The year 2017 saw the publication of one of the strongest endorsements of language education on record: "America's Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century" (henceforth "America's Languages"). Commissioned by a bipartisan group of members of Congress and authored by the Commission on Language Learning of…

Amidst emerging trends in transnational migration via globalization, an increasing number of families have gone abroad to help their school-aged children and youth gain international education credentials and provide them an opportunity to acquire English as a global language as early as possible. This early study abroad before college (ESA) has…

Michael Woolf's article, "Come and See the Poor People: The Pursuit of Exotica," is a provocative critique of what he calls the "new orthodoxy" of promoting study abroad in non-traditional destinations. Woolf's underlying point is that the current emphasis on promoting student mobility to non-traditional, i.e. non-European, destinations "is…

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)

Describes a literature course designed for students studying abroad, aimed at improving their chances of becoming "culturally fluent" during their stay abroad. Using writings by German and Austrian authors on dealing with cultures other than their own, provides an ongoing orientation and help to develop cultural sensitivities. (AS)

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)

Recounts experience with the Segovia Virtual Study Abroad Program as one attempt to use technology to expand the curriculum by incorporating study abroad into the curriculum at home. The project's success suggests that a course on contemporary Spain can be designed around a virtual study abroad Web site, incorporating civilization and culture…

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…

To show students the interdisciplinary relevance of language study and to encourage non-language majors to study abroad in programs where English is not the principal language of instruction, interdisciplinary short-term study abroad programs were proposed. Offers evidence that short-term programs provide students with exposure to a foreign…

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…

Advances a rationale for renewed emphasis on professional study abroad opportunities. A statistical update is provided on existing U.S.-sponsored, independent study abroad professional programs and on existing articulation agreements between U.S. schools and the three countries that enable professional study at German language institutions of…

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)

Analyzes the phenomenon of the French version of "Big Brother," a television game show, in relation to globalization and democratizing and suggests techniques for its pedagogical exploitations, which will enable undergraduates to reflect on intercultural issues arising out of their own experience of the program's reception during a year abroad.…