Portuguese language instruction is relevant to global businesses, diplomacy, security, and environmental affairs, yet it accounted for only 0.7% of total world language enrollments at universities in the United States in 2016. As part of an attempt to promote enrollments in Portuguese at an American public research institution with a top-rated…

This essay posits that an institution's program design mandates the curriculum for the classes we teach and that curriculum affects the concept of "canonical" literature, teacher preparation, textbook content, and comfort with discussing difference in the second language classroom for undergraduates. For that reason, this essay argues…

Study abroad (SA) provides a space and place for second language (L2) learners to be challenged in terms of their target language skills and intercultural awareness. In order to appropriately equip learners, a task-based approach seems ideal to identify learners' specific needs (Long 2015). The present study reports a multiphase needs analysis…

This essay addresses key challenges that Spanish and Portuguese programs in higher education institutions will face over the coming years. First, we present options to position Spanish and Portuguese as an integral part of institutional efforts concerning interdisciplinarity, community engagement, and global awareness. Next, we discuss curricular…

In terms of foundational considerations, SPSP-CDA should be clearly defined, even if provisionally, and the need for it, justified. Building on Doyle's original coinage of the term (2017), SPSP-CDA is an ongoing process-and-results oriented curriculum and leadership development activism in humanities-based Spanish language and cultural pedagogy on…

This current study reports the findings of sociolinguistic research investigating the place of the "voseo" in the Spanish language curriculum in the United States. The study describes the results of questionnaire responses from 177 US Spanish teachers and survey responses from 560 US college students of Spanish. Both instruments sought…

A business Spanish curriculum that presents the full spectrum of general and specialized areas--including management, banking, finance, marketing and advertising--might seem ambitious for a single course. A course that aims to present the full picture would seem to impose an undue burden on memory and retention of the content. By emphasizing…

This article analyzes efforts at Emory University to understand international presences, focusing especially on Spanish-speaking communities and neighborhoods in Atlanta and Georgia, and to integrate these into the life of the university through engaged learning courses. Using a fresh look at the concepts of global citizenship and cosmopolitanism…

In this article, the author shares two ideas that have guided her as she has attempted to ground curricular design in a web of diverse elements, on one hand, and also communicate more explicitly to students how and why an undergraduate Spanish major encompasses more than just development of oral proficiency in face-to-face interactions in order to…

Examines how six major areas of foreign language education in Florida have been significantly affected by the proficiency movement. These areas include oral testing, curricular goals, instructional materials, teaching methods, state and county initiatives, and standards of achievement for teachers and students. (11 references) (GLR)

Presidential address delivered at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) in San Francisco, California, on December 30, 1970. (DS)

Recapitulates some of the findings of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies decrying "Americans' incompetence in foreign languages". Criticizes certain attitudes and practices prevalent among university language professors, such as their indifference to the practical purposes of foreign language…

Notes that although the popularity of Spanish as a foreign language has increased in Yugoslavia, little attention has been paid to Spanish teachers' attitudes toward foreign language teaching or to their continuous education. Presents a survey of teacher attitudes regarding curriculum and teaching methods. Results indicate that the teaching staff…

Argues that coordinated language-learning sequences provide continuity for learners and clearer understandings about the interrelationships of curriculum, instruction, outcomes, and evaluation for teachers. The article discusses articulation in French, German, and Spanish programs; vertical models of articulation; horizontal articulation; program…

Provides information about some of the activities of the National Forum on the Future of Spanish Departments on College and University Campuses that took place in September 1999 and highlights issues that were discussed including enrollments, curriculum design, Spanish for instrumental purposes, and the structure of foreign language policies…