The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

A great deal of discussion and planning is under way the purpose of which is to upgrade our national system of foreign language instruction. Out of that discussion has emerged a consensus on a few key points of leverage to supplement and improve the system. These include focusing on adult language needs; the development of consistent measures of individual and program performance; the elaboration of the technology of teaching upper-level language skills; and the establishment of empirically oriented experimental classrooms. To carry out this agenda, the creation of a national foreign language center is proposed.

Based on and synthesizing recent advances in both psychometric procedures and communicatively oriented linguistic analysis, a theoretical framework for describing factors affecting performance on foreign/second language tests is presented. Included within this framework are both test method factors—such as the testing environment, the nature of the instructions to the examinee, and the stimulus and response modalities represented in the test—and linguistic factors, including the examinee's organizational and pragmatic competence, strategic competence, and psychophysiological skills involved in the proper reception or production of the test language. Implications of the framework for the development and validation of communicative language proficiency tests are discussed and an action plan is suggested, including further refinement of the theoretical framework; development of large-scale, highly authentic criterion measures operationalizing each of the framework factors; and subsequent validation of both existing and to-be-developed practically oriented communicative proficiency tests against the criterion measures. Establishment of a working group of interested individuals from several institutions and disciplinary areas is proposed as an appropriate administrative vehicle for these activities.

The hardware available for computer-assisted language learning is rapidly improving. Software development continues to lag, and the empirical foundation for second language acquisition research is inadequate. A strategy for remedying these deficiencies is outlined. Networked microcomputers whose software for computer-assisted language learning generates logs of user activity for analysis of second language acquisition offer interesting possibilities both for practical applications and in research. With access to a national network of data, testing, and teaching materials, such local networks will support advanced workstations and software allowing more complex interactions with the learning environment.

Five innovative methodologies currently practiced in the teaching of foreign languages are discussed: the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning, the Comprehension Approach, and the Communicative Approach. In order to understand how these methodologies are innovative, a discussion of teaching practices during the first half of the twentieth century is offered. Following the historical perspective, the five innovative methodologies are analyzed in terms of their goals, features of the teaching and learning process, characteristics of teachers and learners, and their views of language and culture. Then a summary of what they have in common is provided. The article concludes with the identification of questions concerning methodologies that need to be addressed in the field and with some specific recommendations for a national agenda for foreign language instruction.

The language teaching curriculum is found to be predominantly focused on grammatical content. Several designs related to curriculum development are examined: systems-behavioral, communicative, and content. The need for the integration of the several contents of language programs is developed. A national agenda for a different direction, the language learning curriculum, is offered.

Classroom-centered research on language use surrounding teaching and learning processes can provide much of the information needed to put modern language teaching on a scientific footing. The history of second language classroom research is briefly outlined, and the principal research methodologies are described. A critique is offered of current work, and a proposal made for the next decade. It is argued that priority needs to be given to high-valency, psycholinguistically motivated studies of both a basic and applied nature. Ten topics are identified that meet these requirements and that, it is felt, would merit early consideration in a national research agenda.

The teaching of a foreign language to any individual necessarily involves the bringing together of two languages and two cultures: the student's native language and culture—the base—and the language and culture being studied—the target. When these are in marked contrast, many special instructional challenges emerge. Students are confronted with totally unfamiliar linguistic patterns and cultural concepts, which require analysis that will be meaningful specifically to them. In the foreign language classroom, serious attention must be paid to the learners and their particular mind-set, through which they will inevitably filter the target language. A recommended approach to this pedagogical challenge is the use of a team of professionally trained instructors that includes targetnatives who, as authentic models of the target, actively and with linguistic sophistication, interact with the students in the target language—the act component—and base-natives, who concentrate on the analysis of the target—the fact component.

The majority of attention in foreign language teaching in the United States has in the past been focused on the lower levels of instruction. While many students begin the study of various languages each year, only very few continue to the level where they can truly function. This country's interests demand that we train more students to higher levels of proficiency in a greater variety of languages than ever before. To improve high-level language training, steps need to be taken to (1) coordinate and/or provide advanced-level, intensive language instruction in the United States and abroad; (2) train teachers in the techniques of high-level instruction; (3) catalog, adapt, prepare, and disseminate advanced training materials; (4) conduct research into the most effective training techniques at the higher levels; (5) promote language proficiency testing and certification; and (6) disseminate the knowledge and experience gained from the preceding.

Historically, communication between foreign language schools in the federal government and academic foreign language programs has been extremely limited. Typical government and academic programs are compared on the 11 significant program characteristics of instructional goals, student characteristics, class size, curriculum, instructional staff, assessment criteria, program length, skill modalities emphasized, instructional methodology, results attained, and supporting empirical research. This series of comparisons reveals a striking contrast in instructional objectives and procedures that has served to reduce cooperation between government and academic foreign language programs. It is argued, however, that these significant differences should be viewed as complimentary, rather than divisive. The combined assets of both foreign language teaching communities provide heretofore untapped resources for empirical research into national foreign language issues. Options are then described for cooperative research ventures to address these issues.

This article describes current practice in foreign language teacher education programs—middle-school through post-secondary levels—and provides recommendations for change that might be facilitated through the development of a national foreign language pedagogical research agenda. Discussion of teacher education practices centers around the following concerns: (1) policies regarding the admission and retention of students; (2) the content of teacher education programs, including core courses in the subject-matter specialization or major, professional education courses, and instruction in methodology; (3) preservice teaching experiences; (4) certification standards; and (5) in-service opportunities and maintenance of professional skills. The qualifications of teacher-training personnel, for both secondary and post-secondary settings, are also discussed. Recommendations for the development of a national agenda are grouped into three categories: (1) research and development activities; (2) in-service development opportunities; and (3) opportunities for leadership training. Such an agenda should aid the profession in its efforts to bring about needed change in the education and development of the nation's foreign language teachers.

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.

Competencies in a large number of languages brought to our schools by representatives of linguistic minority groups are, through an unspoken policy of subtractive language education, irrevocably lost as national foreign language resources. This occurs in spite of repeated declarations of national leaders in commerce, defense, education, and international affairs that our foreign language resources are in a “scandalous” state. There are promising ways in which our schools can conserve the extraordinarily valuable language resources that are currently being squandered. A description of a model of two-way bilingual education is described that has the potential of providing opportunities for linguistic minority children to develop mature, adult literacy skills in their ancestral language.

A humanistic approach to language study recognizes the necessity of learning a language in its social and cultural contexts, encompassing the ecology and the material, social, religious, and linguistic cultures of the language studied. The need to teach language in relation to social and cultural values affects educational choices with respect to curriculum, materials, and approaches and should be central to national planning and programs for professional development and the improvement of teaching.

For three decades theoretical linguistics has had little impact on language teaching, although sociolinguistics has been employed in curriculum design and test construction. Applied linguistics has been eclectic and has seldom applied pure linguistic research. Theoretical linguists, for their part, have not encouraged attempts to apply their results. Theory and practice were separated largely because the theoretical results were so tentative. However, recent theoretical advances suggest important applications for linguistic theory in foreign language teaching and in the testing of proficiency. The acquisition of a nonnative language is probably subject to biological constraints that are closely related to those factors that guide and control first language acquisition. Methodology and test construction must allow for this. Research must determine precisely what the factors are and how they interact. Theoretical linguists interested in such research should be included in interdisciplinary teams working on foreign language learning and testing.