Survey of SUNY Foreign Language Departments* May 2012

Transcription

1 Survey of SUNY Foreign Language Departments* May 2012 * Report based on the 65 respondents as of May 21, 2012

2 23 SUNY Campuses responded, 65 Foreign Language Educational Programs represented University at Albany SUNY Fredonia Alfred State College Binghamton University SUNY College at Brockport University at Buffalo Clinton Community College SUNY Cobleskill SUNY Cortland Empire State College Erie CC FIT Fulton-Montgomery CC Genesee CC SUNY College at Geneseo Jamestown CC Mohawk Valley CC Monroe Community College Morrisville State College SUNY Oswego Rockland CC Schenectady County CC Stony Brook University

3 Q2. Foreign language programs reported Campus University at Albany Alfred State College Binghamton University SUNY College at Brockport University at Buffalo Clinton Community College SUNY Cobleskill SUNY Cortland Empire State College FIT Language Program Reported Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian Spanish Italian, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Latin, Greek Spanish, French Spanish N/A: Humanities Department Spanish American Sign Language, Italian, French, German, Chinese, English as a Second Language, Arabic Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese Italian

4 Q2.Foreign language programs reported cont d Campus SUNY Fredonia Fulton-Montgomery CC SUNY College at Geneseo Jamestown CC Mohawk Valley CC Monroe Community College Morrisville State College SUNY Oswego Rockland CC Stony Brook University Language Program Reported/ Notes Spanish, French N/A French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic Spanish Spanish American Sign Language, Hebrew, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, German, French, Chinese, Arabic Spanish German Russian French, Russian, German, Italian

5 Q3. Academic programs offered by the department in this language Percentage of 31 respondents 68% 90% 29% 35% 45% Master's Language Major Adolescence education major Minor Other Other category includes: 3+2 program (BA and Master s); Study Abroad; Double major; Russian track through individualized Major Program, service course, GE, MAT; Ph.D.; Beginning and intermediate language sequence; 100- and 200- level to meet GEN ED

6 Q4. Who teaches the beginner-level foreign language courses? Percentage of 60 respondents 77% 58% 28% 22% 10% 5% Other: Fulbright Teaching Assistant; Adjunct on one-semester contracts; part-time & tenured

7 Q5. Who teaches the intermediate level foreign language courses? Percentage of 61 respondents 61% 62% 31% 23% 5% 5% Other: Fulbright Teaching Assistant; Adjunct on one-semester contracts ; Emeritus faculty

8 Q6. Who teaches the advanced level foreign language courses? 93% Percentage of 41 respondents 34% 27% 39% 2% 7% Other: Occasionally an adjunct on one-semester contracts ; Emeritus faculty; rare 1 year appointee

9 Q8. What courses in this language program typically have the highest enrollments? Courses with highest enrollments are at the introductory or elementary levels

10 Q10. Are there critical moments of attrition in the delivery of this language program s curriculum? Where? Why? 49% Percentage of 49 respondents 29% 29% 12% 8% 2%

11 Q10. Are there critical moments of attrition in the delivery of this language program s curriculum? Where? Why? Campus/ Language Program SUNY Fredonia/ Spanish SUNY Fredonia/French SUNY Geneseo/Italian SUNY Geneseo/Latin Comments Difficulty of courses Course availability, lack of variety of courses, course difficulty Students in International Relations major pursue this course. Upper level classes (for questions #11 and #12) are offered as DIRECTED STUDY courses Students pursuing pre-med and pre-law degrees pursue this course and higher-numbered courses. Upper level courses (300-level) are offered on a DIRECTED STUDY BASIS (see questions #11 and #12). SUNY Geneseo/Japanese Student majoring in International Relations or Asian Studies pursue this course.

12 Q10. Are there critical moments of attrition in the delivery of this language program s curriculum? Where? Why? Campus/ Language Program SUNY Geneseo/Chinese SUNY Geneseo/Arabic Binghamton U/ German Binghamton U/ Latin Comments Students in International Relations and Asian Studies programs continue on to semester 4. Semester 3: Given the level of difficulty of the Arabic language, students drop or withdraw from the course. Semester 4: Students pursuing an International Relations major, which requires proficiency equivalent to 4 semesters of a FL, are the principal cohort taking this course. End of language requirement; loss of motivation; change of teacher; change of methods; requirements from other majors kick in Retention is always an issue with languages. In Latin, however, we have been having excellent enrollments and very good retention. That can be attributed to the energetic and focused instruction by our Latin instructors.

