Six languages restructured to better serve programs and students
By Maria Gallucci
Communications Assistant, Center for International Studies
Learning languages is more than learning how to speak; it is a means of understanding other cultures and a guide to appreciating the world’s diversity. Next fall, six language courses at Ohio University will be restructured and standardized to offer students greater opportunities to learn and improve their global education.
Offering these languages strengthens and distinguishes the African and Southeast Asian area study programs at Ohio from others across the country. As National Resource Centers sponsored and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the goal of both programs is to prepare students as specialists in particular parts of the world, and language skills greatly enhance students’ research and understanding of societies.
Beginning Fall Quarter 2007, the Less Commonly Taught Language (LCTL) program at Ohio will undergo changes to better align the courses with those in the Modern Language and Linguistics departments. African LCTL languages will include Somali, Akan (Twi) and Wolof, and Southeast Asian languages will include Khmer, Thai and Vietnamese.
Ohio’s LCTL program began in 1998 as tutor-based, modified self-instructed courses and has evolved over the years towards more traditional models of language learning. Courses are now instructed by Teaching Assistants who have been trained in language instruction, with beginning and intermediate levels are offered for all courses.
“The emphasis for teaching LCTL has always been there,” said Bob Walter, interim director of African Studies. “The ability to be able to teach these languages on college campuses began when the federal government began a push to improve our knowledge of foreign areas.”
The federal Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship Program (FLAS) began in the 1960s as a means to facilitate the teaching and learning of LCTL courses. Each year, Ohio selects 14 FLAS scholars to study African or Southeast Asian languages, and the particular languages offered are greatly determined by the demand among students and the availability of qualified faculty.
“We try to base the offerings on the number of students doing research in those areas for their Master’s degrees,” said Gene Ammarell, director of Southeast Asian studies. “Many of our candidates actually go to the country to do field studies or interviews—something where they would want to be fluent in the language where they are going.”
Though the emphasis of LCTL offerings has primarily been among graduate students preparing for research, the Center for International Studies and the Linguistics department are working together to better streamline and advertise the courses to undergraduate students, said Theresa Kolk, who coordinates the LCTL instruction from the Linguistics department.
Learning an African or Southeast Asian language is a mind opening experience, said Peter Githinji, professor of Swahili and Linguistics.
“You cannot deny the link between language and culture. If you want to understand the African people, you have to begin with their languages,” he said, adding that, “Every language is like a treasure that opens you up to a whole world of people’s ways of thinking. As soon as you take a language, you hit a gold mine.”
People see the world through studying languages and can better understand the minds and perspectives of others. Ohio’s diverse offering of language courses is “serving the needs of our students while creating a more stable and just world,” said Ammarell.
Other African and Southeast Asian languages offered at Ohio include Swahili and Indonesian; both are offered through the Linguistics department and are not considered LCTL courses, and Hindi is offered through Classics and World Religions.
For more information on the LCTL courses offered at Ohio University, visit http://www.ohiou.edu/linguistics/clp/index.htm