The Journal of General Education

Introduction

Many educators consider exposure to a foreign language as an integral part of undergraduate general education, not just within the liberal arts curriculum, but throughout a wide variety of disciplines. Methodologies for language instruction have changed radically over the past 30 years, evolving from the traditional, or “grammar translation,” approach, through the audio-lingual method with its repetitive practice drills, to contemporary communicative and proficiency-based instruction. At the same time, there has been a boom in second-language acquisition research, much of it focusing on classroom acquisition (see Lee & VanPatten, 1995; Lightbown & Spada, 1993; Omaggio-Hadley, 1993; Savignon, 1983).

These new approaches to and perspectives on foreign language teaching parallel continuing reassessments of the role of general education in the university curriculum. Language departments typically participate in general education programs, not only by providing students with linguistic training, but also by offering courses on culture and civilization, film, and literature in translation. In this way, the foreign language component of the general education curriculum helps university students to become more aware of the positive aspects of cultural diversity.

Expanding the Classroom

A fundamental paradox of classroom language instruction has long been the artificiality of the foreign-language interactions between [End Page 44] instructors and students, or among the students themselves. A primary goal of such instruction is to enable learners to communicate in the target language as “natively” as possible. Unfortunately, in most cases these students are not immersed in the language outside of the classroom. In fact, language learners often leave meaningful contact with the target language behind them as they exit the classroom. Recently, however, many foreign language educators have looked to emerging technologies in hopes of better addressing this problem (see Bush & Terry, 1996; Esch, 1995; Hagen, 1995; Stevens, 1995; among many others). With general student access to the World Wide Web, for instance, language learners can visit a Web site in Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, or Japan and instantly gain access to authentic materials in their language of study. Students can use this information to learn more about language, culture, literature, film, and so on. The information complements what foreign language and literature departments contribute to the general education curriculum.

Language learning and general education intersect at the university’s language requirement; usually 3rd- or 4th-semester competency is required of liberal arts majors. In recent years, many institutions have extended this requirement to programs in business, the sciences, and even engineering. Other factors, including the institution of multiple majors or simultaneous degree programs, the globalization of university curricula, the internationalization of learning, and the popularization of study abroad initiatives, may influence administrative decisions about the importance of foreign languages as a component of general education.

Meeting Increased Demand

Spanish departments in particular have faced and continue to face enormous pressure as a result of the initiatives listed above. As enrollments have held steady or declined in other foreign languages, the demand for Spanish continues to increase, sometimes quite dramatically. According to the 1995 Modern Language Association foreign language enrollment survey, over one half (53.2%) of the total foreign language enrollments in the United States are in Spanish. Moreover, between 1990 and 1995, enrollments [End Page 45] in Spanish jumped 13.5% nationwide. When other programs at a university decide to institute a language requirement, the demand for Spanish instruction increases, perhaps because many American students perceive Spanish to be a useful language to learn, especially given the present and projected demographics of the U.S. population. But ever-increasing enrollments, often opposed by static or even shrinking levels of staffing for courses, have placed tremendous demands on Spanish departments around the country.

Distance Education Solutions

One possible solution to the frequent overloading of resources is to support and enhance distance education offerings for basic and intermediate language learners. Distance education can provide clear advantages for some language learners, by allowing for self-directed and individually paced learning, greater time for reflection, and more emphasis on skills mastery, but it may also present language instructors with new and difficult...