America's languages: The future of language advocacy

Abstract

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Foreign Language Annals, and recognizing the seminal role this journal has in informing the language education profession about policies and programs, we sketch a future for advocacy for language education in the United States. Drawing on the Languages for All initiative and the work of the Commission on Language Learning of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, we reprise a vision for building a multilingual society presented 3 decades ago for Australia, another English‐dominant society, where every child can master English, every child has the opportunity to learn the language spoken at home, all children can learn other languages if they choose, and language services continue to be provided to all who need them. We propose advocating for this vision on the basis of the impact of bilingualism and education and employment, on recent promising developments in language education, and on the rising demand among the stakeholders in the public and private sectors to meet domestic and global needs.

Facing reality: A survey of methods instructors’ perspectives on world language teacher development

“…Despite such acknowledged, embedded impediments, MIs saw an improved future for WLTD through opportunities for formal dialogue, collaboration, and action. Various stakeholders of WL study—parents, board members, business executives, faculty in language and education, and state officials—have advocated support for world languages as a core component of all children's PreK–12 education (American Academy, ; Brecht, Rivers, Robinson, & Davidson, ; Rivers & Brecht, ), and indeed can bring attention to the WL teacher shortage and help institute significant systemic change in education practices, as has happened in the past (Conant, ; Perkins, ). Without necessarily having read in their totality the multiple conceptualizations of pre‐service training discussed earlier in this article, the 164 MIs’ repeated calls for change echoed those which emerged in prescient insights by Joiner (1980) and Fryer (), among others, but which remain to be realized.…”

Editor's Message

“…In the spring 2018 issue of this journal, Rivers and Brecht shared similar concerns: “… there is no denying the fact that, for much of the past two generations, we have constantly struggled with a debilitating mindset that there is little we can do to change the status of language learning in the US” (2018, p. 25). Simply put, imagining, building support for, and enacting substantive change is an elusive and highly challenging endeavor.…”

Striving for the third space: A U.S. professional's experiences in Chinese workplaces

“…This need is reflected in the World‐Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (The National Standards Collaborative Board, ), which confirm that foreign language education must prepare students to use the language “to function in academic and career‐related situations” that require them to use language proficiently to address content across a range of disciplines. However, Kramsch () pointed out that the disciplinary connections that are envisioned by the Standards “did not get realized at the college level.” Moreover, although the growing efforts to prepare future members of the international work force have been described and documented (Brecht et al, ; Damari et al, ; de Sam, Dougan, Gordon, Puaschunder, & St. Clair, ; Malone & Rivers, ; Mansilla & Jackson, ; Rivers & Brecht, ), relatively little is known about learners’ postprogram professional experiences.…”