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Turkic & Central Asian Languages

Instructional content for this group of programs is defined in codes 16.1501 - 16.1599.

What Turkic & Central Asian Languages Majors Need to Know

Studies in Turkic & Central Asian Languages build a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that Turkic & Central Asian Languages graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in Turkic & Central Asian 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 Turkic & Central Asian 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

The cognitive and physical abilities most relevant to Turkic & Central Asian 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 Expression — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, Turkic & Central Asian 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 Turkic & Central Asian Languages professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Collaborative editing software	Word processing software	—
Skype	Desktop communications software	—
Sakai CLE	Computer based training software	—
Email software	Electronic mail software	—
Learning management system LMS	Computer based training software	✓
Adobe PageMaker	Desktop publishing software	—

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

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for Turkic & Central Asian Languages graduates include:

• French Professor
• College Professor
• French Teacher
• College Faculty Member
• Spanish Literature Professor
• Language Instructor
• Russian Language Professor
• Biblical Languages Professor
• Swahili Teacher
• Associate Professor
• Arabic Professor
• Spanish Professor
• Languages Professor
• Teacher
• Italian Teacher

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to Turkic & Central Asian 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.*}

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.