The MLA Report on Foreign Languages: One Year into the Future

Abstract

Over the past year, I have had the privilege of discussing the MLA re port "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World" (MLA Ad Hoc Comm. on Foreign Langs.) with col leagues at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (at a workshop orga nized by the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition), as well as at Wesleyan University, at Brown University, and at the AATG sponsored session of the 2007 MLA convention in Chicago. All these events were very well attended, and all sparked wonderful discussions. Interestingly, the meetings drew more colleagues primarily involved with language education than those on the literature-culture side of the two-tier system we described: clearly, those of us who work in teach ing language, which is tantamount to saying those of us who engage our students at the critical juncture when they are trying to decide whether or not to pursue the study of a foreign language and culture, rightly felt that the report acknowledged the critical role we play in the future of our profession.