Seventeen Values of Foreign Language Study

This article addresses the role of college and university professors in foreign language teacher recruitment (K‐12) and lobbies for increased involvement in recruitment efforts. The discussion includes explanations of why many foreign language professors who are not affiliated with Schools or Colleges of Education frequently do not recommend foreign language teaching careers to their students. Also delineated are the benefits of more participation in recruitment efforts by foreign language professors from traditional, humanities‐based departments of foreign languages and literatures. The article concludes with 22 reasons to be a foreign language teacher — a resource for presenting the positive aspects of the foreign language profession to potential foreign language teacher candidates.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Visions” of K‐12 Foreign Language Teacher Recruitment in Higher Education

Long

2000

“…Previous research has examined the benefits, challenges, and outcomes of postsecondary foreign language (FL) learning in lower‐level courses (e.g., Calvin & Rider, ; Conrad, ; Frantz, ; Grosse, Tuman, & Critz, ; Hayward & Siaya, ; Kondo‐Brown, , Morello, ; Price & Gascoigne, ; Shulz, ; Thomas, ; Wilkerson, ). Some of these studies have focused on the academic dilemmas that students may experience (e.g., Price & Gascoigne, , p. 388; Wilkerson, ).…”

Section: Introduction and Purposementioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Affective Profiles of Postsecondary Students in Lower‐Level Foreign Language Classes

Kondo‐Brown

2013

Recent surveys and research on second language (L2)/foreign language acquisition help explain the challenges that postsecondary students in lower‐level foreign language (FL) courses may experience. The present study extends this line of research by examining changes in students' affective profiles in a two‐year Japanese program (n = 382) at an American university. The results indicated that students who reached the end of the program perceived more social, economical, integrative, and other value in learning Japanese than those at the beginning of the program. Results also showed that students appeared to expend significantly less effort in learning the language at the end of the program than at the beginning. This article urges FL instructors, especially those in lower‐level courses, to carefully consider issues of motivation in these and other courses.

“…Articles stating that studying a foreign language in school will increase the academic achievement of K-12 students, especially in communication arts, have appeared in numerous education journals and books (e.g., Black, 2000;Cawelti, 1995;Frantz, 1996;Genesee & Cloud, 1998;Heller, 1996;Latham, 1998;Marcos & Peyton, 2000). There has also been important theoretical work that seeks to integrate evidence of the effects of studying a foreign language on academic achievement, as well as other cognitive abilities, such as intelligence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These advantages include the ability to conduct business in a foreign language, an increased appreciation of cultural diversity, an enhanced global perspective, and increased career flexibility. Considering the increasing globalization of the economy, the ability to process an L2 may itself be critical for the long-term success of many students (Frantz, 1996;Hamayan, 1986;Lee, 1996). Additionally, there is evidence that early elementary school foreign language instruction has specific and unique advantages including increased long-term L2 proficiency (where L2 instruction is continued); establishment of a broader frame of cultural reference and acceptance; increased cognitive ability; and enhancement of creativity, mental flexibility, cognitive maturity, and communication skills (Curtain, 1990).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Did a Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES) Program in a Kansas School District Affect Students' Academic Achievement in English?

Schuster¹

2005

What happens to English academic achievement when valued class time is devoted to a foreign language in the elementary schools (FLES) program? Is there a reduction in achievement as suggested by a time‐on‐task hypothesis, or is there some form of compensation, as suggested by additive bilingualism? The school district in this study started a FLES program with Grade 2 students in five schools in 1995–96, and the students continued FLES through Grades 3, 4, and 5. Students in the other eight district schools received no FLES. The FLES and no‐FLES students were compared based on the Grade 6 Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), using Grade 2 ITBS Survey Battery to control for initial variation in test scores. No significant statistical difference was found.