The Chronicle of Higher Education
Date: July 27, 1994
Section: Personal & Professional
Page: A14
A survey by the Modern Language Association has found that some English and foreign-language departments at major doctorate-granting institutions are not replacing their departing tenured and tenure-track faculty members with full-timers.
Phyllis Franklin, executive director of the association, said the survey had been conducted to test the validity of anecdotes that full-timers were being replaced by part-time teachers, or not at all.
The study, completed in April, found that the number of full-time English professors had declined since 1990 in 10 of the 36 departments it surveyed. Likewise, the number of full-time foreign-language professors declined in 16 of the 43 departments surveyed.
The average decline in the number of full-time professors was 3.8 in English and 2.6 in foreign languages. The MLA surveyed 36 of the country's 142 Ph.D. programs in English. The survey covered 43 of the 84 institutions with Ph.D.-granting programs in foreign languages.
Ms. Franklin said the survey results confirmed claims that institutions are using more teaching assistants and part-time faculty members, decreasing the number of sections offered in some courses, and offering upper-division courses less frequently.