# Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary

US SOC code 25-1124. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/25-1124

Also called: Foreign language professor, Spanish professor, French professor, German professor, Chinese professor.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **19,830** US postsecondary foreign language and literature teachers, with median pay of **$79,350** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **21,170**, in May 2024. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.mla.org/About-Us/About-the-MLA/MLA-Time-Lines/MLA-History) of **200** from 1883, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era in this work: LMS integration, video-conferencing, and neural machine translation, 2015 to 2023.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects little or no change in employment from 2025 to 2035 (+0.2%). Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1124&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **56.7%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1800
- Latest US employment: 19,830 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [6]
- Latest US median pay: $79,350 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [9]
- Outlook: +0.2% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [20]

### All 29 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1883 | 200 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Modern Language Association [1] |
| 1918 | 2,500 (estimate) | n/a | Est., JSTOR Daily [2] |
| 1960 | 12,000 (estimate) | $6,500 (estimate) | Est., National Defense Education Act (employment) [3]; Est., AAUP (American Association of… (pay) [7] |
| 1975 | 22,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., MLA [4] |
| 1980 | n/a | $19,500 (estimate) | Est., AAUP [7] |
| 2000 | 21,000 (estimate) | $44,380 | Est., O\*NET 25-1124.00 (employment) [5]; BLS OEWS 2000 (pay) [8] |
| 2003 | 19,710 | $46,780 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [6] |
| 2004 | 22,460 | $47,600 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [6] |
| 2005 | 23,830 | $49,570 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [6] |
| 2006 | 24,680 | $51,900 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [6] |
| 2007 | 25,100 | $53,610 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [6] |
| 2008 | 26,400 | $55,570 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [6] |
| 2009 | 27,020 | $56,740 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [6] |
| 2010 | 28,100 | $59,080 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [6] |
| 2011 | 29,010 | $59,630 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [6] |
| 2012 | 29,810 | $58,670 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [6] |
| 2013 | 30,590 | $58,620 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [6] |
| 2014 | 30,880 | $59,490 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [6] |
| 2015 | 30,120 | $61,380 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [6] |
| 2016 | 28,720 | $63,500 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [6] |
| 2017 | 27,240 | $65,010 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [6] |
| 2018 | 25,590 | $67,640 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [6] |
| 2019 | 24,860 | $69,990 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [6] |
| 2020 | 22,790 | $69,920 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [6] |
| 2021 | 19,640 | $77,030 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [6] |
| 2022 | 19,520 | $76,030 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [6] |
| 2023 | 20,820 | $78,760 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [6] |
| 2024 | 21,170 | $77,010 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [6] |
| 2025 | 19,830 | $79,350 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [6] |

## Sources (88)

### Employment series

1. [Modern Language Association -- MLA History (founded December 27-28, 1883 at Columbia College by 40 college language professors)](https://www.mla.org/About-Us/About-the-MLA/MLA-Time-Lines/MLA-History), Modern Language Association
2. [JSTOR Daily -- "When American Schools Banned German Classes" (WWI suppression of German language instruction, 1917-1918)](https://daily.jstor.org/when-american-schools-banned-german-classes/), JSTOR Daily
3. [National Defense Education Act -- Title VI (1958): federal funding for foreign language and area studies at institutions of higher education following Sputnik](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Education_Act), Wikipedia / US Congress (Public Law 85-864)
4. [MLA -- Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education (historical census data showing peak circa 2009 at 1.67 million; 1980 baseline was 924,337)](https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Teaching-Enrollments-and-Programs/Enrollments-in-Languages-Other-Than-English-in-United-States-Institutions-of-Higher-Education), Modern Language Association
5. [O\*NET 25-1124.00 -- Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary (BLS employment and wages)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1124.00), O\*NET / BLS
6. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

7. [AAUP (American Association of University Professors) -- Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession (historical faculty salary surveys, 1960s era)](https://www.aaup.org/our-work/research/annual-report-economic-status-profession), American Association of University Professors
8. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
9. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Tool eras

