The 2007 MLA report Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World has generated a high degree of interest, suggesting that many departments are taking its recommendations seriously. Although the report was not intended to be a blueprint for change, it raised key issues that can alter the infrastructure of foreign language teaching. The report’s call for new avenues to “translingual and transcultural competence” has been heard by many, but the implementation of transformed goals and curricula—not to mention the shift in emphasis from the traditional literary canon to a wider range of cultural narratives, practices, and discourses—is challenging in terms of both principles and procedures.
Workshop
To assist departments, units, sections, or programs (hereafter referred to as units) in examining the implications of the 2007 report and to support innovation in language and literature units, the MLA has established the Language Consultancy Working Group. This group will provide resources for faculty members who have key structural, curricular, or pedagogical questions they would like to discuss. To launch this initiative, a half-day preconvention workshop will be held in Seattle on Thursday, 5 January 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (including breakfast). The workshop, organized around issues raised by participants, will be free of charge.
Participants
Institutions may be represented by individuals or by two-member teams including at least one member from a foreign language unit (the second team member may be from the same unit or from a related unit in the same institution).
Application Procedures
To apply for the workshop, please complete the online application form, which includes a questionnaire about your department or unit. Applications must be submitted by 1 October 2011 to be considered. Attendance will be limited to 25 participants (individuals or team members). The Language Consultancy Working Group will select participants on the basis of the issues raised; an effort will be made to include a broad range of institutional types. Applicants will be notified of the outcome no later than 1 November 2011. If there is sufficient interest, a waiting list will be constituted. Successful applicants and those on the waiting list should plan to make appropriate travel arrangements.
Postworkshop Planning
Workshop participants will be encouraged to report back on positive changes in unit governance structures or curricula that result directly or indirectly from the workshop. The MLA will highlight these developments on its Web site.
For further information, contact Nelly Furman (nfurman@mla.org).
Members of the MLA Language Consultancy Working Group:
Catherine Porter, Chair
Russell A. Berman
Robert Blake
Patrick Bray
Rosemary G. Feal
Claire Kramsch
Karin Ryding
Lynne Tatlock
