A Profile of the Specialization and Expertise of Lower Division Foreign Language Program Directors in American Universities

Abstract

statistics obtained from a survey of lower-division (LD) French, German, and Spanish language program directors (coordinators) working at eighty-five American universities which regularly offer the doctorate in foreign language (FL) fields. The study sought to determine the LD directors' areas of specialization and expertise. More precisely, information was sought about the extent to which applied and pedagogical linguistics by which I mean the interpretation and re-examination of linguistic theory for the purpose of facilitating language learning and acquisition among many other goals constitute the doctoral background and research interests of LD directors at those institutions that produce future university professors, or whether the typical LD director's background and interest lie elsewhere in literature, in theoretical linguistics, or in some other field. This particular topic has never been investigated in full. Comments on LD directors' backgrounds and fields of expertise appear alongside much additional information about teaching assistant (TA) training, supervision, and evaluation in the report on a survey by Schulz. Brief mention is made of TA supervisors' preparation in a lengthy study of graduate FL curricula at major American universities (Di Pietro, Lantolf & Labarca). More recently, a closely-reasoned, autobiographically informed critique of how LD directors are often dealt with at research-oriented institutions appeared in Dvorak, whose comments are complemented by Smith in a special section of Hispania that addresses Problems Facing the Spa ish Language Coordinator and Pedagogy Specialist. Of the many recent publications devoted to TA tr i ing and supervision, I particularly recommend several.' However, none of these specifically examines LD directors' backgrounds, fields of expertise, or scholarly areas of specialization. My intent is to do so here.