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African Languages

Instructional content is defined in code 16.0201.

Types of Degrees African Languages Majors Are Earning

People majoring in African Languages may pursue degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Bachelor’s Degree	2
Master’s Degree	1
Doctor’s Degree	4

What African Languages Majors Need to Know

Studies in African Languages emphasize a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that African Languages graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

Coursework in African Languages emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Foreign Language — Importance 4.7 / 5; level 5.9 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.5 / 5; level 5.2 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Administrative — Importance 3.1 / 5; level 3.6 / 7.
• Sociology and Anthropology — Importance 2.8 / 5; level 3.5 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

The skill set emphasized by a African Languages program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Writing — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Critical Thinking — Importance 3.7 / 5; level 3.9 / 7.

Abilities

Abilities most relevant to African Languages careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Speech Clarity — Importance 4.3 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Written Expression — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, African Languages graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	4.2 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.1 / 7
Training and Teaching Others	4.1 / 7
Thinking Creatively	4.0 / 7
Getting Information	3.9 / 7
Working with Computers	3.9 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	3.8 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	3.7 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	3.7 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.7 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by African Languages professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
American Sign Language ASL browser	Dictionary software	—
Course management system software	Computer based training software	—
Adobe Illustrator	Graphics or photo imaging software	—
Computer assisted language learning CALL software	Foreign language software	—
Image scanning software	Optical character reader OCR or scanning software	—
Adobe Photoshop	Graphics or photo imaging software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for African Languages graduates include:

• Chinese Teacher
• College Faculty Member
• Associate Professor
• Japanese Professor
• Italian Teacher
• Foreign Languages Professor
• Greek Professor
• Instructor
• Bilingual Teacher
• University Faculty Member
• Languages Professor
• Arabic Teacher
• Chinese Instructor
• Lecturer
• Language Teacher

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to African Languages graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Doctoral degree	44.6%
Bachelor’s degree	26.8%
Master’s degree	21.8%
High school diploma or equivalent	3.1%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	1.7%
Post-master’s certificate	1.4%
Postsecondary certificate	0.5%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in African Languages?

Gender Distribution

This field has a relatively balanced gender distribution: 42.9% women and 57.1% men among African Languages graduates.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	3	42.9%
Men	4	57.1%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of African Languages graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	2	28.6%
International Students	5	71.4%

^{See minority definition below.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	Annual Degrees Awarded
Foreign Languages Linguistics	28,685
Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	12,321
Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services	7,564
American Sign Language	2,311
East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	2,111
Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	1,385
Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	1,084
Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other	545
Middle/Near Eastern and Semitic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	541
Slavic, Baltic and Albanian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	448
Second Language Learning	230
American Indian/Native American Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics	58

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.