|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FOREIGN language departments have made great strides in developing foreign language courses for specific purposes. Although their most notable success has been in creating business-foreign language programs, they have also designed new courses for medical and legal personnel, engineers and technicians, and social service professionals (Grosse 222–24). Until recently, however, the departments have overlooked a large number of students who can benefit professionally from learning a foreign language: those majoring in journalism and mass communication.
In a world of instantaneous international communication, Americans in general and journalists in particular can profit from a great flow of information if they are skilled in foreign languages. Most students in American schools of journalism and mass communication do not acquire the language skills necessary to understand broadcasts transmitted by satellite from abroad, nor are their reading skills sufficiently developed to make use of foreign newspapers and magazines. The public's awareness of the rest of the world is created in great part by American journalists who rarely have an in-depth knowledge of languages and cultures other than their own (Ruth 30–32).
To respond to the need to train future journalists and other specialists in mass communication, the Department of Modern Languages at Ohio University created two sequences of courses in French and Spanish designed to teach the languages through the use of print and broadcast media. Students enter these sequences after having completed at least two years of high school French or Spanish or one year of the language at the college level. The goal is for the students to continue their studies through six quarters, one year at the intermediate college level and the following year at the advanced level (third-year conversation and composition). For the sixth quarter, students in French have the option of studying abroad with the department's program in Tours, France, and students in the Spanish sequence have a similar opportunity in Mexico. These special sequences, now in their fourth year, have proved successful in attracting students from the College of Communication.
In creating special courses for communication majors, our department was motivated in part by self-interest. Although the two-year foreign language requirement in the College of Arts and Sciences guarantees a substantial enrollment, we were concerned about attrition rates at the intermediate and advanced levels in French and Spanish. Enrollment figures linked to students' majors revealed a decline for students in the College of Communication. A rather curious trend was apparent for journalism majors: they were dropping their study of French and Spanish after taking only a quarter at the intermediate level. Further investigation pointed to an obvious reason. The BA in journalism at Ohio University requires one quarter of foreign language at the intermediate or advanced level or three science courses. Since many students enter the university with at least two years of foreign language, they follow the requirement to the letter and take one foreign language course.
The first quarter of intermediate French or Spanish does not provide enough language training to have much practical value for a future journalist. Curious about whether other schools of journalism have equally low foreign language requirements, I sent questionnaires to the 86 schools that meet the standards of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). 1 Among the 79 schools responding, 48% have a specific foreign language requirement, 33% make foreign language an option for meeting a requirement, and 19% have no foreign language requirement at all. When asked to state the level of the requirement, 34% of the schools in the first two groups indicated “one year or less at the college level,” 10% specified either one semester or one quarter at the intermediate level, and 50% said two semesters or three quarters at the intermediate level. Only 6% require one semester at the advanced level.
While I was dismayed by what I consider the low level of foreign language requirements at American schools of journalism, I was encouraged by answers to three opinion questions included in the survey. Asked about the value of foreign language study for future journalists, 86% of the respondents (directors and deans) stated that fluency in a foreign language is a desirable skill for this group, 70% indicated that it would help a journalism graduate get a job in a competitive market, and 87% said that the quality of international news in the American press would be improved if more journalists were proficient in foreign languages. Since our colleagues at Ohio University's E. W Scripps School of Journalism had a similar positive attitude toward foreign language study, we were encouraged to embark on the major grant proposal that resulted in our two special French and Spanish sequences for journalism and communication majors.
From the early stages of planning the grant proposal, we have worked closely with Ralph Izard, an outstanding professor who was recently appointed director of the School of Journalism at Ohio University. The special courses in French and Spanish enhance his school's curriculum in a number of ways. Each year the School of Journalism awards internships with newspapers and wire services in French- and Spanish-speaking countries. Candidates for these positions must be outstanding journalism students who can function in the target language, a qualification that would-be applicants have often lacked. The six-quarter special sequences provide training in both language and media for students interested in foreign assignments.
The School of Journalism is also interested in developing the students international perspective on campus. In courses such as Foreign Correspondence and International Communications the student's ability to do research is enhanced by knowledge of a foreign language. To qualify for the BA in journalism, students must take 75% of their courses in “nonprofessional” subjects, such as those taught in the College of Arts and Sciences. Students must complete a specialization area that includes either thirty-six hours in one liberal arts area or eighteen hours in each of two. Foreign languages count as a field of concentration, thus providing an additional incentive for students to complete our six-course sequences and continue at the advanced level.
