Special Operations Forces Language and Culture Needs Assessment: Barriers to Language Acquisition and Maintenance
Abstract
This study is one component of the Special Operations Forces (SOF) Language and Culture Needs Assessment Project. The larger study consisted of 23 focus groups conducted across the SOF community and an issue-oriented web-based survey. This report describes SOF operators and leaders opinions about the barriers that operators encounter in the language acquisition and maintenance process. Survey and focus group results indicated that SOF operators and leaders agreed that the top three barriers are 1) time/operations tempo (OPTEMPO), 2) competing training requirements, and 3) deployments outside SOF operators area of responsibility (AOR). Each of these barriers can affect SOF operators proficiency in their required AOR language by 1) promoting language skill decay, 2) reducing the quality and effectiveness of language training, or 3) inhibiting acquisition or maintenance activities. SOF operators and leaders provided suggestions for reducing or removing these barriers, including 1) protecting or mandating language training time, 2) setting priorities for training requirements, 3) recognizing the importance of language, and 4) holding SOF operators and leaders accountable for language proficiency.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA634198
Entities
People
- Eric A. Surface
- Kartik Bhavsar
- Kathryn Nelson
- Natalie Wright
- Reanna P. Harman
- Sarah C. Bienkowski
- Stephen J. Ward