2023-2024 Survey of Students of the Russian Language
Survey of Students of the Russian Language, 2023-2024
Background
The Survey of Enrollments in Russian Language Classes has long gathered statistics about enrollments in college and pre-college Russian language courses. For 2023-2024, we have added a new component: a short survey for the students themselves. The purpose of this survey is primarily to discern the motives that prompted students to enroll in Russian language classes. Our hope is to both better understand students of Russian and their decision-making process and inform the educators and administrators who contribute to the Survey of Enrollments on how they might be able to better attract and retain students.
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To distribute this survey, we asked the educators on our contact lists for the Survey of Enrollments to pass it along to their students. This represents an inefficiency, as it requires both the participation of the educator and the student.
Another challenge faced was that we were not entirely sure what to expect in terms of student responses to our questions. We left an open-ended “other” at the end of many questions to account for this. Many students took advantage of this, and we had to group these responses into new categories for the purposes of presenting them here.
If you are interested in supporting Russian language study at the pre-college or college level or wish to connect with SRAS, either to add information about your program, ask questions, or make recommendations for our projects, please contact us.
Survey of Students of Russian 2023-2024
The survey attracted 425 student responses. Polling was conducted between October, 2023 – March 2023. While the school affiliation question was left optional (in order to allow students full anonymity if they desired), from those that did report affiliation, we can say that at least 68 universities and three high schools spread across the US are represented.
When They Began
Most students said that they began learning Russian as part of their higher education. However, some respondents indicated that they began earlier in their education and a significant number indicated that they are studying as heritage speakers.
Why They Became Interested in Russian
We asked for students’ primary interest for beginning their study of Russian. Students were allowed to pick only one option from:
- Interest in Russian literature / arts / culture / history
- Friend/family connections to the language or culture
- General interest in language/linguistics
- Career prospects
- Other
Students who opted for “other” were given a chance to write in their own answer. Many used this option.
Some used it to manually indicate combinations of the above three. These responses are now grouped under “Multiple/hard to say.”
Some indicated that their interest began with church service. The vast majority of these respondents stated specifically that they had been selected for a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to a Russian-speaking area of the world. Two indicated having become involved with Russian-speaking refugees via their church. These respondents are now grouped under “Church service.”
One answer that we did not expect but turned out to be significant came from a small percentage of students that had signed up solely to fulfill a school requirement, whether for general graduation or to qualify for an honors diploma. These students implied that the language was chosen at random from a list or based on class availability. The respondents are grouped under “Fulfilling a requirement.”
Some students gave responses that did not fit into significantly larger categories. These are now grouped under “Other” and include students who say they enrolled based on professor reputation or on the recommendation of a friend, that they were specifically interested in the geopolitics of the region, that they were accidentally enrolled, etc. These are grouped under “Other.”
Some answers were grouped under existing topics. For instance, many students used “other” to say that a specific relative or friend was Russian or that they were heritage speakers of Russian, which would indicate a familial connection and thus fit under an existing category. Others wrote specifically of the ability to gain a higher pay grade in the army by learning a language or the ability to use the language in a future medical profession, which would indicate an interest in career prospects. These answers were grouped accordingly.
Their Continuing Interests
We asked what their continuing interests in studying Russian are. Students were allowed to choose multiple options. Few students chose the “other” option here and most who did used it to indicate that they are only pursuing a requirement.
Their Career Plans
We asked students what their future career plans are. Here, we originally offered options of government or military, education, business, translation and interpretation, undecided, and other. More than half of students picked “other” to write in their profession, which turned out to be very diverse. Science and technology was especially prevalent, with many claiming future employment as engineers and scientists. There were also a significant number of legal and medical professions claimed as well social work, arts and entertainment, religious work, library science, and more. These have been grouped into relevant categories below.
In future iterations of this survey we plan to ask students if they see Russian language skills playing a role in their future career plans.
Effects of the War in Ukraine
Lastly, we asked students if the current war in Ukraine had affected their decision to study the language. We did not ask if that effect was to make them more resolute or less resolute in their decision. We will likely break that out for the next survey. Most students indicated, however, that the war had little to no effect on their decision making.
This also does not capture responses from students who decided not to pursue Russian because of the war, as those students would not have received this survey as it was only sent to current students of Russian.
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Data Set
The original questionnaire is archived here.
Other surveys can be found here.
If you would like to participate in future surveys, please email Lisa Horner and ask to be placed on the mailing list for the next survey.
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