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Boston Career Explorer

Educational Instruction and Library

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.

Also called: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages Professor, French Professor, German Professor, Instructor

Median pay in Greater Boston
$99,100
Jobs in Greater Boston
630
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+3.5%
80 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Doctoral or professional degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$65,710$81,740$99,100$130,760$168,590

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • 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.
  • Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in scholarly journals, books, or electronic media.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Higher exposure93 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 90
  • Language-model AIOE 100
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 88

Observed AI use today: Substantial (Anthropic Economic Index)

This job has higher AI exposure, and observed AI use is substantial. Translation and practice tools can help with course materials, grading, and record keeping. Live conversation practice, cultural insight, and building students' confidence are still led by people, so the work is more likely to change than vanish.

Likely to change

  • Creating course materials and practice exercises
  • Grading written work and keeping records

Still relies on people

  • Leading live conversation practice
  • Teaching cultural context and building confidence

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

51 programs near Boston (plus 31 graduate)

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