Challenging the monovocal narrative: Interdisciplinary units in the foreign language classroom

Abstract:

Connecting with other disciplines has, until recently, not been a strong point of foreign language curriculum and instruction, at times because curriculum developers in the other core areas fail to recognize the potential contributions the field can provide. As the latest state frameworks and national standards attest, however, these interdisciplinary links construct powerful connections for students among the subjects that they study (see, for example, National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project 1996; Nebraska Department of Education 1996; Osborn in press). Indeed, as language education takes its much-coveted place among the core subjects offered in the schools, encouraging students to make these associations will prove invaluable. Within the past decade, a growing number of scholars in the core content areas have included interdisciplinary curricula within the list of needed reforms (Diaz, Massialas, and Xanthopoulos 1999; Lonning, DeFranco, and Weinland 1998; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 1991). During the same period, others have noted that the hurdles faced by planners in integrating the aspects of course content constitute a sizable challenge (Davison, Miller, and Methany 1995; Lonning and DeFranco 1997). Certainly within the field of foreign language education, some researchers have looked for ways to effectively move beyond traditional barriers of the classroom in terms of pedagogy and instructional content (Biron 1998; Gehlker, Gozzi, and Zeller 1999; Overfield 1997). These trends are reflected in the values articulated by the framers of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning:

Año de publicación:

2002

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Fuente:

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