The Modern Language Curriculum in a Technological University: A Non-departmentalized Case Study

Abstract

In the following study we outline the mission of a technological university and the place of a non-departmentalized modern language program within this context. We discuss the perception of the modern language program and its curriculum by the administration, the faculty, and the students, whose competing discourses must be addressed in order to bring about effective curricular change. We go on to discuss the changes we have already implemented, and others that are still in the process of implementation. The results of recent surveys and interviews undertaken show that while faculty might place a higher value on LSP courses, the pragmatic motivation in learning a language does not come first for our students. Other motives - travel, leisure, culture appreciation - are at least equally important. While modern language faculty face considerable odds in retaining students in courses that may be perceived as less necessary for a technological education than the strictly technical in nature, needs analyses of Michigan Tech's institutional context show that these courses are not only desirable, but professionally as well as personally necessary to engineering students. The Modern Language Program at Michigan Tech is moving in the direction of a broader concept of modern language learning, one open to greater interdisciplinary and intercultural depth.