Suggests the time is right for language departments to seize the opportunity created by the interest in globalization and to carve out a central place for themselves in three areas: international studies, professional education, and study abroad. (Author/VWL)

Shows how the language laboratory can become a primary point of convergence for the foreign language department. Discusses how the language laboratory at one college gained momentum as a support for collaborative learning, curricular reform, and study abroad, resulting in greater visibility for the foreign language department on campus and…

Describes a study abroad program at Connecticut College that combines both work and study. The aim of the program is to integrate students' language skills, international understanding, and internship experience with the disciplinary concerns and methods of the students' majors. (Author/VWL)

Describes how a study abroad program benefited a foreign language department through cooperation with other departments on campus and has increased the number of better-prepared students for advanced courses. Two keys to this success are integration of the study abroad program into the academic curriculum and the credit system and some well-honed…

Honors Dan Davidson, winner of the ADFL Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession, by discussing his contributions over the past three decades in shaping the course of Russian language learning, Russian studies, and international education in the United States. Davidson has shown exemplary leadership and vision and has given new meaning to…

Describes a Japanese language program at a small liberal arts college in Minnesota that is making connections with the general studies program of the college. Four cultural studies courses are intended to demonstrate to students the symbiosis between language and culture and to provide a context for the students' study in Japan. (Author/VWL)

Describes two study abroad programs based on service learning at the Centers of Lutheran Reformation in Germany. Participants not only fulfilled community needs but also forged individual relationships that helped them reflect on global and economic issues that they could not have understood from classroom lectures alone. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the international and engineering program at the University of Rhode Island. Set against the background of revision of German studies that has taken place over the last several years, the program provides an example of successful alliance of language with a scientific program. This alliance has combined richness, rigor,…

Makes some recommendations for the establishment and certification of study abroad programs, and discusses study abroad requirements for future language and area studies teachers. (AM)

Discusses the use of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Oral Proficiency Interview for assessing the effect of study abroad on foreign language learning, and provides a detailed account of the use of the Portuguese Speaking Test as a means of assessing participants of a summer program in Brazil. (15 references) (JL)

Shows how participation in a program that emphasizes international economics and culture and thus study abroad and double majors has strengthened the language department at one university. Author/VWL)

Describes a study abroad program at the University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire that places students in Wittenberg, Germany. The program offers project-based learning in topics ranging from Martin Luther to the ecology of the Elbe; service learning with "guided reflection" (a requirement of the university); and a short-term business or professional…

This report states the belief of the Task Force that study of the less commonly taught languages is in the national interest and that the study of any foreign language is valuable. Recommendations are given for improving and increasing the study of "strategic" or "critical" languages. (CFM)

Experiences are reported of two U.S. professors teaching a course in Berlin on the history and economic consequences of German unification. The importance of addressing cross-cultural issues surrounding foreignness is emphasized and the use of student video projects is described. (20 references) (LB)

The predicament of foreign languages in a liberal arts setting is addressed. It is suggested that bilingual language competency cannot be realized without an extraordinary increase in foreign language instruction and second-culture instruction: an extra year of undergraduate study combined with study abroad. (32 references) (LB)