10. [BYU -- "The Grammar-Translation Method" (history of the method from classical-language pedagogy to modern-language teaching)](https://methodsoflanguageteaching.byu.edu/the-grammar-translation-method), Brigham Young University / Methods of Language Teaching
11. [Wikipedia -- Grammar-translation method (origins in classical language pedagogy, adoption for modern languages mid-19th century)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar%E2%80%93translation_method), Wikipedia
12. [Arcadia University -- Foreign Language Teaching 101: Brief History of Teaching and Method Development](https://www.byarcadia.org/post/foreign-language-teaching-101-brief-history-of-foreign-language-teaching-and-method-development), Arcadia University
13. [National Defense Education Act -- Title VI (1958): federal funding for language laboratories and foreign language instruction as national-security infrastructure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Education_Act), Wikipedia / US Congress (Public Law 85-864)
14. [Annenberg Classroom -- National Defense Education Act Targets Math, Science, Foreign Language (NDEA funding for language labs and programs, 1958)](https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/timeline_event/national-defense-education-act-targets-math-science-foreign-language/), Annenberg Classroom
15. [Inside Higher Ed -- "Foreign language enrollment sees steepest decline on record" (MLA 2016-2021 census data: 16.6% decline, largest on record)](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/curriculum/2023/11/16/foreign-language-enrollment-sees-steepest-decline-record), Inside Higher Ed
16. [MLA -- Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education (2009 peak: 1,673,566; 2021 enrollment approximately 1,185,000; -29.3% total decline from peak)](https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Teaching-Enrollments-and-Programs/Enrollments-in-Languages-Other-Than-English-in-United-States-Institutions-of-Higher-Education), Modern Language Association
17. [ALD Bulletin (formerly ADFL Bulletin) -- MAPS/MLA: the peer-reviewed journal of the Association of Language Departments, covering pedagogical reframing toward communicative and intercultural competence in response to near-perfect machine translation](https://www.maps.mla.org/ADFL-Bulletin), Association of Language Departments / MLA
18. [Eloundou et al. (2023) -- "GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models" (Science 2024): Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary named in highest-LLM-exposure tier](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), OpenAI / arXiv
19. [Duolingo Max -- GPT-4-powered Roleplay and Explain My Answer features (March 2023 launch, 10M+ subscribers by Q1 2025)](https://blog.duolingo.com/duolingo-max/), Duolingo

### Forecasts and exposure studies

20. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 25-1124 Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary (2025: 24.6 thousand; 2035: 24.7 thousand; +0.2%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1124&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
21. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 25-1124.00, human-rated β 0.567)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

22. [Modern Language Association -- MLA History (founding meeting December 27-28, 1883, Columbia College)](https://www.mla.org/About-Us/About-the-MLA/MLA-Time-Lines/MLA-History), Modern Language Association
23. [JSTOR Daily -- "When American Schools Banned German Classes" (WWI suppression of German language instruction, 1917-1918)](https://daily.jstor.org/when-american-schools-banned-german-classes/), JSTOR Daily
24. [US Senate -- "Sputnik Spurs Passage of the National Defense Education Act" (NDEA signed September 2, 1958)](https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Sputnik_Spurs_Passage_of_National_Defense_Education_Act.htm), US Senate
25. [MLA -- Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education (2009 peak figure: 1,673,566)](https://www.mla.org/Resources/Research/Surveys-Reports-and-Other-Documents/Teaching-Enrollments-and-Programs/Enrollments-in-Languages-Other-Than-English-in-United-States-Institutions-of-Higher-Education), Modern Language Association
26. [Inside Higher Ed -- "Foreign language enrollment sees steepest decline on record" (MLA 2021 census results: -16.6% 2016-2021, -29.3% from 2009 peak)](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/curriculum/2023/11/16/foreign-language-enrollment-sees-steepest-decline-record), Inside Higher Ed
27. [Duolingo Max -- GPT-4-powered AI features; Duolingo laid off 10% of contract content creators January 2024 citing AI replacement (Bloomberg coverage)](https://blog.duolingo.com/duolingo-max/), Duolingo
28. [MLA Executive Council -- Statement on Educational Technologies and AI Agents (October 2025): AI cannot develop intercultural competence or embodied linguistic intuition](https://www.mla.org/Resources/Advocacy/Executive-Council-Actions/2025/Statement-on-Educational-Technologies-and-AI-Agents), Modern Language Association

