Guidance in Foreign Languages

Abstract

T HE purpose of this study is to provide a rational basis for answering some of the many questions which high-school pupils ask their teachers and guidance counselors about various phases of foreign-language learning. It is an attempt to improve the general program of educational guidance by raising a much-disputed subject as far as possible above the level of conflicting opinion. The question as to who should study a foreign language, for example, often becomes a pawn in the struggle between vested subject-interests, and the pupil is lost in the shuffle. Or else, personal factors may frequently tend to invalidate the guidance offered in this field, to the detriment of both school and pupil. These strictures are no less applicable to the foreign-language teacher who happens to be doing guidance work than they are to the teachers of other subjects. What is needed is a return to the basic principle of guidance, namely, that the primary concern of the guidance counselor is not so much with subjects as with the pupil and his needs and problems. The functions of educational guidance are (a) to widen the pupil's awareness of educational alternatives; (b) to help him understand his own needs, abilities, and interests; and (c) to lead him to equate (a) and (b) through a process of selfguidance.' These functions of guidance must be carried out with pupils in regard to all curriculum and subject choices. Foreign-language guidance should be no exception to this rule, whatever the predilections of the guidance counselor may be. There is a real need for more objective guidance in foreign languages in addition to the reasons suggested above. New curriculum trends, in response to the needs of a majority of pupils, are undoubtedly leading to the neglect of the gifted minority. This is reflected in reduced offerings of what are generally considered the exacting subjects, of which foreign language is one. It is also reflected in a narrow view of vocational guidance as some-