Exploring attrition after a first-semester French course: A mixed-methods analysis

AAAL Chicago 2026

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Anne Violin-Wigent

Laëtitia Kokx

Bridget Miller

Michigan State University

Land acknowledgments

• Chicago is located on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations, as well as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, Fox, and other Indigenous nations.
• Michigan State University’s campus is located in what is called Nkwejong by the Anishinaabeg. Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Bodéwadmi peoples.
• The University’s campus resides on the traditional Lands of the Saginaw Band of Chippewa, ceded under coercive or violent circumstances in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. Michigan State University is supported through the Land Grant Act, where 10.7 million acres were taken from 245 Tribal nations through the treaty system to fund and establish agricultural colleges.

Outline

• Introduction
• Context for the study
• Quantitative analysis
• Qualitative analysis
• Discussions
• Conclusions

Introduction

• Our research team and positionality

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• Anne Violin-Wigent
• Laëtitia Kokx
• Bridget Miller

Enrollments at MSU

Enrollments in the French Basic Language Instruction Program

728

565

593

585

427

451

Research question

Why do students enrolled in FRN 101 "at a large Midwestern university" choose not to continue their learning experience after only one semester?

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Methodology: Quantitative Analysis

• Registrar's office list of all students enrolled in FRN 101 between Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 but did not enroll in FRN 102, n = 141
• Remove all students graduating that semester or the following one (seniors), n = 36 = 25%
• Factors included in the analysis of the remaining n = 105
• College for primary major
• Gender (no difference: 49.5% F vs. 51.5% M)
• Time between university matriculation and FRN 101 enrollment

Results

Methodology: Qualitative Analysis

• Participants
• Four undergraduate students enrolled in FRN 101 at a large Midwestern university. All were non-French majors and had chosen not to continue after the first semester.
• Data collection
• Semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 12 minutes were conducted by an undergraduate research assistant majoring in Spanish.
• Interviews focused on students’ experiences and reasons for discontinuation.
• Interviews were conducted in English, initially transcribed from YouTube’s auto-generated captions, and reviewed.

Methodology: Qualitative Analysis

• Coding
• A thematic analysis was conducted using an inductive, data-driven approach. Transcripts were independently coded in MAXQDA by two coders.
• Themes
• Initial codes were grouped into categories, leading to the identification of eight main themes, of which only 4 emerged as most relevant:
• Justification for drop (workload, difficulty of the language, relevance in their path)
• Modality (content of the course, activities, structure of the class)
• Reason for joining (attraction, elective)
• People (relationship with instructor, influence of peers and ongoing connections with peers)

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Results

Both coders showed agreement in coding through the themes in subcodes like difficulty, content and activities of the class, personal attraction for the language, positive relationships with the instructor and peers.

Results

Despite initial attraction in the language and culture, as well as positive experiences with instructors and peers, students discontinue after FRN 101 mainly due to heavy workload, the perceived difficulty of learning French, the elective nature of the course, and its limited relevance to their academic or career goals.

Conclusions

• Quantitative analysis answered the who that we could then target for the qualitative analysis of the why.
• Investigate further ways to lessen the transition between high school and college classes.

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Conclusions

• Qualitative analysis suggests the need to better align course design, workload, and learning goals with students’ broader expectations.
• Initial data gave a preview/stepping board for a larger study and/or formal evaluation with focus groups that include students who are continuing and who discontinued.
• The consistency of positive relationships with instructors and peers highlights the importance of fostering positive student–instructor relationships and creating an engaging learning environment, as the unique social connections that can be developed in language classes could further support student retention.

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References

Heidrich Uebel, E., Kronenberg, F. A., & Sterling, S. (Eds.). (2023). Language program vitality in the United States: From surviving to thriving in higher education. Springer Cham.

Lusin, N., Peterson, T., Sulewski, C., & Zafer, R. (2023). Enrollments in languages other than English in US institutions of higher education, fall 2021. Modern Language Association of America.

Morgan, W. J., & Thompson, A. S. (2023). “My friend Travis says…”: A look at enrollment trends in language classes in the United States. Foreign Language Annals, 56, 259–279. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12683

MLA Reports on Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education available at https://www.mla.org/Resources/Guidelines-and-Data/Reports-and-Professional-Guidelines/Enrollments-in-Languages-Other-Than-English-in-United-States-Institutions-of-Higher-Education

Thank you !

Questions

Comments

Suggestions

📩

Anne Violin-Wigent

violinwi@msu.edu

Laetitia Kokx

kokxlaet@msu.edu