13 Q10. Are there critical moments of attrition in the delivery of this language program s curriculum? Where? Why? Campus/ Language Program SUNY Cortland/ French Comments Many students take French up through the fourth semester as part of their major program. Most others take through the second semester for and a few majors require only the first semester, which is also the general education language requirement. We maintain a language major with an average of around 10 students in the 3xx courses and around 5-10 in the 4xx courses. SUNY Cobleskill/ Spanish Most students study for Gen Ed purposes only Monroe CC/ ASL, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Monroe CC/ Japanese, Chinese, Arabic Many students need only 6 credits to fulfill a language requirement. Many students need only 3 credits to fulfill the Gen. Ed. requirement.

14 Q10. Are there critical moments of attrition in the delivery of this language program s curriculum? Where? Why? Campus/ Language Program Comments University at Albany/ Chinese, Korean, Japanese Mohawk Valley CC/ Spanish Jamestown CC/ Spanish SUNY Oswego/ German Stony Brook/ Russian, German, French, Italian Since SUNY undergraduate degree system requires only the first/one year of foreign language learning (for GEN EDU), only those who decide/intend to minor in the language tend to continue to the second year courses. Most programs only require 1 semester of a language so students do not continue once they have achieved their requirement. At Community College students are looking for basic requirement that currently does not exist at the SUNY level due to change of GenEd policy The Gen Ed requirement has been satisfied. One-year language requirement

15 Q10. Are there critical moments of attrition in the delivery of this language program s curriculum? Where? Why? Campus/ Language Program Comments SUNY Cortland/ Chinese Schenectady County CC/ All After the full three and half months of summer, the previously learned knowledge is easily gone. Also in Central New York area, there are not many opportunities to practice the language due to the small Chinese speaking community. Most students take a language at a community college to complete the one semester requirement for the SUNY General Education. Unless they have a major that requires more foreign language study, they are not interested in continuing to upper levels.

16 Q11. What is a typical class size for an upper level ( ) language course offered by your department? Percentage of 40 respondents 30% 23% 23% 18% 8%

17 Q12. What is a typical class size for an upper level ( ) non-language course offered by your department? Percentage of 36 respondents 39% 17% 22% 19% 3%

18 Q13. Does your language program offer one or more blockbuster courses with high enrollment? 51% Yes 49% No Q14. Are these blockbuster courses lower-level or upper-level? Lower-level Upper-level Q15. Are these blockbuster courses taught in English? 30% No 70% Yes

19 Q16. What is the focus of the blockbuster course(s)? Translation Courses 0 Percentage of 20 respondents Language for Professions 15% Other 35% Film 45% Literature 70% Culture and Civilization 80% Other: Advanced Grammar and Composition; Language; Etymology Course (in the past); Spanish 101; Italian; Music and Culture; Grammar review at the intermediate high levels

20 Q17. Are any of the upper level (years 3 and 4) courses that satisfy the requirements of academic programs in this language taught in English 31% Yes 69% No

21 Q18. What is some of the technology used on a regular basis in your language program? Clickers Telecollaborations with other countries Podcasts Elluminate Live Turnitin Other Skype Dropbox Blogs Discussion Groups Online Textbooks Course management program 2% 9% 9% 13% 15% 15% 20% 22% 24% Percentage of 54 respondents 46% 59% 81% Other: Internet resources, wiki discussions; web sites designed and maintained by instructors; texts with online components; Video Relay Service; free messaging system for assignments; Multimedia Laboratory; textbook ancillary companion website

22 Q19. Does your language program offer courses that contribute to Gen. Ed. besides language requirement? If yes, please check all that apply. Other 24% Percentage of 33 respondents Arts 33% Western Civilization Other World Civilization 45% 48% Humanities 94% Other: Intensive speaking; Courses that meet the Latin American studies; Asian studies and International Relations elective requirements; Oral Communication; Writing ; Psychology, Education programs; Composition Oral Communication; Diversity, Contemporary Issues,Perspective on Women; Foreign Languages GE

23 Q20. Does the department have any special programming for first-year students, such as Freshman seminar for majors? 4% 96% Yes No Comments: Not enough time or staff, but it s an excellent idea; Used to have seminars but they were cut several years ago

