"I agree! It was wonderful and I look forward to participating again this year.
"
National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages
"world language" or "foreign language", is it semantics?
How do you refer to your department "world language" or "foreign language"? It seems that different professional organizations, states or school districts adopted one version or the other but to me it looks confusing especially that I recently moved from a district that was called "foreign language" to a district that is called "world language". Some official documents (including recent government ones) refer to "world language", while some established professional organizations (including NADSFL) refer to "foreign language" . Where do you all stand on this?
Views: 196
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Debbie Callihan on -
My preference is for World Language since it sounds more inclusive. In my district, we call ilt Foreign Language and will continue to do so because my superiors like it better. At the state level, we call it languages other than English, which I dislike completely since I think it puts English as the center of the world.
-
Permalink Reply by Sebastian Leone on -
Neither of the two, I called my department "Global Languages"
-
Permalink Reply by Francesco L. Fratto on -
I am writing a proposal to change the name of my department from the Department of Languages Other than English to the Department of World Languages. NYS calls us LOTE but I agree with Debbie that it puts English at the center. I'm sure I won't have any issues changing the name, but I was happy to find this posting - timely!
-
Permalink Reply by Sebastian Leone on
-
Since my last response I was able to further expand the department name to "Global Languages and Cultures"
-
Permalink Reply by adina alexandru on -
Great!
What kind of conversation took place in your department/school/district as you were considering changing the name?
-
Permalink Reply by Janice Gullickson on -
Years ago the Anchorage School District changed to "World Languages." Here is what is posted on our website homepage with the phrase: "We're not foreign anymore!"
The Foreign Language Curriculum Committee proposed the name change for the title of the district program to the World Languages Program. In view of the changing community, local and international foreign language programs, particularly in the United States, are selecting more appropriate titles. World Languages is the official program title for the Alaska Department of Education.
Rationale
The Anchorage School District serves an increasing population of students whose home language is not English, but in fact, Spanish, Russian, German, French, or Japanese, languages which have historically been referred to as “foreign” in the district Program of Studies. These languages are taught in our schools as second languages and are no longer considered “foreign” to all students. Over 80 languages are represented by the students served in the district’s bilingual program. The true definition of the term “foreign” according to Webster is: “1. situated outside one’s own country, province, locality. 2. of, from, or characteristic of another country or countries.” The word “foreign” itself connotes the unfamiliar, the unknown, and to some, a feeling of us and them. No longer are the languages taught in our district foreign to our total school population.
In addition to the increasing number of bilingual students in our district are those students whose heritage language is Y’upik, Inupiaq, Athabascan, or Tlingit. The Alaska native languages and other Native American languages are obviously not “foreign” languages and would be more easily included, rather than excluded, with the use of the term “world language.”
As second language educators who value and respect the languages and cultures of peoples around the world and within our own very global community, we propose this important name change which appropriately addresses the changing community in which we live and work.
“America has been settled by peoples of all nations. All nations may claim her for their own. We are not a narrow tribe of men…No, our blood is as the flood of the Amazon, made up of a thousand noble currents all pouring into one…WE ARE NOT A NATION SO MUCH AS A WORLD.”
-Herman Melville
-
Permalink Reply by Jennifer N. Carson on
-
I recently moved from a district that used the term "Foreign Languages" to one which uses the more modern appellation "World Languages". This seems more inclusive and global in scope; however, since the state DOE still uses "Foreign Languages" our courses and standards must still begin with FL rather than WL, which can be confusing. I wonder if ACTFL recommends a specific phrase or term...
-
Permalink Reply by Nancy Girald on -
HI Adina,
I like LOTE - languages other than English. However, here in Madison, we use "world languages".
-
Permalink Reply by Jeremy Aldrich on -
I agree that World Languages has a more positive vibe, but I find LOTE to be the most accurate title. It's challenging to come up with a department name that can include not only modern languages like Spanish and French but also classical languages like Latin and even American Sign Language, but which intuitively excludes English or ESL which are almost always in other departments.
English is a "world language" too (and arguably Latin is not), and American Sign Language (and to some degree Spanish) are not "foreign languages" in the US. Neither "world" nor "foreign" add much information to the simple department name "Languages", but for maximum specificity "Languages Other Than English" seems to do the trick.
p.s. My state still calls it Foreign Languages anyway. :-)
Latest Activity
Leslie Baldwin replied to James R. Yoder's discussion Proficiency Levels?"Those are higher than the exit proficiency expectations we have set in NC. We also differentiated expectations by mode of communication and language type. You can see what we did by looking at the tables in the intro part of the…"
© 2012 Created by Thomas Sauer.
