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Although there have been an increasing number of programs offered by universities in the United States (U.S.) in recent years, few published studies address the development of any in U.S. universities. Therefore, the current study aims to address important issues to the success of the language program and bridge the gap between the existing literature and language program development implementing statistical methods of ordinal logistic regression and factor analysis. Based on data collecting from foreign language programs in 201 different universities across the U.S., we developed a proportional odds model to examine the factors that foster or constrain the development of the program. The study can also be used as a predictive model on the perspective of starting a new language program in a university based on its features in different respects. An internal validation of our model was conducted using the cross-classification table.

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Abstract-This paper is aiming at exploring possible reasons for decreasing interest in Mandarin studies for high school students. We summarize characteristics of high school students from three perspectives: observation, memory, thinking ability. According to some report, interest in Mandarin studies at Longxian High School is waning in recent years. In this paper, we find the reasons for the decreasing interest in Mandarin are as follows: negative emotion and deficient knowledge of teachers, increasing gap between teachers and students caused by inadequate communication. In reading classes, problems lie in traditional cramming way of teaching, exam-oriented and overemphasis on scores, and monotonous way of class organization. To solve these problems, we provide suggestions on strategies of organizing Chinese classes using performing and competition ways. In writing class, topics are too far away from students' daily lives, and exams are overemphasized too. Positive feedbacks from teachers are inadequate to maintain the situational interest of students. Recommendations are proposed on preparation before class, timely positive feedbacks in the essay, and adjustment in evaluation ways. Index Terms-declination of interest, situational interest, instructing method, class organizationAccording to the survey at Longxian High School, average academic scores for Mandarin studies are declining sharply in recent years. More and more students cannot perform well in Chinese subject in College Entrance Exams. Based on the investigation in Longxian High School, which is located in the northwestern part of Mainland China, we find that students' performances in Chinese classes are far from satisfaction and the existing problems in Chinese classes are pertinent to the waning interest. The paper is based on the assumption that interest would positively promote learning. After observing Chinese classes for half a year and interviewing with local students, we provide practical suggestions to solve problems in reading and writing. According to some previous research, high school students are being in a special stage, which is characterized by the following features comparing with other stages.Characteristics in observing ability: Previous research (Zhang, 1999) shows that high school students are in a stage of independent thinking. One of the characteristics of observation ability is that high school students are having definite purpose in observation with increased duration. Secondly; observation ability is developed into a stage with enhanced precision in details and accurate judgments in essence. Thirdly, high school students possess better generality and relatively mature minds.Characteristics in memory: Memories of high school students are reaching a peak in the perspectives of conscious memory and comprehensive memory. Although the amount of rote memory is not as good as middle school students, the quality and quantity of memory in general meaning are two times of middle school students, and four times of elementary school chi...