24 Q21. What kinds of co-curricular programming does the department offer? Lecture Series Other Themed housing Visiting writer/scholar Plays Honor societies Film series Clubs Guest-speakers 8% 14% 24% 27% 31% Percentage of 51 respondents 47% 67% 67% 75% Other: Exhibits; Hispanic Heritage Festival; Field trips; Annual colloquium; Poetry recitation competition; French table; Cross listed courses

25 Q22. What do students graduating from your department generally expect to do after graduation? Very Often Often Sometimes Rarely Never 5 0 Doctoral Studies in Language Master's studies in langauge Graduate Studies in a field other than foreign language Secondary teaching Elementary teaching Other employment

26 Q23. What opportunities are there for students to use target language in a work setting during their degree programs? Conversation Partner Program Hospital internships Intern at a local English-Spanish Bilingual School Internship with area Migrant Center Internships Internships abroad Internships on campus (Teaching Assistant) Internships with agencies, local schools, organizations, Internships with faculty mentor Interpreting Language club Language-related outreach in local public schools Service learning Service learning in ESL classrooms Short-term study abroad (4 weeks) Student teaching Teaching internships at both college and school settings Tech Valley Connect outreach program Tutoring Voluntary work with our local refugee aide organization Volunteer in a hospital Volunteer in social services Work in a restaurant

27 Q24. Does the department offer more than one series of courses (alternative tracks) toward the major in this language? Translation track 3% Percentage of 32 respondents Linguistics 13% Other 16% Teaching certification track 25% Literature track 38% No alternative tracks or concentrations in the major 53% Other: Area studies; Civilization; East Asian track; Cultural Studies track; Spanish literature & culture and multicultural/ bilingual track

28 Q25. Does the language program encourage teamtaught interdisciplinary courses across fields? 80% 20% Yes No If Yes, which ones? Civilization courses; 300-level DS Latin literature; Ger 140 Comments: -This is something we'd very much like to do but have so far found challenging due mostly to needs and sparse resources of relevant programs/departments; -We encourage it but find it nearly impossible to accomplish due to needs and sparse resources of relevant programs/departments. -University administration will no longer permit team-teaching -In development

29 Q26. If you could make one significant change to your department's curricular structure, what would it be? More interdisciplinary courses, more hybrid courses, more in house language pedagogy courses, more courses on Latino studies More interdisciplinary courses, more hybrid courses, more use of technology in courses, and more variety of courses such as in Francophone literature and culture Revive Russian major program Add more sections; add more elementary lang. sections In regards to the lower-level language program, I would like to begin implementing more online components for homework. Make it a minimum of 2 semesters as a requirement, also do not allow anyone to be exempt. Immersion and communicative texts/testing Offer even more interdisciplinary courses, add team-teaching elements Develop further opportunities for high-impact learning, in addition to traditional study abroad. One big problem is funding. Offer literature and culture courses in English translation.

30 Q26. If you could make one significant change to your department's curricular structure, what would it be? Cont d Increase offerings in ancient Mediterranean (Greek Roman, other) archaeology and art history. To do so would not simply provide crucial curriculum. It would be a huge curricular boost for the College (Harpur) and University (BU) more broadly. Study of the material culture of the ancient Greek, Roman, and Mediterranean worlds puts large numbers of our students in touch with their highly varied ethnic, cultural, and linguistic roots. These kinds of courses are not simply popular (which they are); they are valueadded in ways described in the SUNY Strategic Plan. But they also address crucial areas of concern for those seeking a rounded, intellectually rewarding experience in the study of Latin. Develop a hybrid/distance version of Greek 101/102 sequence to offer across the SUNY system. That would require a huge amount of training and work but would pay off. Add online courses for students who choose to enroll in the intermediate level and literature courses We are currently working on strengthening the intermediate high level course offerings and curriculum as well as instituting an exit capstone course or project.

31 Q27. If you could make one significant change to your department's staffing structure, what would it be? Reoccurring themes in comments: Hire more full-time, tenure-track faculty. Hire a specialist for language pedagogy. That individual could deal with teacher certification and the M.Ed. programs, as well as provide an orientation program and ongoing support to our graduate teaching assistants from abroad. Hire more people, of course. But many times, this is not the case. It's a case of "We need more people to help out and handle courses, but money is an issue, so deal with what you have." Of course, the few the staff members, the more likely students don't stick around because they cannot get the courses that they need at the time that they need them. It's a Catch-22. Add another full-time tenure track position so that we could offer more courses for General Education taught in English and increase our recruitment base for French and/or create interesting combinations for mixed language groups. Have a coordinator for intermediate high levels taught by teaching assistants.