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Critical Issues
One of the main goals of the Council is to facilitate
dialogue among its members and other concerned language educators
and policy makers on critical issues facing the field of less commonly
taught languages.
To achieve this goal, the Council will use the CouncilNet website
to periodically convene moderated and unmoderated electronic discussions.
Some discussions will feature one or more guest "speakers"
who will present and discuss issues within their field of expertise.
Such discussions, which will be asynchronous in nature, will take
place over the course of one to three weeks. At other times, the
discussions will be open forum focusing on an issue affecting all
members or a current event that warrants attention. Discussions
will only be open to registered members of CouncilNet. At present,
this interactive function is not operational..
At present, this interactive function is not operational. If you
wish to be informed by e-mail when the on-line discussion forums
are working please complete the CouncilNet
Guestbook. Also, if you are interested in eventually participating
in forum discussions, we recommend that you complete the registration
form so that you will have a valid user ID and password by the
time the discussion forum is up and running.
As Council staff prepare for this exciting feature, we are considering
the following critical issues as possible areas of discussion.
Discussion Topics
The following is a list of suggested topics for
future discussions. We encourage you to
suggest other topics for future
discussion.
- Technology:
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How can we take advantage of
technology for teaching and learning of LCTLs in the next
century? |
- Study Abroad:
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Where does it fit in with formal
instructional programs? How should they be structured? What
are we going to do with the students who return from the study
abroad program? |
- Grammar Teaching:
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How important is it to teach
grammar in LCTL instruction? When should it be introduced? |
- Heritage Schools:
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How can we meet the needs of
the heritage students in the formal language programs? |
- Teacher Training:
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How can teacher training be
specifically directed to meeting the needs of LCTL teachers? |
- Title VI Reauthorization:
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How valuable are the Title VI
National Resource Centers to the LCTLs? What changes should
Congress make to this legislation, to better address the needs
of learners? |
- Issues of Common Interest:
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Understanding of national language
capacity and needs. |
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Demand for LCTLs in the United
States, particularly in the service professions. |
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Capacity building -- and federal
legislation: Title VI of the Higher Education Act and the
National Security Education Program. |
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Declining language enrollments
generally and low student interest in the LCTLs. |
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Sparse resources and expertise:
field based national language resource centers. |
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Heritage language communities
as a national language resource. |
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Standards and "Language
Learning Frameworks." |
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