980 improves these
incentives, which in some cases will reach 15 percent of
base pay. The Department is also at work to implement
Section 2207 of the Foreign Service Act, which?provides for-.
the designation of model foreign language competence posts:..-
At our posts in the field nearly 2,000 U.S.. .Government
employees are studying local languages on a part-time basis,
As I said earlier, I believe this record.is a good one,
but more needs to be done and we have made progress ' in that
direction- At. FSI we are working both to improve the quality
of language training and to provide it to more U.S.. employees-
1-.e have undertaken a successful effort to integrate more
effectively the language studies of FSI students with an -
i eroved_?arriculum in area studies. Our aim is
to provide
7 . S . ` i . 1 E r L~ ogees GOB it abroad with the L:Ln uistJ C
as well as substantive tools to do their jobs.
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specific job needs to o.ur full-length language courses, which.
range in length from 5 months to two years.. This is being
done through the insertion into the courses 1t regular-
?-,
intervals of exercises
which simulate accurately the work-
problems that employees will need to solve overseas by- using -
the local language- In preparing these exercises,_we are
developing' key skills such as the ability to present a tLS..
position on an issue, rebut criticism and persuade a foreign
official:, I believe that these. simulation exercises, which
will be introduced during the 1981-82 school year, will
represent a significant improvement in the quality of .FSI
language training. i also believe that training in specific:
job-relevant language skills is a concept that should have
wide appeal. to the U.S. business and academic commun_.ties_'
Another importarit"new program now underway consists of
short- tern language courses ("FAST" courses we call theme)
designed to meet the needs of employees whose overseas jabs
do not require a full professional level of fluency,?but
Whose work effectiveness and morale would be improved by a
basic functional knowledge of the local .language- _ These
courses are also designed for the. language needs of family
r., :ibe s- its is a Critical area since a rewarding experience
s can p7=ofo
difference in the performance of the employee r We 'no:?7 have
language courses of 6 to 10 weeks duration in 14 of the most
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1.idely spoken languages. These courses prepare students
for the specific work, logistical, and social situations.
they will meet overseas. Enrollments in these short courses
have been high, and student response has bevery
enthusiastic. We plan to expand this program to include' .
other languages and expect to use it to achieve-ove:c time a.
significant increase in the number of U.S. personnel overseas
with basic foreign language facility. '
In this connection, I want to mention. that many of FS:Crs
language teaching materials are available to the public
through the Government Printing Office and the National
Audio-Visual Center at a modest cost. We believe that these
represent a significant resource which the nation's schools
and colleges can draw on now in their language programs..
As we develop new materials, as wc are no; doing with the
new generation of FAST courses, we intend to assure that
the results of this development work are also available:
to the public- FSI is also making a contribution to the
academic community's language training efforts in the
field of testing and rating language proficiency. The
testing system for measuring speaking-competence-that PSI -
has developed is now widely used in colleges and schools-
The_.Torei gn service Institute's job is different (from
that of the schools addressed by H.R. 3231. Nevertheless,
our ey_per;ence provides some relevant conclusions- Our
objective is teaching language as a capacity to co-immuni.cate,
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 not as a branch
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or field o t study. Ile are continually working to provide
this communicative capability in the most compact course
possible. It seems to me that postsecondaryg`_....~hools in
particular should provide a similar version of foreign.
language training if it is to be available to those preparing
for a great variety of professions,. with limited time
available to acquire the additional skill of a. competence in
a foreign language. Several semesters of grammar and reading
before something called "conversation" begins are not very
attractive to, say, a business degree candidate who would like
to au ent a nearly full course "load" in this field with
some co oetence in, say, Spanish or French-
In general we have found that quality of instruction,
over. the 45 languages we teach, is the most difficult problem
and the one most important to maintaining high student
motivation and achievement. The Institute, therefore, has
devoted a great deal of its effort to the essentials of
:maintaining high cuality of instruction. Good ?nstructors
adequately comoer_sated, continuing training for instructors,
imaginative materials and rigid testing of student achievement
as a control on individual course quality are the critical
e' e- er_ts of our program. We have ~th_is pas it year, for
1 CSC.. our 1i:Vr'_.~i_T`t_ii~ :l.Tl r a i i"?a_L!C}
our instructors, and we believe the results are already
programs in schools throughout the cQuntry
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no doubt need siatilar attention to the maintenance of
quality that will. maintain student motivation and interest-
and bring than, as quickly as possible to a c p;).city tO
co:.nLnicate that makes it enjoyable and wort iwhi1e u
educational and professional terms-
I know that this aspect of -responses to the problei
will be part of the Subconmitteets consideratiofs'
Thank you, Mr. Chairman-
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