Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary
Teach languages and literature courses in languages other than English. Includes teachers of American Sign Language (ASL). Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 4% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +0.2% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on creative vision.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $79,350
- Job growth to 2035
- +0.2%
- Openings a year
- 1,600
- People doing it (2025)
- 24,600
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
- Prepare informational or instructional materials
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assess student capabilities, needs, or performance
- Maintain operational records
- Develop educational programs, plans, or procedures
What the work looks like
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as how to speak and write a foreign language and the cultural aspects of areas where a particular language is used.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as states prioritize workforce development programs and fields of study perceived as more valuable to the labor market at the expense of humanities fields.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Mathematical science teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 8, +1.7%
- Business teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 19, +5.9%
- Library science teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 13, +2.7%
- Geography teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 21, +2.7%
Also known as: French Professor, Professor, Spanish Instructor, Spanish Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages Professor, German Professor.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.