### Predecessors & successors

29. [MLA History -- MLA founded 1883 at Columbia College by 40 college language professors advocating modern languages alongside declining classical curriculum](https://www.mla.org/About-Us/About-the-MLA/MLA-Time-Lines/MLA-History), Modern Language Association
30. [BLS OOH -- Postsecondary Teachers (typical entry path: doctoral degree plus teaching assistantship leading to faculty position)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
31. [O\*NET 27-3091.00 -- Interpreters and Translators (BLS employment and wages)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/27-3091.00), O\*NET / BLS

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1124.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1124.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science / arXiv 2303.10130): Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary explicitly named in highest-LLM-exposure tier](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS OES May 2025 — Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1124): median annual wage $76,990; employment 22,960](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251124.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Postsecondary Teachers (2024–2034, +7% projected growth overall)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/postsecondary-teachers.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [MLA — Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2021: total enrollments down 16.6% 2016-2021 (29.3% from 2009 peak); languages in crisis across modern language programs](https://www.mla.org/content/download/191324/file/Enrollments-in-Languages-Other-Than-English-in-US-Institutions-of-Higher-Education-Fall-2021.pdf), accessed 2026-06-21
- [MLA Executive Council — Statement on Educational Technologies and AI Agents (October 2025): AI tools cannot develop the intercultural competence, critical humanistic understanding, or embodied linguistic intuition that language education cultivates](https://www.mla.org/Resources/Advocacy/Executive-Council-Actions/2025/Statement-on-Educational-Technologies-and-AI-Agents), accessed 2026-05-24
- [ACTFL — AI Resources for World Language Educators (2025): compilation of ACTFL resources addressing how AI is transforming world language teaching; endorses educator-led AI integration while emphasizing human responsibility for instruction, assessment, and facilitation](https://www.actfl.org/educator-resources/ai-resources), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Inside Higher Ed — Foreign Language Enrollment Sees Steepest Decline on Record (November 2023): MLA enrollment census documents 16.6% decline 2016-2021 (total 29.3% from 2009 peak); European languages hit hardest; budget pressure on language departments](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/curriculum/2023/11/16/foreign-language-enrollment-sees-steepest-decline-record), accessed 2026-06-21
- [ALD Bulletin (formerly ADFL Bulletin) — refereed journal of the Association of Language Departments (MLA): publishes essays on professional, pedagogical, curricular, and departmental matters for language department faculty, including AI and curriculum design](https://www.maps.mla.org/Bulletins/ALD-Bulletin-formerly-ADFL-Bulletin), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Heritage Language Journal — National Heritage Language Resource Center at UCLA (NHLRC): peer-reviewed journal covering acquisition and pedagogy of heritage and community languages; published with Brill since 2021](https://nhlrc.ucla.edu/nhlrc/resources/researchers/269600), accessed 2026-06-21
- [DeepL — DeepL Pro for Business (2025): 94% of Fortune 500 companies using; leading enterprise MT engine for European language pairs; Slator Language Industry Intelligence 2025](https://www.deepl.com/en/pro), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Duolingo Max — GPT-4-powered Roleplay and Explain My Answer features (2025): 10M+ subscribers; effective for lower-level conversation practice as outside-class supplement to instruction](https://blog.duolingo.com/duolingo-max/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [ELSA Speak — AI pronunciation coach (2025): 40M+ users; phoneme-level analysis and coaching; integrated into corporate and university language programs as self-paced speaking supplement](https://elsaspeak.com/en), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.