Distance Education and Foreign Languages

Abstract

Distance education in foreign languages in the United States has grown in a piecemeal, uncoordinated fashion, and it remains marginal to both distance education more generally and to the bulk of foreign language instruction throughout the country. One handicap, arising from very limited demand in business for foreign language skills, is the lack of the innovative development in the corporate sector of the kind that advances other distance learning. A major national need for adult-oriented, individual language-learning facilities remains unmet, particularly materials and facilities for remediation and maintenance of decaying language skills. Within the formal education system, distance education reaches a small fraction of all language learners and has less impact on current instructional practice than might be expected. To remedy this situation, attention must be given to upper-level skill instruction, the production of flexible modules of less than full course length, extension into the less commonly taught languages, the provision of opportunities for interactions rich in cultural context, and the adoption of a common research agenda.

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References

1. For an excellent recent overview of the full range of distance education, see U.S., Congress, Office of Technology Assessment , Linking for Learning: A New Course for Education (Washington, DC: Office of Technology Assessment, 1989).

2. For a discussion of this system, see Richard D. Lambert , The National Foreign Language System, NFLC Occasional Papers (Washington, DC: National Foreign Language Center, June 1989).

Foreign Language in the Workplace, ed. Richard D. Lambert and Sarah Jane Moore (Sept. 1990).

4. There are some. For instance, the University of Wisconsin's College of Engineering has just begun a program in technical Japanese, which the college is offering to companies as well as individuals.

5. See Carol S. Fixman , The Foreign Language Needs of U.S.-Based Corporations, NFLC Occasional Papers (Washington, DC: National Foreign Language Center, May 1989).

6. See Office of Technology Assessment , Linking for Learning, chap. 6, for a review of federal government programs.

7. See Army Training 2007, pamphlet no. 350-4 (Fort Monroe, VA: U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, 1990).

8. See Vincente Pasdeloup , “C-Span's Global Vision,” Cable World, 13 Aug. 1990, p. 11.

9. See “The Creative Use of Computers in Quebec,” Teletraining, 4(4):3-4 (May 1990).

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10. For a listing of campus-based programs, see Sue Willis and Susan Bridwell , Directory of Distance Education through Telecommunications: A Directory of NUCEA Institutions Utilizing Telecommunications in Distance Education (Washington, DC: National University Continuing Education Association, 1989).

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11. It might be noted that German, the language taught through the Oklahoma State program, is also a language with, at best, stagnating enrollments, and in some schools and colleges it is in danger of replacement by Russian or Japanese.

12.

12. See Bernice A. Cramer , “Developing Competitive Skills: How American Businesspeople Learn Japanese,” in Foreign Language in the Workplace, ed. Lambert and Moore .

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13. This investment amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars per year. For instance, one federal program alone, Higher Education Act Title VI, provides some $25 million annually in support of graduate-level centers where non-European languages are taught. The universities and states typically invest ten times as much of their own money in such studies. For a review of campus-based programs, see Richard D. Lambert , Beyond Growth: The Next Stage in Language and Area Studies (Washington, DC: Association of American Universities, 1984).

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14. See Richard D. Lambert , International Studies and the Undergraduate (Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 1989).

15.

15. See Evaluation of Teaching/Learning at a Distance (Madison: University of Wisconsin, School of Education, 1987).

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16. See, for instance, Toby Levine , “SERC Demonstration Year Fall Profile Reports,” mimeographed (Columbia, SC: Satellite Education Resources Consortium, Nov. 1989).

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17. There are quite a few studies concentrated on individual learners. See, for instance, Carol Speth , Cherie Mercer , and John Poggio , “Distance Learning by Satellite: The Role of Individual Differences in Processing and Motivation” (Paper delivered at the Sixth Annual Conference on Distance Teaching/Learning, Madison, WI, 9 Aug. 1990).