Brenau University is one of only 10 universities in the nation selected this year for participation in the Network for Effective Language Learning, created to help stimulate innovative technology-based approaches to teaching foreign languages in U.S. higher education institutions...
Brenau University is one of only 10 universities in the nation selected this year for participation in the Network for Effective Language Learning, which was created to help stimulate innovative technology-based approaches to teaching foreign languages in U.S. higher education institutions.
Brenau’s selection coincided with the opening of the university’s new Language Bistro, a unique laboratory learning environment built around wireless technology and students in face-to-face foreign language communication, and with the university’s roll-out of a broad new liberal arts curriculum that involves improving students’ global awareness and enhancing language skills.
“Being chosen for the NELL program certifies the seriousness and urgency with which the Brenau University leadership is addressing issues related to foreign language learning in our society,” said Brenau Provost Helen Ray, the university’s top academic officer. “We are looking for every opportunity to deploy new technologies in language learning for traditional and nontraditional students and for developing applied learning programs for real-world use.”
The NELL program was organized two years ago by the Washington, D.C.-based Council of Independent Colleges with financial support from the 54-year-old W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles, one of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations. Its primary purpose is to address dramatic declines in foreign language learning in American colleges and universities.
“There is a real crisis of modern foreign language teaching and learning on today’s campuses,” CIC President Richard Ekman explained. “Language study is a much less common requirement than it once was, few students attain fluency in a foreign language, and the variety of languages offered in most institutions is very small.”
Furthermore, on many campuses critical languages such as Arabic and Chinese are simply unavailable. Recent articles in academic publications took higher education institutions to task for not even offering native languages as components of study abroad programs in host countries.
The seriousness of the problem in Georgia came to light several years ago when then-Gov. Roy Barnes proposed eliminating foreign language studies in high schools. A 2003 Peach State Poll from the University of Georgia revealed very little support for teaching foreign languages compared with other subjects. The story is virtually the same in higher education institutions in the state. Foreign languages have all but disappeared from academic requirements for graduate and undergraduate degrees. And the most recent data available reveals that the state’s 31 public institutions combined have fewer than 1,300 students majoring in any foreign language.
Likewise, Brenau eliminated degrees it offered in foreign languages some time ago due to lack of interest among students. But Provost Ray, who was a French professor throughout her earlier career, says that is changing because of societal demands both globally and domestically. Some of the fastest-growing U.S. population segments primarily speak languages other than English, yet only a handful of Georgia’s higher education institutions teach health care professionals, as only one example, how to communicate in second languages.
Starting with the fall term, the university will add Italian to its line-up of French, Spanish and Chinese languages taught. In addition to basics, Brenau also is exploring offering more applied language learning, such as Spanish for health care workers, Italian for opera singers and Chinese for business majors, and increasing opportunities for languages to be taught to Americans by native speakers. For example, the university is looking at possibly using visiting professors from its three partner institutions in China for language instruction, along with teaching in their areas of expertise like business or the sciences. It is also considering developing programs for more intense language instruction connected with its frequent study abroad programs.
There is a practical reason for college students to improve language proficiency. According to the independent online resource directory, AcademicInfo.net, those with more language skills generally can expect better salaries. Starting pay for skilled translators averages between $37,056 to $50,299; multilingual foreign exchange traders can make up to $61,200, and speech and language pathologists who speak more than one language can earn up to $67,500.
The NELL program requires member institutions to create teams comprising the institution’s top academics officer, an information technology professional and at least two language department heads. Ray heads the Brenau team, which also includes Cody Benson, director of information technology support, and Spanish, French and Italian languages professors George Demuyakor, Patty Webster and Larry Bolling. The group this summer attended a week-long meeting of NELL participants at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. – an information-sharing exercise required as a condition of membership. Brenau also must remain an active participant in the NELL online community and host a NELL consultant for a campus visit during the 2008-09 academic year.
Centerpiece of Brenau’s renewed language learning emphasis is the Language Bistro, which opened last spring. Built with a $100,000 grant from Brenau Trustee Erin McCabe Seng and her husband, David, the laboratory offers a face-to-face learning environment in which students can talk to each other in a different language as opposed to the more traditional lab in which they parrot sounds from a cassette tape into the wall of an enclosed cubicle.
Decorated like a sidewalk in front of a Parisian café with lampposts and a bright floor-to-ceiling mural, the Language Bistro enables students to sit four to a table. They’re connected via 24 laptop computers wirelessly to their instructor and the latest language software.
“We believe we will achieve great teaching success in the Bistro environment, and we were pleased with the response we got when she shared information about it with other NELL members in Tacoma,” said Ray. “But they had some good ideas on their campuses, too, and we’ll be considering the best ones to ‘steal’ for use at Brenau. We all have to do a better job of teaching languages.”