Components of teaching World Languages

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Components of teaching World Languages

• Thorsten Huth
• 1-26-2009

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Foreign Languages World Languages

• The Euro-American bias in teaching Foreign
  languages The big 3
• Administrative and curricular consequences on all
  levels Departments, faculty, curricula, degree
  options
• Goals Humanistic inquiry in the classic sense
• Language
• Literature
• (Linguistics)

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Foreign Languages World Languages

• Consequences in approaching the teaching of
  foreign languages
• language skills (means) vs.
• literary analysis (end)
• Bipartite structure reflected in UG curriculum
• Mechanical language skills (years 1, 2)
• Literary analysis (years 3, 4)

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Foreign Languages World Languages

• A disjointed curriculum
• Focus on language skills
• Focus on lit. analysis
• The problem of bridge courses
• The past 10 years
• Dwindling enrollments
• Relevance of languages in an
• Increasingly training oriented academic
  landscape
• Increasingly globalized world

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Searching for relevance

• Political climate during the Bush years
• The problem of maintaining the relevance of
  languages for the humanities in the humanities
• Unpopularity of literary analysis among students

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Format C?

• Recent reports on the situation of languages in
  the academic landscape of the US
• Frank Graziano (2008) The Spanish curriculum
• MLA Ad Hoc Committee (2007) Foreign Languages
  and Higher Education New Structures for a
  changing world
• Claire Kramsch (2005) Foreign Languages post
  9/11
• Bernhard Berman (1999) Curricular reforms in
  German
• (French?!)

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Towards

• a global orientation
• an integrated curriculum
• multiple angles on world languages and their
  respective language communities

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MLA ad hoc committee recommendations

• Transforming academic programs
• Goals Translingual and transcultural competence
• An integrative approach with multiple paths to
  the major
• Transforming the two-tiered system
• Strengthening the demand for language competence
  within the university

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Towards an integrated curriculum

• Produce competent communicators in the target
  language (4 skills)
• But how?
• Provide knowledge about the historical and
  current context in which the TL occurs
• Culture/Civilization
• Literature, Linguistics
• Mass Media
• But how?
• Integrate both throughout the curriculum (i.e.
  starting in 101 and finishing in 493).
• But how?

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What affects our language programs?

• Knowledge about how languages are learned (SLA
  research)
• Current trends in the language teaching
  profession (MLA, ACTFL, NCATE)
• The specific institutional context in which a
  program and its curriculum is situated
• ?individual language programs must weigh these
  and integrate them in a way that suits the
  programs specific curricular and administrative
  needs

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The German major at SIUC

• Integrated approach to the major
• Language instruction (4 skills)
• Literature
• Culture
• ?German studies

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Language instruction Producing communicators

• Larger principles
• Contextualized instruction
• Interactive, communicative instruction
• Task-based instruction
• Largely monolingual instruction in TL
• Emphasis on speaking in the classroom
• Emphasis on writing in homework
• Grading/testing all 4 skills
• Oral exams from the beginning
• Test listening comprehension regularly
• Test reading comprehension regularly
• Test writing both in a) free and b) controlled
  environments
• Having a clear vision for the program
• Foster all 4 skills systematically in year 1,2,3
  and 4

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Literature

• Canonical texts from different periods integrated
  into the basic language class sequence (101a/b,
  201a/b, 320 a/b)
• Year 1 Literature in translation
• Year 2 Moving towards original texts (poems,
  fairy tales, short fiction)
• Year 3 Longer pieces

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Culture

• Online module on blackboard
• German History
• German Geography
• The nation state Germany
• High culture
• The fine arts
• Architecture

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German history

• General overview Landmarks from Charlemagne to
  Hitler
• Special emphasis
• 20th century (National socialism / WW I II)
• Post 1990 (German reunification)
• Post 9/11 (Terrorism/Globalization etc.)
• Testing basic identification of concepts

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Geography

• Basic orientation
• The European context (neighboring countries)
• Specific orientation
• The national context
• States, capitals
• Major rivers and mountain ranges
• Testing Identification of names and place

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The nation state Germany

• Constitution/political system
• Major political parties their programs
• Economy
• Social Welfare/Retirement
• Health Care System
• Education System
• Testing
• Identification of concepts
• Cross-cultural differences

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High culture The fine arts

• Composers / Periods
• Painters / Periods
• Architecture / Periods
• Testing Connect names, works, periods

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Example German 101B

• Language instruction
• Chapters 5-10 of the current textbook
• History
• WWII, National Socialism
• Literature
• Schlink The Reader (in translation)
• Kafka Metamorphosis (in translation)
• Fine Arts
• Painters (names, works, periods)

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• (Das wars, danke!)