In collaboration with the School of Journalism we were able to make a strong case for internationalizing the undergraduate curriculum in a significant way. In the fall of 1983 we applied for funding to the US Department of Education's Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program. We received a $42,000 grant the first year and a renewal the second year, a total of $84,000. The award covered released time for faculty members to develop new courses, materials and equipment, expenses and honoraria for international journalists visiting campus, a summer workshop to train additional faculty members to teach courses on the media, and travel to conferences. The major task at hand was to develop the new courses for the two-year sequences.
Although language faculty members often read the foreign press, teaching the target language through the use of print and broadcast media requires preparation that goes beyond the cursory reading of newspapers and magazines. Research on the pedagogical use of foreign language media is being published with greater frequency (see, e.g., Berwald; Ruprecht; and Steele and Gaillard). Press articles and television broadcasts now serve as supplementary materials in culture and civilization courses. Our goal is to use the press as both the medium and the message. Students learn the foreign language while acquiring an understanding of the print and broadcast media in the target cultures.
We began to develop our curriculum in the summer of 1984 with a workshop under the direction of Alvina Ruprecht, a French professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, who established the first courses at her institution designed to teach French through the use of the news media to anglophone Canadian journalism students. In addition to providing bibliographical material, Ruprecht demonstrated how to make use of video segments recorded from French-Canadian television programs. Although her students are more advanced than ours, having constant access to the francophone media, her techniques are applicable to the intermediate level, where our special sequences start.
Our courses aim at strengthening all four language skills—reading, writing, listening, and speaking. A structured grammar review, included in each course, is related directly to the press. For example, after reviewing basic question formation in the grammar book, students study opinion polls and interviews, then write questionnaires and conduct live interviews with native speakers of the target language. To reinforce their knowledge of conjugations, students identify the tenses and meanings of verbs in current news articles. The passive voice, relegated to an appendix in many grammars, figures early in the sequence because of its frequent use in the press. Reading proficiency and vocabulary are developed through newspaper and magazine articles selected for their level of difficulty. Students read clusters of articles dealing with social problems (e.g., racism, drugs, smoking), environmental subjects (e.g., chemical spills, nuclear accidents), medical questions (e.g., AIDS, test-tube babies, and surrogate mothers), the media (e.g., privatization of television in France, the financial crisis at Le monde ), and political events. Since these articles come from the current press instead of a textbook, the instructor must prepare a variety of assignments so that the discussion in class can be carried out in the target language.
Students improve their listening and speaking skills by working with audio programs, video recordings, and live television broadcasts. They complete assignments in the language lab and then discuss them in class in the target language. Written assignments are based on reports of live interviews (recorded on video or audio for review) as well as on reading assignments. Devising techniques for teaching French and Spanish through the media requires imagination, the desire to try different approaches and materials, and new ways of testing students.
The articles and broadcasts to be assigned must be carefully selected. The two most important criteria are their subject matter and level of difficulty. Some articles are poorly written or too technical. Selections from live television broadcasts must be short (3–5 minutes) and comprehensible in themselves. For example, while an unfolding political conflict requires prior knowledge of the subject and an understanding of numerous references not included in the broadcast, a president's trip to another country and his reasons for going there provide a segment that students can understand based on the information given. The choice of material appropriate to the students' level depends heavily on the discretion of the teacher.
In order to have a variety of newspapers from which to select class assignments, we had to add to the few French- and Spanish-language periodicals in the university library. Through new subscriptions supported by grant funds, students now have access to newspapers and magazines from a number of countries and political points of view. Francophone Quebec dailies, for example, are included in the library's resources for the first time, and Spanish-language press coverage of both Spain and several Latin American countries is readily available in the reference room. Weekly news magazines and publications noted for photojournalism, such as Paris match , are also important additions to our store of international materials.
