Dissemination and Diffusion of Progress in the Foreign Language Teaching Field: A National Plan

Abstract

Excellent teaching methods, improved technologies for teaching and testing, and appropriate materials must reach the widest audience once they are developed by language pedagogy specialists. This article reviews the existing dissemination system and proposes a national plan to assure efficient and effective diffusion of tested innovations in the field to the practitioners at various instructional levels. This plan includes the development of an annual research yearbook and videotape, a National Foreign Language Video Conference Day, a National Board of Consultants, a board qualification certificate for foreign language faculty, a television series of great presentations, a set of surveys, and a national foreign language newsletter along with a major national publicity campaign. Wide dissemination of good ideas is as critical as developing improved practices.

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References

For a directory of state foreign language supervisors, see ibid., vol. 19 (Dec. 1986).

2. Reynaldo Jimenéz and Carol J. Murphy , “Proficiency Projects in Action,” in Teaching for Proficiency: The Organizing Principle, ed. Theodore Higgs (Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook, 1984), pp. 201-218.

3. These figures are based on an average attendance of 200 per annual meeting at the national, regional, and state levels.

4. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages has begun to discuss foreign language teacher certification with some members of the profession. Dale Lange and Alice Omaggio, both leaders in the field of foreign language pedagogy, have called for an examination of this issue in recent presentations to specialists in the field.

5. The Ivy League institutions joined with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, and the University of Chicago to form this consortium. Its aim is to improve foreign language teaching on its members' campuses and to promote the importance of foreign language learning in general.