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IN THE Spring 1992 ADFL Bulletin Richard Zipser discusses the concept of the “full-service” foreign language program and offers various practical ways to transform a traditional department into one that meets the diverse needs of today's college campus. Zipser uses the example of his experience as chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Delaware.
However, for smaller, private institutions like Pace University, where a language requirement is often lacking and the liberal arts are not the institution's focus, the challenges are not quite the same. Nonetheless, we, too, in the Department of Modem Languages and Cultures at Pace University, have succeeded in establishing a full-service program, albeit on a much smaller scale than that proposed by Zipser.
As we approach the twenty-first century in a time of retrenchment, shrinking enrollments, and fiscal restraint, our objectives are being redefined to meet new challenges. Today our challenges are perhaps heightened; we wish to provide relevant, high-quality instruction yet remain true to the goals of liberal education. At the same time, the future of the teaching of foreign languages and cultures depends on our strengthening ties with other disciplines, as well as on our ability to create an updated teaching environment that will complement a modern curriculum. Concluding her recent article on foreign languages for a global age, Claire Kramsch correctly points out:
Internationalization of higher education is not a catchphrase soon to be replaced. It is the next step in American education. The new view of language as social practice and the emerging shifts in disciplinary boundaries are creating a propitious environment for taking that step. Foreign language instruction, study abroad, and a global view of the undergraduate curriculum are all part of a larger picture that calls for collaboration of the humanities, the social sciences, and international studies.
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With these issues in mind, our department is actively engaged in the instruction of foreign language and multicultural facets of our world and nation that extends beyond traditional second-language learning. We are effecting the process toward internationalization of the curriculum through a steady expansion of course offerings and programs that reflect a global perspective our students will need to function in our increasingly complex world.
Pace University is a midsize private university with two campuses: one in downtown Manhattan, the other about thirty miles north in the suburb of Pleasantville, New York. Each campus has its own independently administered department of modern languages and cultures. Nonetheless, we offer the same programs and have worked toward unifying our curricula.
At Pace the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences is seeking to define its image and mission, cooperating with, yet seeking independence from, the professional schools. A major indication of this shift is the transformation of the school and its departments from a primarily service stance to an emphasis on providing independent programs, minors, and majors to our undergraduates. In our department these changes are being effected in three distinct areas: the enhancement and broadening of the department's position within the university-wide core curriculum, which is the source of most of our students; the establishment of modern high-tech media; and the creation of two majors. This article focuses on these majors.
Until last year we offered two traditional language majors, in French and in Spanish, with two tracks: an education track and a foreign language for industry and the professions track. Both were poorly enrolled. Clearly, both majors were conceived to encourage double majors for students in the schools of education and business. But the new surge in interest in the liberal arts and interdisciplinary courses of study, coupled with a decline in enrollments in the professional schools, has made clear that we are positioned to establish ourselves in our own right.
The creation of the majors was also influenced by increased scrutiny from the administration at a time of financial austerity. Our dean, for example, advised us that new programs must replace, not complement, existing programs. Moreover, the existence of the foreign language major has come under threat as more and more students begin college without previous foreign language study. The difficulty of attaining language proficiency in only four years makes a traditional modern language major a near impossibility for many students.
To update our offerings and make them more accessible to unprepared students, while also consolidating them at a time of retrenchment, we have replaced our old majors with two flexible programs that offer multiple options: the major in modern languages and cultures and the major in language, culture, and world trade. Our rationale was to create two courses of study in which students could choose between a traditional humanities major and an applied humanities major.
Students majoring in modern languages and cultures attain proficiency at the upper level in any two modern languages. Typically, students who are near-native or native speakers in a foreign language or who have studied a foreign language to the intermediate or upper level in high school can easily complete the major in modern languages and a major in another field. Students take 24 credits of advanced language and literature courses in one language and 12 credits at any level of a second language. Their studies culminate with a 3-credit senior-year capstone course in English. Here students majoring in any combination of languages consider broad questions of cultural diversity and global problems. At the end of the semester, in an atmosphere of community and collegiality, students share their research and make a presentation not unlike a small-scale thesis defense, to a department panel. During the spring 1996 semester, for example, a French-Spanish student conducted research on Quebecois literature and on Catalan literature in Spain. An Italian-Spanish student completed a comparative study of Boccaccio's and Cervantes's short prose.
There are several advantages to a dual-language major. We were faced with the real possibility of losing our French program when the study of Spanish exploded, as it has nationally. In addition, because of our large number of Italian Americans, enrollments in Italian were quite high; in fact, they surpassed the numbers in French on the Pleasantville campus. Hence, we wanted to capitalize on the interest in Spanish and Italian without further harming the French program, thereby drawing from three pools of students.
The second major, language, culture, and world trade, is an interdisciplinary applied humanities program (for a discussion of the importance of language and culture in international business programs, see Bloch). It merges the traditional cultural and humanistic strengths of a well-rounded liberal arts education with the business knowledge, practice, and experience essential to success in our expanding interdependent global economy. (For information on Clemson University's Language and International Trade program, see Melton; for information on LeMoyne-Owen College's international business program, see Tollerson. See also Masters-Wicks.) One of its unique characteristics is that it integrates theoretical classroom experience with the practical experience of the global marketplace. The program has seven major required components:
This program is both focused and flexible because it offers students a wide selection of options within the liberal arts and professional arenas.
Interest in the programs is evident. Extensive mailings to local high school guidance counselors and language departments and to undecided freshmen have resulted in weekly inquiries from students and a threefold increase in declared majors.
Foreign language programs are uniquely poised to influence the revolution in multiculturalism in the United States today and to equip students to solve the problems of the future (see Mullen). At a time of worldwide competition and massive reorganization of national priorities, the need for foreign language skills, global awareness, and cultural understanding is keen. In every profession educated citizens will have to maintain a broad, open-minded perspective on diversity within and without our national borders. Such an agenda relies largely on international and intercultural skills. Proficiency in foreign languages and the ability to function in a multicultural environment will be required skills in the twenty-first century.
The authors are, respectively, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at Pace University, New York City, and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, Pace University, Pleasantville Campus.
Bloch, Brian. “The Language-Culture Connection in International Business.” Foreign Language Annals 29 (1996): 27–36.
Kramsch, Claire. “Foreign Languages for a Global Age.” ADFL Bulletin 25.1 (1993): 5–12. [Show Article]
Masters-Wicks, Karen. “Culture and Commerce: Innovations in Interdisciplinary Programming.” ADFL Bulletin 27.1 (1995): 20–24. [Show Article]
Melton, Judith M. “Foreign Language Interdisciplinary Programs and Alliances: Some Observations.” ADFL Bulletin 26.1 (1994): 19–24. [Show Article]
Mullen, Edward J. “Cultural Diversity and the Foreign Language Program: Foreign Language Departments and the New Multiculturalism.” ADFL Bulletin 23.2 (1992): 29–33. [Show Article]
Tollerson, Marie. “A Program of Integrated Study in Business Administration, Cooperative Education, and Foreign Languages.” Strategies for the Development of Foreign Language and Literature Programs . Ed. Claire Gaudiani with Carol A. Herron et al. New York: MLA, 1984. 228–31.
Zipser, Richard. “Building a Full-Service Foreign Language Department: Some Strategies and Interdisciplinary Initiatives.” ADFL Bulletin 23.3 (1992): 28–33. [Show Article]
© 1997 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
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