Aptitude, Attitude, and Sensitivity

THE reinstatement and/or strengthening of the for eign language component of the undergraduate cur riculum offers an exciting challenge to foreign lan guage faculty.1 Awareness of the findings of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Study, as well as growing concern over students' literacy levels, may encourage building a program in language and literature or even restoring a foreign language requirement in many institu tions. While administrators, colleagues, and perhaps students and their parents will all be involved in deliberating these issues, we, as the faculty, bear a special responsibility for leadership. Our leadership will benefit from our preparedness to meet the questions and concerns of these con stituencies. Clearly each institution has its own needs, and each foreign language department will develop its own method of reassessing the role of foreign language and literature study. The strategies suggested below are designed to support the process of strengthening the foreign language program, whether or not language requirements are at issue. The process includes gathering information, es tablishing a rationale, clarifying needs, developing resources, and sometimes changing institutional pol icy. The order of the suggestions below does not suggest a fixed modus operandi. In some situa tions, for instance where there are only two foreign language teachers, securing outside help in the form of a consultant might precede collection of relevant data on foreign language study in the college. In other circumstances, when student enrollment and faculty staffing patterns permit, a department chair man might offer a faculty team released time to develop the statistics, bibliography, and other rele vant data needed to support the reassessment pro cess. Where nearby institutions have particularly successful foreign language programs, a college con sidering reinstatement of foreign language require ments might regard visits to these departments as a sensible first step in reassessment. Each department should develop its own plan. The logic of steps within this plan will, of course, be determined by internal departmental and institutional factors.

Teachers of foreign languages in the United States have a number of obstacles to overcome, the most massive being, perhaps, the fact that ours is a one-language-oriented society. That language, of course, happens to be English. While it is true that to know an elegant language such as French was at one time considered to be aesthetic, nice, or a status symbol, the study of that language was never truly widespread; and neither was the study of any other foreign language. On the other hand, people in other lands have a broader outlook on this form of communication. European countries, for instance, perhaps due in part to geographical circumstances, have always been multi-language oriented. Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, due to their long subjugation to the British Empire, were (and are) to a great extent, bilingual.China, under a communist regime, has included the teaching of English in the curriculum, but the study of the language was introduced into the country along with our large trading interests and many missions long before the communist take over. Reports on President Nixon's trip to Russia have disclosed that in Russian schools the teaching of English as a second language is begun at the second grade of elementary school. In Latin American countries the study of English is fairly general; and in Mexico, our closest neighbor to the South, the presence of American tourists boosting the national economy has also encouraged its study. Instructors of foreign languages in the United States have to fight, then, the indifference towards other languages that is so deeply embeded in our culture. Nevertheless, Spanish, French, German, Latin, Italian, and Russian are taught in many high schools, colleges, and universities. At the high school level, the study of a foreign language is sometimes encouraged, but more

This monograph presents in detail the genesis, design, and implementation of a full‐scale curricular innovation in a U.S. university German foreign language studies program, with a primary focus on writing development. Its goal is to demonstrate and articulate how college educators, from typically diverse scholarly persuasions, might conjointly craft a much‐needed response to calls for change in tertiary foreign language and cultural studies departments. After sketching the contemporary landscape of and challenges in collegiate foreign language studies, it theorizes an approach to educational design that is at once theoretically grounded in genre‐based literacy development, legitimately responsive to both literary‐cultural and language developmental values of faculty, and practically focused on student achievement of very advanced learning outcomes. Turning from ideation to application, the monograph then reports extensively on the actual curricular scope and sequence, genre‐based pedagogies, and associated assessment practices that were developed and implemented in a four‐year undergraduate German program. The emphasis throughout the monograph is on explaining why and how decisions were made while also demonstrating the outcomes of these decisions in the form of practicable educational efforts and products. It closes by arguing the need for additional inquiry‐driven program innovation of the sort reported here, if the value of college foreign language studies is to be enhanced, perpetuated, and, fundamentally, realized.

What happened to the study of German in 1917-18 may happen again in 1939-40 to German and to other foreign languages. Foreign language teachers must divorce the study of modern foreign languages, literatures, and cultures from politics. As teachers, good sense suggests self-imposed limitations upon the freedom of speech and action to which we are unquestionably entitled as citizens. The study of foreign languages should stress the things that bind men together, not those that divide them.)

