Improving Cooperation among Secondary and Postsecondary German Programs

Abstract

It is no secret that enrollment in postsecondary German language has decreased over the past decade (Jedan; Berman; Tatlock, Prospects; Tatlock, Special Report). One crucial step toward understanding and potentially remedying current postsecondary enrollment trends is to explore why high school (HS) German students choose either to continue or discontinue their German study at the postsecondary level. The AATG undertook such a study, and in 2000 an AATG committee surveyed 4,711 HS juniors and seniors enrolled in German. The AATG questionnaire sought to learn what motivates students of German in high school to continue their study of German beyond high school and into college/university (Tatlock, Survey).1 In a 2000 presentation at the ACTFL conference in Boston, Tom Lovik, Michigan State University, reported preliminary results of the AATG survey and posed the question What is the message from these high school students for college and university programs? A variety of factors seemed to play a role in students' decisions to extend their language study to the postsecondary level. For all college-bound students who planned to take German or were undecided, the four highest ranked motivating factors (out of 18) for continuing to study German were: (1) the possibility of good grades, (2) the love of German, (3) the possibility of enjoyable classroom activities, and (4) knowing I would feel comfortable in German class. It seems, then, that knowing more about college and university foreign language (FL) and classes could positively impact a stud nt's decision to continue his or her FL study at the postsecondary level. According to Lovik, another important factor wa encouragement by high school teacher. Thus, it appears that HS teachers can also have a positive influence on their students' decision to enroll in college or university FL classes. This marks an important consequence for postsecondary FL nstructors. It is our responsibility to communicate and collaborate with HS teachers to promote continued FL study and to facilitate cooperation between the two programs. Tatlock urged that above all, we need to improve our relationships with our feeder schools and with the German teachers at th se schools.... We should never assume that high school teachers know what is going on in college and, vice versa, that college teachers are familiar with high school programs (Prospects 43). Yet, even this task can seem formidable. How can postsecondary FL instructors improve our relationships with area high schools? Where do we begin? As I mentioned earlier, Lovik asked What is the message from these high school students for college and university programs? This paper poses another pertinent question: What is the message