Developing the students' aural comprehension of the media requires audio and video materials designed for various levels of proficiency. The students' ultimate goal is to understand programs that are broadcast to native speakers of the language. Since many students have never had access to a language laboratory for aural practice of any kind, they have to start with materials produced specifically for pedagogical purposes. Examples include Rassias's Contact French , which we purchased with grant money. For intermediate students the more recent French in Action , produced by Pierre Capretz, is very helpful in fostering aural comprehension without the aid of a text. Short segments of authentic broadcasts are used along with programs designed specifically for teaching the foreign language. Advanced students can work exclusively with authentic broadcasts, although, again, content and length must be judiciously selected.
Television broadcasts can be obtained live through satellite transmission or from producers who receive broadcasts, convert them to the United States standard (NTSC), and make them available on videocassette. By combining federal monies and a university grant, we were able to purchase a satellite dish that relays live broadcasts from Mexico City and Montreal to our language laboratory. French- and Spanish-language broadcasts from other countries are available through Project for International Communication Studies (PICS), 2 a consortium in which our department participates.
Students watch live and videotaped broadcasts in the language laboratory, where individual video stations are located. Part of the federal grant funding was expended for VCR equipment needed to meet student demand. With three VCRs and three live-broadcast seats available, students sign up for specific times so that the use of these aids is spread over the twelve hours each weekday and the ten hours on the weekend that the lab is open. The video equipment also enables students to record and view live interviews on campus with French- and Spanish-speaking professional journalists.
The purpose of inviting guest speakers to campus as part of our program is twofold: (1) to give students the opportunity to learn more about the media in French- and Spanish-speaking countries; and (2) to encourage them both to envision long-range professional goals and to see that their day-by-day efforts in the foreign language will lead to a useful and rewarding skill level.
Guests arrive on campus early in the afternoon and depart the following evening. Since journalists work under constant deadlines, it is difficult to engage them for a longer period away from their duties. While on campus, they also have demanding schedules. The first afternoon they meet with journalism classes and in the evening give presentations about the media, to which students and the public are invited. The following morning they participate in the special French and Spanish classes, where they are interviewed in the target language. Preparing for each interview well in advance, students take the following steps: (1) they read about the journalist's organization so that they can ask informed questions; (2) they hand in written questions to the instructor; (3) they practice the corrected version orally; and (4) they work with the instructor to establish the order of the questions, so that they do not interrupt one another and the journalist does not have to call on students waving their hands. With this format and preparation, even the most timid student is able to participate with confidence. The interview is videotaped for further reference in the language lab, so that students can continue to improve their aural comprehension and use the interview as the basis for a written assignment.
The second afternoon the guest journalists have time to meet informally with students and faculty members. On several occasions students have interviewed the guests for the university radio station and the student daily newspaper. Journalists enjoy their visits because it gives them the chance to speak rather than to ask questions, their normal assignment. We have had guests from a number of organizations and countries, including, for example, Henri Pierre, Le monde ; Pierre Marie Christin, Radio Télévision Luxembourgeoise; Lise Bissonnette, Le devoir (Quebec daily); Louis Lesage, a television producer at Radio Canada; José Carrascal, ABC (Madrid daily newspaper); José Carreño, NOTIMEX (Mexican wire service); and Julio Crespo, La nacion (Argentine daily).
In addition to hosting foreign correspondents working in this country, we have invited American journalists whose fluency in a foreign language has led to significant career advancements. Anne Swardson, a correspondent for the Washington Post , was awarded an internship in Paris while working on her degree in journalism. During her stay in Paris she wrote several articles on the French economy that brought her journalistic skills to the attention of Business Week , where she landed a job after the internship. Later, when she was with the Dallas Morning News , her knowledge of French won her another assignment in France. An excellent role model for students, Swardson emphasized that, while language proficiency alone does not qualify a person for a job in journalism, the candidate who has outstanding skills in journalism as well as fluency in a foreign language will have an advantage over other candidates in that competitive field. A similar message was conveyed by another guest, Matilde Camacho, a research editor for Newsweek's international edition. Fluent in both French and Spanish, Camacho explained that international publication needs journalism research assistants capable of scanning the foreign press to find ideas and to verify facts.
The guests play a valuable role in our program because the international perspective they bring to students in the School of Journalism renews the students' sense of purpose in continuing the study of a foreign language. Interacting with media professionals who speak foreign languages gives students the opportunity to use the target language in authentic situations, reading the foreign press and then interviewing its correspondents. The feeling of accomplishment that results is important to learners throughout the long, often tedious process of becoming proficient in a foreign language.