In the contemporary dynamic educational landscape, the development of critical thinking skills has become extremely important and is now widely recognized as a foundational objective across virtually all academic disciplines. It extends significantly to foreign language study, which was traditionally focused on linguistic accuracy and communicative competence. The article provides a research of the relationship between critical thinking and foreign language acquisition, stating that these two cognitive and educational domains are not merely complementary but are, in fact, profoundly reinforcing. The research examines the cognitive processes that engage with a foreign language and demonstrates how they foster analytical, problem-solving, and evaluative competences within the learner. It also illustrates how applying of a critical mindset enhances both the depth and effectiveness of language learning, examining pedagogical approaches and methodologies that can be integrated into foreign language curricula. These approaches are designed to actively stimulate and develop critical thinking skills through targeted activities and strategic instructional design, moving beyond rote memorization to genuine intellectual engagement. The methodology employed for the article is based on a literature review and a conceptual analysis that involves a clear conceptual delineation of critical thinking and foreign language study, as well as an exploration of theoretical frameworks that link cognitive development with linguistic acquisition. Furthermore, the methodology focuses on identifying instances of mutual reinforcement, investigating how learning a foreign language stimulates critical thinking and, conversely, how critical thinking can be strategically applied by learners to optimize their language acquisition strategies. The article also highlights the substantial academic and practical benefits of fostering critical thinking in foreign language learners that are far beyond primary linguistic competence and encompass broader cognitive, metacognitive, and intercultural capabilities. The main research findings reveal a relationship where critical thinking is both an outcome of and an enhancer for foreign language learning, which naturally fosters metacognitive awareness, problem-solving and inference skills, cross-cultural comparison and perspective-taking, and critical evaluation of information and sources. At the same time, a critical mindset significantly improves language acquisition through strategic learning, deeper linguistic processing, effective error analysis and self-correction, enhanced reading and listening comprehension, and improved productive skills. Pedagogically, integrating critical thinking requires a shift to tasks demanding analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, such as problem-based learning, debates, authentic material analysis, and comparative tasks. The conclusions emphasize that cultivating critical thinking in foreign language learners transcends the traditional objective of achieving linguistic proficiency, instead equipping learners with essential cognitive tools that empower them to make more informed and reasoned decisions, engage in more profound and empathetic intercultural communication, and critically understand diverse perspectives.

State policies that impinge upon the study of foreign languages have been largely the domain of educational agencies. These policies frequently respond to events with little thought to necessary supportive relationships. Thus we now see a spate of mandates for programs in elementary schools with no policy for the preparation of teachers for those grades. We see rationales built upon global competition and a response of two years of study for less than an hour a day. In addition, foreign language planning is often the indirect result of larger, more general policies. In recent years, foreign language study has been mandated as part of policies aimed at higher college admission standards, for desegregation purposes, or for international development. None of these address the realistic potential or the value foreign language study might contribute.

The purpose of the article is to analyze informal additional foreign language learning practices used by high school seniors in the context of modernization of school foreign language education, primarily expressed in optimizing the requirements for the formation of a multilingual component and the loss of the status of a compulsory subject in a second foreign language. The research strategy involves a comparative analysis between two reference points: 2020 and 2024, using data from official statistics, such as the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) and specifically conducted sociological research by the MSLU sociological laboratory in cooperation with the NAFI research company among students of grades 8-11 in the Moscow region and other regions of the Russian Federation. Additionally, the study focuses on the informal (extracurricular) learning practices of seniors for foreign languages. The obtained results indicate an increase in the proportion of English language learners with a simultaneous loss of the role and importance of the traditional German and French languages for Russian foreign language education, as well as a reduction in the study of other foreign languages. The ongoing public discussions about the reorientation of the foreign component of school education in accordance with the new geopolitical situation to the languages of Asia and Africa do not have any real opportunities for their implementation due to the lack of staff and logistical support. At the same time, the maintenance of the elite segment of foreign language education in the form of specialized educational institutions with in-depth study of foreign languages is fixed, which does not eliminate, but rather perpetuates the gap in unequal access to opportunities for obtaining foreign language competencies and career opportunities. Additional (extracurricular) foreign language classes, including paid ones, continue to be in demand among seniors. The degree of involvement of schoolchildren in additional educational practices is determined by regional, settlement and professionally oriented factors.

The article discusses the features of intensive learning of foreign languages. The study of foreign languages in modern society has become an inseparable component of the training of specialists at all levels. The article takes a brief overview of the private teaching methods of students' foreign language communicative competence. Teaching foreign languages at intensive courses in language centers has its own specifics, which is different from studying at school and university. There are many intensive methods and concepts of teaching foreign languages. The external form as well as the means of implementing the intensive training system is the conscious and purposeful management of the process of communication in the study group by the teacher. A prerequisite for the effective course of this process is to increase the activity and creative role of the teacher, maximum mobilization.

