Promise (Un)Fulfilled: Reframing Languages for the Twenty-First Century

Autor/in	Oxford, Raquel
Titel	Promise (Un)Fulfilled: Reframing Languages for the Twenty-First Century
Quelle	In: Hispania, 93 (2010) 1, S.66-68 (4 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0018-2133
Schlagwörter	Curriculum Development; Higher Education; Business; Educational Change; Team Teaching; Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Majors (Students); Cultural Awareness; Language Proficiency; Teacher Collaboration; Teamwork; Outcomes of Education; College Faculty; Interdisciplinary Approach; Spanish; Portuguese; Technological Literacy; Career Development + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Curriculum; Development; Curriculumentwicklung; Lehrplan; Entwicklung; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Business studies; Wirtschaft; Betriebswirtschaft; Bildungsreform; Teamteaching; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Fremdsprachenunterricht; Cultural identity; Kulturelle Identität; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Lehrerkooperation; Lernleistung; Schulerfolg; Fakultät; Fächerübergreifender Unterricht; Fächerverbindender Unterricht; Interdisziplinarität; Spanisch; Portugiesischunterricht; Technisches Wissen; Berufsentwicklung
Abstract	Change in higher education, as manifested in curriculum reform, can be particularly difficult as the structures of academia, such as rank and tradition, retard the process. Two recent reports from the Modern Language Association (MLA) strive to address needed curricular adaptations and offer a roadmap of considerations for modifications. The 2007 MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages report, "Foreign Language and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World," posits that "the language major should be structured to produce a specific outcome: educated speakers who have deep translingual and transcultural competence." The second report--the 2009 "Report to the Teagle Foundation on the Undergraduate Major in Language and Literature--considers the needs of students in its recommendations for "a coherent program of the study, collaborative teamwork among faculty members, interdepartmental cooperative teaching, and the adoption of outcome measurements." Departments of Spanish and Portuguese must consider the needs of various constituencies--teachers, students, business--as a reframing of the current undergraduate major takes place to move forward a more integrative model where cultural, linguistic, and literary knowledge and practices are more functionally relevant outside the ivory tower. One reform focus, "Partnership for 21st Century Skills" (P21), has begun to steer the educational community in that direction, and it should be taken under consideration, along with the MLA reports, during any curricular changes in Spanish and Portuguese. The P21, formed in 2002, brings together education leaders, the business community, and policy makers to define a powerful vision for 21st-century education in an effort to ensure every child's success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. This group defines "21st century student outcomes" as the skills, knowledge, and expertise students should master in order to succeed in work and life in the 21st century. Four elements embodied in these outcomes are discussed: (1) core subjects and 21st-century themes; (2) learning and innovation skills; (3) information, media, and technology skills; and (4) life and career skills. (Contains 3 notes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Inc. 900 Ladd Road, Walled Lake, MI 48390. Tel: 248-960-2180; Fax: 248-960-9570; e-mail: AATSPoffice@aatsp.org; Web site: http://www.aatsp.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10