Studies on Articulation: A Summary

Abstract

ix colleagues provide imaginative perspectives on the familiar subject of articulation in language teaching and study. In An Overview of New Approaches to Articulating Spanish Programs, Estella Gahala describes modes of connecting breaks in language acquisition as they occur vertically (for example, from middle school to high school) and horizontally (the same level in different classes or in different schools). The author points out current changes within the profession such as the shift from knowledge about Spanish to functional learner outcomes and the move from textbook-based to performance-based assessment. The author recognizes complex organizational issues in articulating language programs. Despite the difficulties, she proposes cooperation, negotiation, and networking among educators to achieve positive results. Gahala recognizes the desirability of a recursive curriculum in which new material is repeated in a spiral. Such a curriculum reinforces the dynamic, individual, and continuing process of language acquisition. The author reminds readers: Articulation of language learning sequences will ultimately succeed or fail at the local level, which is the point of implementation.