May 2007

Language Instruction Takes Center Stage

By Jamie L. Freedman

GW is poised to catapult to the forefront of foreign language instruction in the United States, thanks to an innovative strategic initiative aimed at professionalizing the field of language teaching in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.
The language instruction grant, funded through a special endowment payout, matched by CCAS, will help enhance the technology-based Language Center at GW and add 15 full-time foreign language specialists in Arabic, Chinese, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and American Sign Language.

“High-level foreign language instruction is critical to providing a top-notch undergraduate education at GW as a global university delivering core competencies,” says Donald R. Lehman, executive vice president for academic affairs, who, along with former CCAS Dean William Frawley, served as an architect of the plan. An extensive search is currently underway for the foreign language specialists, each of whom will teach four courses per semester.

“This has the potential to make us very unique,” says Young-Key Kim-Renaud, chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, who chairs the search committee for the 15 instructors. “By developing a large cohort of top-notch foreign language teaching professionals at GW, we’ll be able to share ideas and expertise and discuss common problems in a more systematic and practical way than ever before.

“Our mission is to elevate the quality of foreign language instruction at GW—with a goal of making each and every foreign language class a place where you can learn in the best pedagogical way,” says Kim-Renaud. “There is no doubt that our quality will improve immensely and that we’ll become an exemplary institution of foreign language education in the United States.”

The initiative, stemming in part from escalating student demand for foreign language courses, will help build a stable foundation of language specialists at GW flexible enough to meet whatever needs arise. “This fall, we’re offering 70 sections of Spanish alone,” says Peter Rollberg, chair of the Department of Romance, German, and Slavic Languages and Literatures. “It’s important for us to get the best teachers in the field who make a long-term commitment to GW and are at the vanguard of language instruction, utilizing the most advanced technology and methodology available. This shows a true commitment to quality language teaching, which is especially important at a university like ours, with so many students of international affairs and international business.”

Kim-Renaud agrees. “GW is a perfect place to offer this kind of foreign language initiative, since the University offers so many fields with intensive language requirements,” she says. “It’s also a good fit because we’re located in such an international city, close to organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the State Department, and the Red Cross.”

Diana L. Lipscomb, interim dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, says that excitement is mounting as the initiative begins to take shape. “We hope that the whole enterprise becomes a think tank for language instruction,” she says. “The more people we focus solely on delivering quality language instruction at GW, the more we’ll be able to generate ideas and energy to push the field forward. The ability to understand other cultures and communicate with people around the world is of paramount importance in today’s world. Our ecology and economy is increasingly global and our education has to be global, too. It’s a very exciting time.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu