Overcoming Curricular Bifurcation: A Departmental Approach to Curriculum Reform1

Abstract

AbstractThe collegiate foreign language profession has become increasingly aware of the unnecessarily detrimental effects of bifurcated curricula on student learning and departmental governance, yet there have been few instances to date of departments that have been able to achieve unified, articulated programs of study. This article presents one foreign language department's initiatives and activities to do just that. We describe the collaborative process that the German Studies Department at Emory University underwent in its full‐scale revision of the undergraduate curriculum. The chairperson begins the description by explaining his role in the reform process. Other faculty members continue the description by outlining the institutional and department context, the impetus for reform, the curriculum's theoretical framework, and the different curricular levels. An ongoing, multi‐year project, the revised curriculum has placed demands on students and faculty but also indicated promise for enhanced departmental identity and student learning.