Language Distance Learning for the Digital Generation

Introduction

After the launching of Sputnik in 1957, the language profession went into a national crisis. New methodologies were created and the expectation was that technology would save the foreign language profession. Grants were written and funded to acquire new machines with earphones and booths with the hope that they would revolutionize language instruction. However, the manufacturers of the machines, the school administrators, and the teachers were unaware of how to proceed with the mission of the language labs that were installed. There was no clear direction nor were there standards for the instructors to follow, thus causing the movement to fail.

Decades later, as a result of attacks of 9/11, another immediate interest in foreign language education has arisen in which initiatives and legislation have been proposed, grants funded, and special committees formed in national language organizations such as the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). These committees have been asked to address the country's language deficit in an effort to help support national defense and security. Fortunately, this particular wave of revolutionizing foreign language instruction has been much more cautious and focused; educators have eagerly taken the responsibility of making change possible into their own hands. Appropriate faculty training, concrete objectives, and assessment tools for web-based language instruction have now been established and highlight the humanistic qualities that embody the teaching of languages, as in the case with community colleges in the southwest area of the country.

Technological Reform

Two recent reports published by the MLA have prompted a dialogue to explore where the future of curricular changes will take place in our field. "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World" and "Report to the Teagle Foundation on the Undergraduate Major in Language and Literature" call on professionals to revise their outlook in language education at all levels, but particularly at the postsecondary level. The objective is to transform the structure of language programs in order for students to achieve translingual and transcultural competence through an integrative, holistic, interdisciplinary major. One option for reaching this goal while meeting the demands and needs of the current student is instructional technology. Essentially, science and technology comprise the fabric of modern culture. Therefore, technology should not be viewed as a threat but rather as a beneficial tool to ensure learning. Through digital media, students can learn about its communicative uses and cross-cultural manifestations through literature, philosophy, politics, history, geography, art, music, and popular culture, for example.

In 2001 the MLA Executive Council approved and endorsed the principles presented in the AAUP Statement on Distance Education: "MLA maintains that distance education initiatives should take into account the unique demands of teaching language and literature and should employ pedagogical strategies and technologies that ensure an appropriate educational environment." The concept of distance refers to time and space. In distance education, the focus is no longer in the classroom, but rather it has shifted to the home, the workplace, the library, or wherever the student has access to the Internet. The learning may be synchronous, referring to a predetermined point in time, or asynchronous, where students can access their learning at any time. In addition, distance learning can range from individual to collaborative learning situations.

All three MLA reports suggest digital media and distance learning are ways to meet these new curricular goals. After having taught several web-enhanced introductory Spanish classes at the community college level, I have personally witnessed the benefits of distance learning as a credible alternate mode of delivery. The traditional classroom, face-to-face, grammar-based delivery is rapidly giving way to alternate formats steeped in immersion simulation. The expensive language labs are now being replaced with iPods and computerized learning for practice and drill. Wikis, Vokis, podcasts, Wimba, synchronous and asynchronous chats, email, and e-portfolios are a few of the newest technologies that create a virtual reality language experience. Students are already using these formats at home as part...