Foreign Languages and Literatures, Retention Plan. Department Retention Plan for Academic Majors. By what date.

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1 Foreign s and Literatures, Retention Plan Retention Goal 1) Clarify and communicate timely curricular progression toward completion of the degree 2) Improve academic advising 3) Improve retention of students moving from , 1020 to 2010, and ) Improve sense of community among s and faculty Retention Plan for Academic Majors Strategy 1) Post a curricular map for concentrations of FLL (B.A., B.S., and with study abroad option and licensure option) in undergraduate catalog and on the department website; review and update map annually 2) Review course offerings each semester to ensure that course offerings are aligned with the curricular map and current enrollment Conduct a faculty advisor workshop with Judy and Lucy within the department each fall semester to update advisors and share best practices Charge a committee to study trends and motivations of students continuing foreign language study 1) Maintain a Facebook page for the department to post events appealing to FL Expected Outcome Students can easily facilitate their academic planning for enrollment decisionmaking and for mapping progress toward degree completion A student can matriculate per the curricular map Improved academic advising for the academic Improved retention from one level to the next Create a sense of belonging to the Foreign By what date December 2013 Student Success Outcome number of students who complete coursework per the curricular map Alignment of course offerings permits timely progression toward degree completion number of students who access and/or receive accurate and timely academic advising retention of students who begin study at the 1000 and 2000 levels pride of being a Foreign, feeling like the students are part of a Person(s) Responsible Chair Chair Faculty Advisors, and College Advisors Committee Chair (Priya Ananth) All faculty

2 5) Enhance student language proficiency 6) Renovate the Lab s. (Created fall 2012) 2) Host a Party on the Hall each semester to highlight cultural aspects of at least 2 different languages. Invite students of all languages to participate Cap enrollment of foreign language classes at 20. (see justifications for this number in narrative) Apply to the TAF fund and/or other funding sources as necessary to pay for renovation costs. Students will be more active in the classroom as they develop proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing in the foreign language; teacher will encourage and correct each student multiple times 1) Provide a space in which students can take placement test. Scores above the 1010 score provide an opportunity for students to move ahead to a higher level while earning as much as 12 hours of free back credit for previous, start spring 2013 family of many languages, dissemination of information about Foreign related activities in the area, enhanced visibility on campus, opportunity for faculty-student interaction Students with higher language proficiency are more successful in the literature and culture courses necessary to complete the section heads Chair and Director of Lab (Jun Da)

3 7) Assess effectiveness of these strategies Integrate questions into seniors exiting proficiency exams and departmental student evaluations to assess the effectiveness of above strategies. work in the language 2) Create a pedagogical space for classroom use and beyond for FL s and teachers to interact, and host supplemental materials such as IPad lab, Rosetta Stone and International television Retain, reject, or modify above strategies in April We hope to see student retention in the rise due to these strategies; if not, we will reassess and find new efforts to enhance student retention. Chair and Assessment Director (currently Leah Lyons) 1. The curricular maps have been completed and will be posted for student use. We will continue to monitor these maps with regard to changing requirements and course offerings. 2. The CLA advisors currently advise foreign language s through the sophomore year to assure timely progression through the GEN. Ed. Curriculum. Students acquire an advisor in the Foreign faculty in their junior year. This advisor guides them through the requirements for the and mentors them until graduation. 3. Improvement of progression numbers. Our external reviewer last spring noticed the drop off in numbers from 1010 to 1020, 1020 to 2010, and 2010 to As can be seen in the attached spreadsheet, there is a marked drop off in most languages as students move up through the levels. The first number on the sheet is the raw number of 1010 students, the subsequent numbers indicate the percentage of students who drop out. Of course, this initial snapshot of the trends will change now that high school deficiencies are not longer counted. Still, we hope to learn what motivates students to continue and in what numbers we can expect them to continue, keeping in mind that more than 50% of our s place into the 3000 level and so are not visible with this tracking system. 4. Sense of community among s and languages. We would like to host more activities in which to involve both students and teachers of all languages. Many of our students take

4 several languages and so can serve as bridges to connect students and faculty within languages. The Facebook page for FLL is an internet resource to keep students and faculty informed of area activities of interest. The Party on the Hall, the first of which will take place this semester, will provide an opportunity for interaction between Japanese and Spanish students as professors present walk-in participants with the different flavors of tea and the practice of tea-drinking. 5. Enrollment cap at 20. Small class size is essential for students in a foreign language classroom to gain the practice essential for developing proficiency in the target language in the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as cultural competency. The two associations of foreign language instruction affirm this in their statements. Here is the statement of the Association of s of Foreign s, a subset of the Modern Association: ADFL reaffirms its position that the maximum class size for foreign language instruction in classes where all four skills are equally stressed should not exceed 20. We hold that the optimum class size is 15. In any case, particularly at the elementary and intermediate levels, class size must be small enough to enable--rather than to inhibit--the kind of effective interaction between teacher and students necessary to developing proficiency in the language. In addition to ADFL, The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign s (ACTFL) states: Since the goal of a standardsbased language program is to develop students ability to communicate, there must be opportunities for frequent and meaningful student-to-teacher and student-to-student interaction, monitored practice, and individual feedback during instructional time. Therefore, while ACTFL recognizes the fiscal realities faced by schools and institutions of higher education, ACTFL supports the recommended class size of no more than 15 students, made by both the National Education Association (NEA) and the Association of s of Foreign s (ADFL). Since the most important consideration in determining class size should be pedagogical efficacy, ACTFL's position applies to both traditional and online classroom settings. Where larger class sizes exist, teachers must be provided with additional support in order to maintain sound pedagogical practices. Approved by the ACTFL Board May 22, Understanding the financial constraints of the University, we select the higher number, 20, as our preferred enrollment cap which will be a reduced from Renovate the Lab. The Lab has not been updated since 1987 and when the current computers are replaced in 1-2 years, we will lose our paid-for placement test because the software will not run on Windows 7 or 8. We are equipped currently to provide about 500 tests per year, but we probably need the capacity for Given the Tennessee high school graduation requirements of 2 years of language, most students should be able to place into levels from 2010 to 3010, making them eligible to earn up to 12 hours of free university credit after they pass one language class with a C- or better. These credits will go a long way to ensuring the timely progression of students from 0 to 24 hours. It is imperative, then, that our Lab remain functional. In addition, renovation of the lab to provide for some classroom use will alleviate some of the space problems we face, especially to host 1 hour conversation classes. Finally, this newly renovated lab will provide space for FLL out of class curricular supplements such as an IPad lab to aid in learning character formation, Rosetta Stone instruction, international television, and activities such as the Party on the Hall. We plan for most renovation costs to be covered by TAF funds.

5 7. Assessment. FLL requires an exit proficiency exam of all graduating seniors. We will add questions to the exam to help us assess the success of these strategies. Some version of the following questions will be added at the introduction to the test: 1) How was your advising experience? Did you use an academic map to plan your schedules? 2) What activities did you participate in as an FLL? Please comment on your experience as an FLL 3) Did you use the language lab? For what purposes? We will continue to measure student proficiency through the skills tests. We hope to see proficiency rise with smaller classes and more opportunity for student-teacher interaction.