The Role of the College and University in the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers

PMLA ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Homer D. Babbidge

When your distinguished Secretary invited me to speak to you today, we spoke casually of a factual report on the language development feature of the National Defense Education Act. It is tempting to rehearse for you what this Act has already done and what it shows certain promise of doing for the development of modern foreign language study in the United States; to report to you that only a year after the Act's passage, more than 50,000 youngsters are getting better instruction as a consequence of institute training for their teachers; that the so-called “neglected” languages have been given so much attention that French, German, and Spanish now feel distinctly neglected; and that more money has been committed for research in the teaching of modern foreign languages in this past year than has been spent for this purpose in all recorded history. But all of this can be read (or told to you by the Prophet Mildenberger and his disciples, who, so far as I can see, are stationed at every corner of this hotel) and I prefer to direct my remarks to a single aspect of the complex language development program in which we are jointly engaged; one that I trust has great common interest for this audience, and one that in its implications suggests some weighty responsibilities for your profession: the role of the college and university in the preparation of language teachers.

PMLA ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-35
Author(s):  
Anna Balakian

This three-part survey of modern foreign language certification requirements and practices, made under a contract with the United States Office of Education authorized under the National Defense Education Act of 1958, utilizes information supplied by Education Department officials on the state and municipal levels. The qualifications here reported and analyzed relate only to the foreign language concentration and do not include academic degree and professional education requirements except in the case of the certification of teachers of foreign languages in the elementary schools (FLES) when the secondary school certificate is especially endorsed for FLES by the addition of training in professional education. Inquiries concerning other information about conditions of certification may be addressed to the Certification Officers listed in this report. The total and wholehearted cooperation which I received from them in conducting this study is gratefully acknowledged.


PMLA ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-14
Author(s):  
Jack M. Stein

The improvement of foreign language teaching in America in the past ten years under the dynamic leadership of the Foreign Language Program of the MLA is a fact in which we can all rejoice. The added impetus, financial and otherwise, provided recently by the National Defense Education Act, has made it possible for the Program, instead of retrenching after the period of Foundation endowment was ended, to expand with unprecedented vigor and effectiveness. The FLP has been active over a broad spectrum of foreign language teaching and learning, but there are areas where its influence has not yet been felt. One of these is the preparation of college and university language teachers.


PMLA ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-32
Author(s):  
Donald D. Walsh

Our major activities this year, as in each of the past five years, have been undertaken either with foundation support or through contracts with the United States Office of Education under the National Defense Education Act. In February John Harmon became Director of the Materials Center, changing places with Glen Willbern, who became Director of Research. Under Mr. Willbern's direction and through a government contract we have just completed a survey of modern-foreign-language enrollments in junior and senior colleges as of the fall of 1963. We are currently negotiating several contracts through Title VI of the National Defense Education Act. The first is to gather statistics on offerings and enrollments in all foreign languages in public and non-public secondary schools. The second is to make a survey of current college enrollments in all foreign languages. Since gathering statistics on the classical languages is not a justifiable expenditure of national defense funds, the Modern Language Association will pay out of its own funds the proportion of the total cost needed to gather the facts on Latin and Greek in schools and colleges.


2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-49
Author(s):  
Sandra Sanneh ◽  
Alwiya S. Omar

The formal study of African languages in U.S. universities began with the passage of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in 1958. Title VI of that act supported the establishment of “centers for the teaching of any modern foreign language [that is] needed by the federal government or by business, industry or education” and for which “adequate instruction is not readily available in the United States.” The act also authorized fellowships for those undergoing advanced training in these languages. Over the next two decades, a small number of universities successfully competed for the federal funding from NDEA and subsequent acts that established Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships and later Title VI National Resource Centers (NRCs) for African studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 21087-21095
Author(s):  
Ni Putu Nita Anggraini ◽  
Ni Luh Gede Yogi Arthani ◽  
I Putu Yuria Mendra

The group of foreign language instructors and Indonesian language instructors for foreigners initially had problems in the fields of HR, legality, marketing and management. The implementation of the community partnership program (PKM) funded by the Ministry of Research and Technology's Research and Development Program aims to solve partner problems through entrepreneurship building. The method applied is in the form of knowledge transfer in the form of counseling, training, simulation and diffusion of science and technology about teaching methods, mentoring financial management and marketing and managing agency permits. The teaching method quality improvement program is carried out through workshops and workshops with the theme of teaching Indonesian and multimedia-based foreign languages. The resulting output is in the form of certificates and the quality of teaching increases. The problem of business management and enlargement has been solved through mentoring by management experts so that partners know the tips of building a small business. To build a language teaching business, the team helped partners manage the Business Course and Training (LKP) business license in a notary and operational permits in the Badung District Education Office. From the marketing aspect, the team has helped partner market course service products through the creation of signboards, business cards and websites with the domain www.gepbali.com . The implementation of all these activities has been running 70% while the draft article and seminar papers are still in draft form. This activity has had a positive impact on providing employment for language teachers and improving language skills for the community.


Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 455-457
Author(s):  
Y.L MARREDDY

Y.L MARREDDY English is recognized as a universal language. Learning English is inevitable in this present global scenario. It also acts like a link language. Especially, English literature enables learners to develop critical thinking skills, helps to discover and enlighten themselves. It is quite challenging task to teachers to teach literature for studentsin non native English countries like India. The role of the language teachers becomes predominant and the methods of teaching literature according to the students’ level of understanding also play a significant role because studying literature assists students’ tohave real time experiences, passion for language acquisition and think innovatively. In this context, it is necessary for teachers to distinct between teaching literature for special purposes or it is used as a resource language for teaching this foreign language. This paper throws light on the importance of teaching literature, several approaches and methods of teaching literature at graduate level. Literature connects the cultures across the world, throws challenges to solve and even to heal some cultures. It really provides an individual space for learners to express themselves and improve competence levels among them. It allows learners to share their participation in the experience of others, strengthens to shape, alter their attitude and meet their expectations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (02) ◽  
pp. 088-100
Author(s):  
Kelly M. Purtell ◽  
Arya Ansari ◽  
Qingqing Yang ◽  
Caroline P. Bartholomew

AbstractAlmost 5 million children attend preschool in the United States each year. Recent attention has been paid to the ways in which preschool classrooms shape children's early language development. In this article, we discuss the importance of peers and classroom composition through the lens of age and socioeconomic status and the implications for children's early learning and development. We also discuss the direct and indirect mechanisms through which classroom peers may shape each other's language development. As part of this discussion, we focus on exposure to peer language and engagement with peers, along with teachers' classroom practices. We conclude by discussing the ways in which teachers can ensure that children in classrooms of different compositions reap the maximum benefit, along with implications for research, policy, and practice.


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Michael A. Schwartz ◽  
Brent C. Elder ◽  
Monu Chhetri ◽  
Zenna Preli

Members of the Deaf New American community reported they arrived in the United States with no formal education, unable to read or write in their native language, and had zero fluency in English. Efforts to educate them have floundered, and the study aims to find out why and how to fix the problem. Interviews of eight Deaf New Americans yielded rich data that demonstrates how education policy in the form of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other laws fail to address their needs, because these laws do not include them in their coverage. The study’s main findings are the deleterious effect of the home country’s failure to educate their Deaf citizens, America’s failure to provide accessible and effective instruction, and the combined effect of these institutional failures on the ability of Deaf New Americans to master English and find gainful employment. This article is an argument for a change in education policy that recognizes the unique nature of this community and provides for a role of Deaf educators in teaching Deaf New Americans.


PMLA ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 70 (4-Part2) ◽  
pp. 52-56 ◽  

The Accompanying table gives the most recent data obtainable on the extent to which foreign languages are offered and studied in public secondary schools in the United States. The last national survey was made by the U. S. Office of Education in 1948–49, and comparisons are made with the results of this survey to show the subsequent gain or loss in each state for which more recent figures could be obtained. For some states the data are incomplete because the state department of education does not know, and apparently does not care to find out, what the pupils in the high schools are currently studying. In seventeen states, the information existed only on reports filed by each high school, and it was assembled through the help of foreign language teachers who went to the state department of education and spent days tabulating the reports.


1964 ◽  
Vol 7 (03) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
L. Gray Cowan

A small conference was held in New York on March 19 to 20, 1964, concerning the general position of the teaching of African Languages in the United States at the present moment. The conference, called at the joint request of the National Defense Education Act Language and Area Centers and Columbia University's Institute of African Studies, was attended by the directors and teachers of African language of the major centers of African studies in the United States. In the course of the two-day meeting the directors reported in some detail on the position of African language teaching in their respective universities and a number of clarifications of NDEA policy were presented by Mr. Donald Bigelow. The question of a summer session on African languages was discussed at length and a variety of suggestions were offered for possible changes in the format of the existing summer session sponsored by NDEA. In this connection, a resolution was passed urging the establishment of a summer Institute of African Languages, to be located at a permanent site, and under the sponsorship of the African Studies Association.


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