This story is the third in a 5-part series on the proposed Curriculum 2000. Tomorrow's story will examine its impact on the science departments.
With Curriculum 2000's emphasis on cultural understanding as a crucial theme in undergraduate education, members of the Foreign Language Task Force tout the language requirement as a true step into the future that will put Duke's standards on par with those of peer institutions.
"By now, only very few universities-among them Duke-do not have a foreign language requirement," said Ingeborg Walther, task force member and assistant professor of Germanic languages and literature.
The task force's report recommends that all Trinity students be capable of "[engaging] meaningfully with another culture in its own language."
The report acknowledges that students have varying levels of proficiency when they matriculate; in the hope that students will reach intermediate proficiency, Curriculum 2000 proposes that students beginning a new language take at least three courses by the time they graduate. Students who initially place higher are required to reach the 100-level, which would necessitate taking one or two courses.
"We do not want graduates who have merely 'done time' in foreign language classes, but [those] who are able to use a foreign language in substantive ways that also reflect cross-cultural awareness," Walther said.
The statistics from 1995-96 and 1996-97-the last two years available-show that foreign language has been the area of knowledge most frequently dropped by University students.
If a language requirement goes into effect, it is unclear which departments will be hit hardest by the resulting influx of students, said task force chair Clare Tufts, director of the department of Romance studies. A survey of the Trinity Class of 2002 showed that more than 50 percent of freshmen would take Spanish if a language were required, but Tufts said there was no way to predict what students affected by the curriculum would do.
"We think there will be an awful lot of students continuing in French and Spanish because that is what the majority take in high school," she said. "[But] it's hard to know. They may choose to take a new language."
She noted that under the current curriculum, more languages not commonly taught in high school, like Italian, have "healthy" enrollments in the elementary levels, but experience significant drop-offs at the intermediate levels, after beginning students complete the two classes required by the area of knowledge.
Concerns about a surge of Spanish students are linked to the realization earlier this year that the Spanish department lacked the necessary faculty to handle the current number of students. But Walter Mignolo, chair of Romance studies, said that over the next three years, three new faculty positions will be added to his department.
Dean of Undergraduate Affairs Bob Thompson said that although the particulars of additional teaching positions remain undetermined-lecturers, post-doctoral students and graduate students are all being considered-the administration is preparing to enable the department to meet its growing needs: "What particular combination [of teachers] will be dependent on what makes the most sense for the department then," he said. "We recognize that there will be an impact, and we're working to have the resources to meet that impact."
Other professors predict that their departments will also face new challenges, and stress the need for more reinforcement.
"If we continue to attract [Asian and African] Americans, we could see as dramatic an increase in our enrollment as Spanish does." said Miriam Cooke, director of the Department of Asian and African Languages and literatures and a task force member. "We're not really prepared. I don't think the administration has given it as much thought as it requires."
In keeping with Curriculum 2000's push toward integrative knowledge, the task force report stresses the value of Foreign Language Across the Curriculum, a program that allows students to apply their language skills to other fields including history, political science and economics. The report highlights different types of FLAC classes, ranging from proficient students reading texts in their original languages to professors lecturing in a foreign language.
Because FLAC courses fit Curriculum 2000's goals, Walther said she is enthusiastic about broadening them if the proposal passes.
But she pointed to concerns that the total immersion model-in which an entire course is taught in a foreign language-is too dependent on enough students having high language proficiencies.
Walther added that it is uncertain whether "there would be a large enough 'critical mass' of students enrolling in such courses to make it worth the expense to develop and offer them."
Thompson pointed to FLAC as an effective continuation of the study-abroad experience: "I envision a nice sequence: develop a language, study abroad, come back and continue-it's a wonderful package," he said.
Study abroad is another strongly emphasized component of the Foreign Language Task Force report. A national trend promoting cultural understanding in addition to traditional memorization techniques has allowed study-abroad programs to gain prestige as effective learning mechanisms.
"There has been a steady increase in the number of students going abroad," Thompson said, estimating that about 700 students study internationally each year.
He predicted that more students will go abroad if the foreign language requirement is put into effect. "I think students will see it as a good way to accomplish the objectives," he added.
The last major aspect of the task force's report involves class structure. The report calls for a maximum of 20 students in a language course, and requires five contact hours per week for elementary courses, a requirement first instituted this year.
Also, heavy emphasis is given to improving the technology and facilities used by language departments. According to the report, "An outstanding language program... requires not only a logical curriculum and high-quality teachers but also the integration of the most recent language-learning technologies into the curriculum and sufficient classroom space adaptable to language instruction."
"Duke is behind some, ahead of many [in terms of technology]," Cooke said. "For the languages we teach [in my department,] we're not cutting edge. We're trying to keep up with the general trends. We need more of a language-learning climate established at Duke and given priority.... There's a lot to be done."
Richard Rubin contributed to this story.
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