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Native American Languages

Types of Degrees Native American Languages Majors Are Earning

Those studying Native American Languages may pursue degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Certificate	20
Associate’s Degree	4
Bachelor’s Degree	2
Master’s Degree	32

What Native American Languages Majors Need to Know

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

Knowledge Areas

Coursework in Native American Languages emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• English Language — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 5.1 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Foreign Language — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Customer and Personal Service — Importance 3.1 / 5; level 3.7 / 7.
• Computers and Electronics — Importance 3.0 / 5; level 3.7 / 7.

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

Skills

Skills built by a Native American Languages program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.
• Writing — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Instructing — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 3.8 / 7.

Abilities

The cognitive and physical abilities most relevant to Native American Languages careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

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

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, Native American Languages graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Training and Teaching Others	4.3 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.1 / 7
Thinking Creatively	4.0 / 7
Working with Computers	4.0 / 7
Getting Information	4.0 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.0 / 7
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	3.9 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	3.9 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	3.9 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	3.9 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by Native American Languages professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Moodle	Computer based training software	—
Email software	Electronic mail software	—
Blackboard software	Data base user interface and query software	—
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
DOC Cop	Information retrieval or search software	—
Course management system software	Computer based training software	—
Skype	Desktop communications software	—

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

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for Native American Languages graduates include:

• Language Arts Teacher
• Spanish Teacher
• ESL Instructor (English as a Second Language Instructor)
• Hebrew Teacher
• Teacher
• Language Instructor
• French Teacher
• Bilingual Teacher
• Language Teacher
• Spanish Instructor
• Chinese Instructor
• Swahili Teacher
• Bilingual Instructor
• Assistant Professor
• Modern Languages Professor

What Can You Do With a Native American Languages Degree?

Graduates with a degree in Native American Languages commonly enter the following occupations:

Occupation	Job Growth	Median Salary	25th–75th Pctile
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	1.8%	$77,927	$66,306–$89,549

^{Job-growth = projected employment change for the parent occupation. Source: ONET / BLS Employment Projections.*}

Education Typically Required

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

Education Level	Share of Workers
Bachelor’s degree	45.2%
Doctoral degree	28.2%
Master’s degree	15.1%
Post-master’s certificate	3.8%
Post-baccalaureate certificate	2.9%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	2.6%
High school diploma or equivalent	2.0%
Postsecondary certificate	0.3%

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

Who Is Earning a Degree in Native American Languages?

Gender Distribution

This field skews predominantly female, with women earning 75.9% of Native American Languages degrees.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	44	75.9%
Men	14	24.1%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	3	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1	1.7%
American Indian / Alaska Native	43	74.1%
Two or More Races	10	17.2%
Race Unknown	1	1.7%

^{See minority definition below.}

Online Native American Languages Programs

Online study are documented by IPEDS for Native American Languages. The table below shows how many graduates earned at least some of their coursework online (Distance-Ed Available) versus completing the entire program online (Distance-Ed Only).

Award Level	Distance-Ed Available	Distance-Ed Only
Bachelor’s	1	0
Master’s	1	0

^{Distance-Ed Only = degrees completed entirely online; Distance-Ed Available = degrees including at least some online coursework. Source: IPEDS Completions by Distance Education status.}

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
Southeast Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General	36

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.