Endorsed by the AAUSC and published by Cengage Learning, the Issues in Language Program Direction series strives to further AAUSC goals-- improving second language instruction by developing language training programs, promoting research in second language acquisition, and establishing a forum for exchanging ideas, experiences, and materials among language programs.

Many foreign language departments have developed innovative curricula with the goal of overcoming two-tiered structures that often separate language instruction at the lower levels from upper division content coursework. However, language departments rarely extend their articulation efforts to include pre-collegiate experiences even though recent educational reforms have significantly altered not only the skill sets, but also needs and expectations of students entering college. In addition to attending to vertical interfaces, successful language curricula integrate horizontally with academic and professional units outside the language department. This volume furthers the existing knowledge base on the collegiate foreign language curriculum by providing a K-20 perspective on the achievement of curricular coherence. It is intended for a broad audience, but in particular language program directors, to help them address the critical transitions that language learners face during their progression from public schools through undergraduate programs and into graduate education. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Despite rapid globalization within contemporary society and the seemingly obvious need for the study of foreign languages (FL) and cultures; recruitment to undergraduate FL degrees has dwindled, graduate programs have disappeared; and institutions have restructured independent language departments into mega-departments of languages, literatures, and cultures. At the same time, the FL and humanities disciplines have engaged in “soul-searching” exercises in an effort to understand and express a renewed sense of value for the study of foreign language and culture. As a result of these kinds of societal and disciplinary movements, FL programs, along with other educational sectors, are facing the increased need to engage with peripheral forces like accountability and accreditation, to express and ensure their value through outcomes assessment, and to begin to think, innovate, and behave programmatically. Key to enacting these changes systematically and effectively is heightened awareness of the importance of program evaluation, not only as a means to demonstrate how and why FL study is a valuable pursuit in today’s world, but also as a process through which sound improvements can be made, participants can learn, and educational relevance can be sought. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

The democratization of schooling and greater access to higher education, together with the implementation of language requirements in colleges and universities across the United States, has led to a higher degree of diversity in language classrooms. One usually thinks of gender, ethnic, racial, or social diversity, but individual differences, including learning disabilities and special needs, also contribute to diversity and have an impact on assessment, placement, and curriculum. In their role as administrators and teacher educators, Language Program Directors (LPDs) seek to integrate current practices and research in applied linguistics into program design and administration, including assessment. To make individual differences a theoretically grounded integral component of their decision-making processes, LPDs need resources that provide cutting-edge primary and secondary research on the conceptualization, measurement, and consequences of individual differences on language development in the classroom. This volume provides LPDs with the means to transmit information to their instructors in effective ways so that the instructors develop a sophisticated understanding of individual differences, including learning disabilities, special needs, and strategies for dealing with diverse student populations. In addition, this volume creates a forum for reflections about and solutions to challenges related to diversity as it relates to individual differences. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

This innovative text presents an introduction to different facets of building and leading language education programs at the university level to meet the needs of students who are minority speakers of a heritage language (HL) – also known as community or home languages. Providing a unique synthesis of theory and empirical research, Sara Beaudrie and Sergio Loza authoritatively illustrate and guide the reader through the main issues that program directors face from the early stage of program conceptualization and creation through later stages of program management and evaluation. The book keys in on the diverse considerations and skills involved in this leadership work – including advocacy and fund-raising, placement, curriculum development and assessment, teacher preparation and student advocacy – and offers an array of practical advice and pedagogical features. This is an invaluable resource for advanced students and scholars of applied linguistics and education, as well as future and current language program administrators in institutions of higher education, for understanding the benefits of specialized HL courses, for blazing a trail in future research in this domain, and for forging a path to solidified institutional recognition and support for HL education.

Under current geo-political conditions of social, environmental, and economic fragility and instability, the need for education to cultivate empathy, heighten attentiveness to the biosphere, and augment commitment to civic engagement imposes itself with urgency (Rifkin, 2012). As fundamentally social-relational phenomena, semiotic agility and critical language awareness serve as critical resources for ameliorating and transforming selves, communities, and societies. These points suggest that instructed language education would benefit from greater integration with a variety of real world contexts and communities. In response to this need, contributions to this volume propose approaches to pedagogically mediated second language learning that link classroom activities with relevant social practices occurring outside of instructional settings. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.