Languages Across the Curriculum (L.A.C.) refers to the practice through which the study and use of languages take place throughout the curriculum. Its purpose is to prepare students for the cross-cultural and multilingual demands and opportunities of a global society. L.A.C. is appropriate at all levels of education.
The long-term goal of L.A.C. is to integrate multiple languages into the teaching of all disciplines in order to enrich their intercultural and international content. The short-term goal is to enlist the support of faculty and administrators to expand opportunities for the contentspecific acquisition and disciplinefocused use of language and cultural knowledge by students regardless of their chosen areas of expertise and inquiry. Cross-cultural and multilingual inquiry leads to a more complete learning experience and provides a basis for comparative understanding unavailable when students and faculty are limited to the use of resources in only one language. Learners develop a deeper and more precise understanding of a new language and culture by studying how that language and culture address precisely defined opics about which they
have already established a certain familiarity in their native language.
In some instances, L.A.C. involves nonlanguage faculty working independently to enable students to use their language skills in the pursuit of knowledge and skills in other domains. In a social studies class, for example, students might read portions of de Tocqueville's L'ancien régime et la révolution. In an engineering course, students might study excerpts from Fachkunde Krafffahrzeugtechnik. Students in international business in a school of management might read selections from Tratado de fibre comercio de America del Norte in preparation for classroom discussion of the North American Free Tmde Agreement. Health care and social work students might learn how to interview recent immigrants from various language backgrounds in a clinical setting.
In other instances L.A.C. involves joint efforts by language and non-language faculty teaching cooperatively in any of their respective departments. The potential range for integrating learning resources in multiple languages across the curriculum has no limits. Materials can range from classic philosophical texts to popular media, including videos and
1 B PROMISES, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS: NEXT STEPS FOR LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
websites from around the world. Finally, the student experience may be designed and led by individual faculty members, by interdisciplinary teams of faculty, or by qualified students.
1. Understanding of a given culture and its documents and artifacts is greatly enhanced through a knowledge of its language.
2. A curriculum that includes materials in multiple languages provides access to a wider range of perspectives, encourages greater depth of exploration, and opens the door to greater understanding.
3. The use of materials in multiple languages significantly enhances any and all disciplinary inquiry.
4. Languages Across the Curriculum enhances crosscultural competence and the ability of students to function in an increasingly multicultural society and a globalized economy.
Dimensions and Domains of L.A.C. Programming
1. L.A.C.encourages students and faculty to view their studies in a global context and to venture beyond their own cultural and linguistic borders in order to gain additional perspectives and additional knowledge.
2. L.A.C. bridges existing curricular and disciplinary boundaries, creating a more integrated learning environment and energizing the disciplines in new ways.
3. By integrating the use of multiple languages into disciplines across the curriculum, L.A.C. reinforces the centrality of language study at all levels of education.
4. L.A.C. challenges faculty, students, and administrators to place a higher value on the language proficiency of bilingual students and faculty.
5. L.A.C. expands the number of graduates who are able to carry out work in their major area of study in more than one language and has the potential to create a larger workforce of bilingual and multilingual professionals.
This Declaration of Principles and Practices was adopted by the Consortium for Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) at its founding meet., ing in Providence, Rhode Island, November 1,1996. We the founding members invite others to join the Consortium by contacting Frank Ryan at Brown University (mail: Center for Language Studies, Box E, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912-9705, fax: 401-8632551, e-mail: Frank Ryan@brown.edu.
