We start our summer edition with a contribution from the U.S. perspective. Aleidine Moeller and Martha Abbott outline past advocacy efforts of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and sketch out what still needs to be done to create the ‘new normal’ where language learning in school and beyond is the norm rather than the exception. This article originally appeared in the Spring 2018 edition of the ACTFL journal, Foreign Language Annals. In that issue, FLA editor Dr Anne Nerenz poses four Challenge Questions to language stakeholders:
- How can we engage the hearts and minds of the [American] public, including national and state departments of education and legislators as well as local school boards, administrators, parents, and learners and help them to embrace the many benefits of language learning?
- How can we best engage students in meaningful, personalized learning and support their developing proficiency and intercultural competence?
- How can we fully engage learners in communities in which the language is spoken?
- How can we most effectively recruit, support, and retain a highly qualified teacher corps?
You will find links to contributions on all four challenge questions, all taken from the FLA edtion, in the ‘Selected Articles’ section. Here in our own issue, we have indirectly addressed these too, as set out below.
Challenge 1: Lucy Jenkins describes an award-winning mentoring programme for Languages, as part of the Welsh Government's Global Futures Strategy, which sends university language students into secondary schools and has helped to increase motivation and uptake beyond the compulsory language learning stage by 50%. You should also check out the dates of 15 September and 16 November in our ‘Selected Events’ section. The 25th Anniversary Conference of UCMLS Scotland will be reviewing the impact of three years of joint promotional initiatives with SCILT. The November event (Language Linking Business Thinking) is aimed specifically at Developing the Young Workforce representatives in schools and local authorities, as well as careers advisers in schools and universities.
Challenge 2: You can read how Rachel Young increased motivation for language learning in an inner-city primary-class through a Content and Language Integrated approach (CLIL), using Italian abstract art. At the other end of the education spectrum, Minna Maijala, Joanne Pagèze and Laura Hoskins observed and analysed interactions of university language students in two quite distinct learning and cultural contexts.
Challenge 3: Louise Whyte illustrates how you can find opportunities to engage students in language learning AND bring them face to face with people that speak the language(s) they are studying, even in challenging contexts.
Challenge 4: Check out our ‘Selected Publications’ section. You will find a link to the newly published National Framework for Languages (NFfL), which a team of teacher educators has specifically developed for aspiring, newly qualified, and more experienced language teachers.
Links to sections:
Call for papers for our next edition
We are interested in submissions that consider any aspects of language learning/teaching or language policy, in Scotland or in other parts of the world. The SLR is read by linguists as well as educational stakeholders across the country and beyond, so your article can really have impact!
Hannah Doughty, Editor