This article studies the imperative of reforms in teaching foreign languages to adults both from the social point of view and methodological needs of the particular process of foreign language teaching for representatives of a special age group. The starting point of the article is the authors` own experimental research in the form of a questionnaire, which, as the target audience, conducted a survey of people aged 45+ studying at or graduated from foreign language courses as a part of integration programs (the survey was conducted among relocants from Ukraine after February 24, 2022) finding out what factors contributed / did not contribute to their success and psychological comfort in language learning. The second part of the study presents the results of a survey of teachers who work in foreign language courses attached to higher educational institutions of Ukraine and presents their point of view on the difficulties of teaching in mixed age groups and in groups dominated by people over 40 years. The purpose of the article is to show that in order to fulfill the social tasks that modern society places on the study of foreign languages by older people, changes in methodological approaches to the stated process are necessary.

Abstract: The purpose of this article is fourfold: first, to report on a university-wide survey assessing demand among bilingual undergraduates for foreign language study in a management university in Singapore; second, to determine those factors influencing students' foreign language choice and also those influencing decisions not to pursue foreign language study; third, to discuss how the results contribute to curricular planning for foreign language provision; and fourth, to provide readers with a non-U.S. or European perspective on the issues of foreign language learning interest and choice. Using an online survey, results from 708 respondents indicated that, although already bilingual, an overwhelming majority demanded more opportunities for foreign language study, particularly for Japanese, French, and Spanish. Students' primary motivations were a desire to learn about the target culture and enhance employment marketability.

The development of international ties and the internationalization of all spheres of life have greatly increased people's desire to study foreign languages as well as a need for people who speak them. This is the second time this kind of interest has emerged in the postrevolutionary history of our country. The first time it happened was in the second half of the 1920s, when the people's commissariats of education of the RSFSR [Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic] and the Ukrainian SSR [Soviet Socialist Republic], the Academy of Sciences, and the Central Committee of the Komsomol all issued this nationwide appeal: "Learn Foreign Languages." In the decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) of 1929, "On Organizing the Study of Foreign Languages by the Party Activists," the study of foreign languages—by correspondence as well as other methods—was stated to be a party duty assignment (see Izvestiia VTsIK, Moscow, 1929, no. 1). In the early 1930s, foreign languages were made a regular subject and there were even attempts to introduce language instruction in the third and fourth grades.

The aim of this study was to assess if a correlation exists between language learning skills and musical aptitude through the analysis of scholarly outcomes concerning the study of foreign languages and music. We enrolled 502 students from a secondary Italian school (10-14 years old), attending both traditional courses (2 hours/week of music classes scheduled) and special courses (six hours). For statistical analysis, we considered grades in English, French and Music. Our results showed a significant correlation between grades in the two foreign languages and in music, both in the traditional courses and in special courses, and better results in French than for special courses. These results are discussed and interpreted through the literature about neuroanatomical and physiological mechanisms of foreign language learning and music perception.

The authors recommend universities to change the method of foreign language learning. The study of foreign languages will not be efficient without the knowledge worked out by the particular foreign language speaking country. According to this the program for foreign language study should be interdisciplinary.

The ability to think critically is considered an important component of a college education, and postsecondary institutions typically include critical thinking in student learning outcomes, particularly in the general education curriculum. Foreign language has traditionally been a staple discipline in general education. However, college foreign language instruction has not consistently integrated critical thinking in its approach to teaching and learning. Explicit teaching of critical-thinking skills in foreign language courses would strengthen higher-order thinking skills while enhancing language and cultural proficiency. This article (1) offers a definition of critical thinking that can be applied to foreign language and culture study, (2) outlines the role of critical thinking in postsecondary education, (3) discusses the various components that build communicative competence in a foreign language and culture, (4) describes the benefits of critical thinking to foreign language learners, and (5) suggests future research directions for integrating critical thinking into the foreign language curriculum.

This preliminary study examined the factor structure of the Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory in two samples of about 750 college students of English as a foreign language in Taiwan. Results of confirmatory factor analysis lend partial support to Horwitz's theoretical five-factor belief model. Subsequent exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of data show that a four-factor model represented by only 12 items performed better than other models both theoretically and empirically. This model consists of two dimensions already theorized in the inventory: Difficulty of Language Learning and Foreign Language Aptitude, and two newly interpreted dimensions, Importance of Spoken Language and Analytical Approaches to Language Learning. Although this four-factor model could be replicated in an independent sample, the factors are not reliable, suggesting the need to search for a more representative set of beliefs to tap specific aspects of language learning.