Foreign-Language Departments Bring Everyday Texts to Teaching

Autor/in	Bollag, Burton
Titel	Foreign-Language Departments Bring Everyday Texts to Teaching
Quelle	In: Chronicle of Higher Education, 54 (2007) 11, (1 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-5982
Schlagwörter	Language Skills; College Faculty; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Departments; College Second Language Programs; Literature; Teacher Collaboration; Educational Change; German; Universities; Advanced Courses + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Language skill; Sprachkompetenz; Fakultät; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Department; Abteilung; Literatur; Lehrerkooperation; Bildungsreform; Deutscher; University; Universität; Fortgeschrittenenunterricht
Abstract	Recently, the Modern Language Association (MLA) called for a major reorganization of undergraduate academic programs and even the structure of foreign-language departments. Typically, the initial two years of language instruction are taught by non-tenure-track instructors with little or no voice in the department. Faculty members mainly teach the literature-heavy upper-level courses. At doctoral institutions especially, there is often little or no cooperation between the two groups. The approach sells short the lower-level language courses, according to the MLA report, by depriving them of the involvement of faculty members with expertise in evaluating and improving language learning. This model should be replaced by "sustained collaboration" among all members of the teaching corps, to revamp language programs and keep them relevant, the report says. In addition, departments should broaden their upper-level courses from their current concentration on literature. That focus is increasingly irrelevant, the report says, as students seek to use their language skills in a growing variety of jobs in the globalizing economy. This article describes one revamped program, the German program at Georgetown University. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Chronicle of Higher Education. 1255 23rd Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 800-728-2803; e-mail: circulation@chronicle.com; Web site: http://chronicle.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10