Foreign Language Learning in K‐12 Classrooms in the United States

2008 ◽  
pp. 1228-1241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Met
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
K 12

scholarly journals Cosmopolitanism and Multilingualism in a Globalized World: Perspectives on the Lack of Foreign Language Learning in the US

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 871-877
Author(s):  
Kathleen Stein-Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Era ◽  
Language Deficit ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Us ◽  
Globalized World

Although cosmopolitanism has a long history, it has become even more relevant in the global era and, especially, since the COVID-19 global pandemic has made communication and understanding across cultures more important than ever. Multilingualism is the essential cosmopolitan skill and tool, empowering those who are proficient in one or more additional languages to understand, and to communicate and interact with others more effectively. The United States suffers from a foreign language deficit, and there is an urgent need to build both motivation and interest in other languages along with sustainable skills in other languages in the US. Steps to effectively address this deficit include prioritizing language learning and use, and providing the opportunity to all interested students to learn one or more additional languages.

Articulating a foreign language sequence through content: A look at the culture standards

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Byrnes
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Literacy ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
K 12

Curricular articulation and the integration of cultural knowledge with language development over extended sequences are among the most persistent challenges for contemporary language teaching and learning. The paper examines the nature of those challenges in light of theories of language and culture while using as the site of investigation the culture standards that have been developed within the framework of theStandards for Foreign Language Learning, a key document for L2 education in the United States, particularly at the K-12 level. Taking four perspectives, it suggests ways in which simultaneous content and language teaching might be tackled through a genre-based way of constructing extended curricula and by using genre-based tasks for informing pedagogical decisions. In this fashion, learners might be able to progress toward a competent cultural literacy that is language-based.

scholarly journals Organizational Principles and Content of Early Foreign Language Learning in the USA

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-38
Author(s):  
Iryna Biletska
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Us Government ◽  
The Usa

Abstract According to the results of leading American scientists that convincingly demonstrate the effectiveness and necessity of early foreign language learning the features of teaching foreign languages at elementary level in the United States have been analyzed. It has been found out that the US government is working on the improvement of foreign language at elementary education all over the country. The attention is paid the languages that were not so popular, and now have obtained the status of “extremely necessary”, such as Arabic, Farsi and Russian, as they have become very important for the future participation of the state in world politics. The requirements for programs development of foreign language for elementary school have been described; such aspects as quantity of classes, curriculum project, teaching materials, teaching staff and knowledge of the students, the choice of languages, coordination and efficiency are taken into consideration. The short description of the content of foreign language teaching of elementary education has been presented. It has been indicated that success in foreign language learning as a device of foreign language communication depends on the level of listening, lexical, grammatical and spelling skills, as well as the abilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing, which are defined in the program for elementary school.

National Standards: Research into practice

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen W. Glisan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
National Standards ◽  
The Impact

The Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (SFLL) (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project [NSFLEP]), originally published in 1996, were envisioned by many as the panacea for providing a new and exciting direction for foreign language education in the United States. The perceived impact of these National K-16 Student Standards has been witnessed throughout more than a decade by scholarly works that have acknowledged their role as ‘a veritable change agent’ (Sharpley-Whiting 1999: 84), ‘a vision for foreign language education in the new century’ (Allen 2002: 518), and, more recently, as ‘a blueprint and framework for change’ (Terry 2009: 17). The research that has been done on the Standards since their inception has attempted to provide concrete ways for the field to embrace this new framework and thereby realize a Standards-based curriculum and perhaps even revolutionize language education. This work has consisted largely of (1) implementational research (both with and without experimental design) that proposes specific strategies for addressing the Standards in planning, teaching, and assessment (Schwartz & Kavanaugh 1997; Abbott & Lear 2010); (2) survey research that analyzes self-reported information regarding teachers' pedagogical beliefs about the Standards and ways in which they claim to be addressing Standards in their classrooms (Allen 2002; ACTFL 2011), and (3) White papers that disseminate opinions and insights by leaders in the field regarding the impact that the Standards are having in areas such as language instruction, curriculum and course design, and educational policy (Sharpley-Whiting 1999; Donato 2009; Glisan 2010).

Teachers' Experience as Foreign Language Online Learners

2014 ◽  
pp. 41-59
Author(s):  
Congcong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Technological Diversity ◽  
English Speaking World ◽  
K 12

Due to the continuing linguistic and cultural diversity among K-12 students in the US and across the English-speaking world and the increasing influence of digital technologies on learning, this qualitative study was conducted to explore pre-service teachers’ perceptions of learning a foreign language online, and how such experience influences teaching linguistically, culturally, and technologically diverse students. Participants comprised 35 teacher education students, all of whom took a 9-week online Chinese language/culture course. A variety of surveys with closed and open-ended questions were conducted before, during, and after the course. Data were collected online and then coded and analyzed. The participants’ responses suggested that: 1) new forms of online learning were engaging to teacher-learners with diverse learning styles, prior technological experience, needs, and goals; 2) the pre-service teachers perceived that online foreign language learning during their teacher education program enhanced their linguistic, cultural, and technological awareness; and 3) the participants felt that they benefited from being prepared to work with linguistic, cultural, and technological diversity in classrooms. This study has implications for similar contexts around the world.

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