Exploring the US Language Flagship Program Professional Competence in a Second Language by Graduation

by Murphy, Dianna; Evans-Romaine, Karen

• ISBN13: 9781783096091
• ISBN10: 1783096098
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-11-01
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Summary

A number of reports in the US have highlighted the country's need for improved second language skills for both national security and economic competitiveness. The Language Flagship program, launched in 2002, aims to raise expectations regarding language proficiency levels at the post-secondary level and to address structural gaps in the curricula of many L2 programs. This federally funded program provides opportunities for US undergraduate students in any specialization to reach a professional level of competence in a targeted second language by graduation. This volume highlights innovative practices that enable students to achieve this goal – even those with no exposure to the second language prior to university. The book explores the rationale and history of the federal program as well as showcasing models and strategies of existing Flagship programs.

Author Biography

Dianna Murphy is Associate Director of the Language Institute and Russian Flagship Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests are in foreign language education at the postsecondary level, with a focus on students' goals and perspectives on their foreign language learning. Karen Evans-Romaine is Professor of Russian in the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests include Russian language pedagogy and early 20th-century Russian literature, particularly intersections of music and literature.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Contributors
Karen Evans-Romaine and Dianna Murphy: Introduction
1. Michael Nugent and Robert Slater: The Language Flagship: Creating Expectations and Opportunities for Professional-Level Language Learning in Undergraduate Education
2. Dianna Murphy, Karen Evans-Romaine, Valerie Anishchenkova and Zhuo Jing-Schmidt: Laying the Groundwork: Programmatic Models in US Language Flagship Programs
3. Sandra Freels, Olesya Kisselev and Anna Alsufieva: Adding Breadth to the Undergraduate Curriculum: Flagship Approaches to Interdisciplinary Language Learning
4. Peter John Glanville: The Road Through Superior: Building Learner Independence
5. Victoria Hasko, Robert Moser, Fernanda Guida, Mary Elizabeth Hayes and Viviane Klen Alves: Maximizing Oral Proficiency Development via Telecollaborative Partnerships in the Portuguese Flagship Program
6. Sharon Bain and Madeline K. Spring: Creating Collaborative Communities through Online Cafés
7. Olga Kagan and Cynthia Martin: Heritage Language Learners in Flagship Programs: Motivation, Language Proficiency and Intercultural Communicative Competence
8. Dan Davidson, Nadra Garas and Maria Lekic: Assessing Language Proficiency and Intercultural Development in the Overseas Immersion Context
9. Samuel Eisen: Overseas Internships in Advanced to Professional-Level Language Acquisition
10. Mahmoud Al-Batal and Christian Glakas: Beyond Proficiency Gains: Assessing the Academic, Cultural and Professional Impact of the Flagship Experience on Alumni
11. Thomas J. Garza: Raise the Flag(ship)! Creating Hybrid Language Programs on the Flagship Model
Karen Evans-Romaine and Dianna Murphy: Conclusion