Working closely with colleagues in the College of Communication is the key to success in recruiting and advising students who take the special sequences in French and Spanish. During the program's early development, our contacts were primarily with faculty members in the School of Journalism. More recently, we have established ties with the director and assistant director of the School of Telecommunications, who strongly encourage their students to study a foreign language at the advanced level. Proficient in French, the directors are involved in research projects that require the use of a foreign language. Another telecommunications faculty member, fluent in both Spanish and French, conducts research on international broadcasting. Thus, the faculty members themselves serve as role models while encouraging their students to study foreign languages.
Recruitment efforts are directed toward students interested in international communications, whether they are in journalism or telecommunications. Since the foreign language sequences of courses based on print and broadcast media begin at the intermediate level, we have two groups of students from which to recruit. First, we are able to identify by computer-generated class lists students in the College of Communication who are completing the third quarter of beginning French or Spanish on campus. A few days before the fall-quarter preregistration period, held in late spring, we send each of these students a letter describing the special courses, the advantages of taking them, and other pertinent information, such as the hour the special sections are taught, the course numbers, and the name and phone number of the faculty member to consult for further information. Students who are strongly interested in continuing their foreign language studies (usually those earning high grades) are encouraged to preenroll in the special sequences.
The second group of potential students are incoming freshmen. During a precollege program in August, they take tests and participate in advising sessions conducted by faculty members in their major fields of study. Faculty members and student advisers explain the special foreign language sequences to new journalism and communication students, who then have the opportunity to ask questions and sign up for the courses. Some of our best students are recruited from this group, especially those who have participated in foreign language honors courses or who have had up to five years of French or Spanish. All the students who register for the special sequences are interested in perfecting their speaking and aural-comprehension skills.
Faculty members outside the Department of Modern Languages are advising students to take foreign languages, a very reassuring development brought about by the creation of our special courses for communication majors. Departments must cooperate in planning and advising if the courses are to attract and retain students. For example, in drawing up our schedule we have to consult with our journalism colleagues to ensure that we do not slot our advanced special foreign language courses for the same time as their Foreign Correspondence and International Communications, which is taught only once a year and is elected by advanced French and Spanish students who want to apply for internships abroad. We also try to avoid conflicts with required courses in journalism, although many of them have several sections. Since we offer only one section each of the special French and Spanish courses for journalism and communication majors, it is essential to avoid scheduling that might jeopardize enrollment.
Some conflicts are inevitable, of course, but despite these and other outside factors we have succeeded in retaining students beyond the first-quarter intermediate level. Enrollment in the intermediate special sections is limited to twenty-five students, and we aim at having at least fifteen of these students continue at the advanced level (third-year conversation and composition). In French we have been able to realize this goal; in Spanish the advanced enrollment slumped for two years but has now risen to fourteen students in the third-year class. Before we created the special sections for journalism and communication students, the average fall-quarter enrollment at the advanced conversation-composition level was thirty students in each language. By adding the special section for fifteen communication majors, we have increased the enrollment at that level by a third. The retention of journalism and communication students beyond the third year has only recently become evident. For the six years preceding 1987 an average of eight undergraduate students had enrolled in my fourth-year French phonology course. In fall 1987 that number jumped to sixteen, and half the students were journalism or communication majors. It remains to be seen whether this enrollment is an exception or the start of a trend.
In addition to enrollment figures and retention rates, qualitative aspects figure in our evaluation of the special sequences. In written assessments each quarter students at both the intermediate and advanced levels indicate that they are improving their language skills while learning more about the media in the target cultures. They often comment favorably on the value of live interviews and television and video programs.
Because relatively few students are involved, evaluation of the courses sometimes comes in anecdotal form. Three students who completed the two-year sequence in French later participated in internships in France or Quebec. On return visits to class they reported that they functioned capably on the job and made use of terminology, acronyms, and other media-related material they had learned in class. Most important, they said they were able to ask intelligent questions. On campus, students have used French sources in researching term papers. Two students who wrote reports on recent changes in French television were congratulated by their professor for using up-to-date articles from the French press. This type of positive reinforcement outside the foreign language classroom plays an important role in the way students perceive the value of our courses.