Cristina Alemian, Chairperson,
Department of Modern Languages,
Massasoit Community College
Wendy W. Allen, Professor of
French, St. Olaf College
Mary E. Anderson, Professor of
Nursing, Cape Cod Community
Gabriela Appel, Senior Lecturer in
German, Cornell University
Ruth Bettandorff,Associate Dean of the College, Agnes Scott College
Jack Blanshei, Senior Lecturer in
Russian & Director, Center for Slavic
& Eurasian Studies, Emory University
Brian Brady, Instructional Specialist in Mathematics, University of Cincinnati, Clermont College
Melissa Butler, Professor of Political
Science, Wabash College
John Byrnes, Charman, Department of Modern Languages, Wabash College
Maria Corso, Director-BASAC
Lecturer, School of Business, SUNY
College at Oswego
Laurent Ditmann, Associate
Professor of French, Spelman College
Miriam Ellis, Lecturer in French,
University of California at Santa Cruz
Virginia M. Fichera, Professor of
Foreign Languages and Humanities,
Patti Fitchen, Coordinator of French,
University of California at Santa Cruz
Myra Gann, Professor of Spanish,
SUNY College at Potsdam
Margery A. Ganz, Associate
Professor of History, Director of Study
Abroad, Spelman College
John M. Grandin, Professor of
German & Director, International
Engineering Program, University of
Andrée Grandlean-Levy, Senior
Lecturer in French, Cornell University
Katharina von Hammerstein,
Assistant Professor of Modern and
Classical Languages, University of
Dierk Hoffmann, Professor of
German, Colgate University
Virginia Hogg, Director, Center for
Health Promotion, Bridgewater State
Frank Hugus, Chairperson, Department of Germanic Languages, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Richard Jurasek, Professor of German, Earlham College
Marianne Kalinke, Professor of Germanic Languages & Literatures, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
Jun Kawabe, Assistant Professor of Japanese, Earlham College
M. Regina Kecht, Associate Professor of German, University of Connecticut
Doris Kirchner, Assistant Professor of German, University of Rhode Island
Thomas A. Knudson, Professor, Department of Movement, Arts, Health Promotion & Leisure Studies, Bridgewater State College
Dale L. Lange, Professor of Second Languages and Cuttures Education, University of Minnesota
Mike D. Ledgerwood, Director of Languages and Research Center, SUNY Stony Brook
Susan Loevenguth, Assistant Director for Academic Services, Syracuse University
Jay Lutz, Associate Professor of French, Oglethorpe University
Patrick M. McConeghy, Professor of German and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies & Research, College of Arts & Letters, Michigan State University
Antonio V. Menendez Alarcón, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Butler University
Michael F Metcaff, Professor of History & Director, Institute of International Studies, University of Minnesota
Rosmarie Morewedge, Department of German, Russian, and East Asian Languages, Binghamton University/SUNY
Geraldine C. Nichols, Deptartment of Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Florida
Yvonne Ozzello, Professor of French and Associate Dean for Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tullio Pagano, Assistant Professor of Italian, Dickinson College
David Paoli, Assistant Professor of French, Dickinson College
Viviana Plotnik, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Oglethorpe University
Robert Ponterio, Associate Professor of French, SUNY College at Cortland
Gail L. Riley, Coordinator of Foreign Language Pedagogy, American University
Julio Rodriguez-Luis, Chairperson, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Marie-Claire Rohinsky, Assistant Professor of Modern Languages, Central Connecticut State University
Jorge L. Romeu, Associate Professor of Mathematics, SUNY College at Cortland
Frank L. Ryan, Director, Center for Language Studies, Brown University
Ivonne L. Schmitt, Instructor in Spanish, Spelman College
Janet Shideler, Assistant Professor of French, SUNY College at Potsdam
Robert E. Shoenberg, Consultant, American Council on Education
Luise Speakman, Charperson, Department of Nursing, Cape Cod Community College
H. Stephen Straight, Director, Languages Across the Curriculum, Binghamton University/SUNY
Christine Swafford-Smith, Associate Professor of Spanish, Earlham College
Diane J. Tedick, Associate Professor of Second Languages and Cultures Education, University of Minnesota
Amalie S. Tio, Senior Lecture in Spanish, Cornell University
Shizuko lomoda, Associate Professor of Modern Language, Central Connecticut State University
Barbara Turlington, Director, Office of International Education, American Council on Education
Margarita Vargas, Associate Professor of Spanish, SUNY at Buffalo
Barbara Waible, Professor of Nursing Education, Massasoit Community College
Edith Welliver, Associate Professor of German, DePauw University
Viola G. Westbrook, Senior Lecturer in German, Emory University
Ingrid Wieshofer, Professor of German, Agnes Scott College
AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION 17