Our federal grant provided funds for an outside evaluator to review the first two years of the program. Marie Galanti, a noted educator and publisher, spent three days on campus in 1986 visiting classes and talking individually with students in the special media courses. In her report to the US Department of Education, she made the following comment:
In the language lab I was given the opportunity to meet students on an impromptu basis. These students were watching and taking notes based on the video of the previous guest journalist, a reporter from Le Monde. The students were watching the interview for the third time to make sure that they had perfectly understood the replies given to their questions. It has been my experience that students will only do this if they are greatly interested and motivated. (4)
The outside evaluator's observation coincides with my own: student interest and motivation have been the key to success for the special sequences of courses in French and Spanish for journalism and communication majors.
Now for the bottom line: How has the department benefited from creating these special sequences of courses? First of all, the tangible rewards have been impressive. The $84,000 grant was one of the highest ever received by a humanities department in our college. Since the department had succeeded in obtaining federal funds, the university contributed an additional $8,000 toward the purchase of the satellite dish. More recently, the Ohio Board of Regents provided $55,000 for the purchase of a standards converter and video-editing equipment, making the award because of our department's commitment to teaching foreign languages through international communications. In addition to acquiring state-of-the-art equipment, the department has achieved a higher level of visibility, which inevitably accompanies the dollar sign.
The intangible benefits have been equally numerous. We have extended the teaching of foreign languages to students outside our own department and college and have established a link with professions in the media. Communication among faculty members in foreign languages, journalism, and telecommunications has resulted in fruitful discussions. Recognizing our common interests, we look forward to collaborating on future projects, such as devoting part of the annual Communications Week to the international media. We are also discussing the possibility of sponsoring the first conference on teaching foreign languages through the media.
For the foreign language teacher, the special sequence of courses offers the opportunity to use new teaching methods in which audio and video activities are an integral part of acquiring the target language. It has been rewarding to work with students at the intermediate level who are taking French as an elective and to train them for five or six consecutive quarters. We can relate the foreign language to their future profession in a more meaningful way than we could in only one quarter or one semester.
The courses for journalism and communication majors benefit students who enjoy studying a foreign language but who would probably not otherwise have continued at the advanced level. Over the past four years, during which I have taught both the intermediate and advanced levels of the special sequences in French, I have been impressed by the quality of the students these courses attract. Each year more of these students go on to complete the requirements for a major in French as well as in journalism or telecommunications. We have tapped a source of excellent students who contribute a great deal to our upper-level classes. The mutual benefits of the program provide a solid base for its continuing success.
The author is Associate Professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages at Ohio University.
1 A list of accredited programs and standards can be obtained by writing to Roger Gafke, Exec. Dir., ACEJMC, School of Journalism, P0 Box 838, Columbia, MO 65205.
2 For information about ordering broadcasts on videocassette write to PICS, 405 Jefferson Bldg., Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City 52242. TV programs are available in French, German, and Spanish on ¾", VHS, and Beta.
Berwald, Jean-Pierre. Au courant: Teaching French Vocabulary and Culture Using the Mass Media . Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1986.
Contact French . Videocassette. Prod. John Rassias. CBS Fox Video, 1983.
French in Action . Videocassette. Prod. Pierre Capretz. Yale UP 1987.
Galanti, Marie. “Report on Observation of the Foreign Language Sequence of Print and Broadcast Media Courses for Journalism Majors at Ohio University—May 6–8,1986.” Submitted to U. S. Dept. of Education, 1 July 1986.
Grosse, Christine Uber. “A Survey of Foreign Languages for Business and the Professions at US Colleges and Universities.” Modern Language Journal 69 (1985): 221–26.
Ruprecht, Alvina. “Las média dans la salle de classe: L'enseignement du français aux étudiants en journalisme.” Canadian Modern Language Review 37 (1981): 320–28.
Ruth, Marcia. “Covering Foreign News.” Presstime Apr. 1986: 28–35.
Steele, Ross, and Jacqueline Gaillard. L'express, ainsi va la France . Lincolnwood: National Textbook, 1986.
© 1989 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
|
|---|
|
|
|
