Description
Book SynopsisThis monograph presents a national study about how the language learning goals of college students are reflected in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1996, 1999, 2006). With a mixed method design, the study includes responses from 16,529 students at 11 postsecondary institutions across the United States, with interviews from 200 students at two of these institutions. The first research to examine learner perspectives with regard to the Standards, this study considers (a) whether college students have goals consistent with the Standards, (b) whether they expect to reach these goals during their formal language study, (c) whether these goals and expectations differ for first-year and second-year language students, (d) whether they differ for students of more and less commonly taught languages, (e) whether students understand the Standards and see the five goal areas as interrelated or in terms of
Table of Contents
Preface. Barbara Lafford, Monograph Editor
Introduction.
Chapter 1. Considering the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in Postsecondary Instruction
Chapter 2. Describing the Study
Chapter 3. Student Goals and Hierarchies
Chapter 4. Student Expectations and Hierarchies
Chapter 5. Student Goals and Expectations by Level of Instruction
Chapter 6. Student Goals and Expectations by More and Less Commonly Taught Languages
Chapter 7. Beyond Hierarchies, Beyond Standards
Chapter 8 Standards through the Perspectives of Postsecondary Students
Appendix A. Standards for Foreign Language Learning
Appendix B. Survey Questionnaire: My Language Learning Goals
Appendix C. Correlations Between Student Goals and Expectations, and the Full Set of Independent Variables Estimated through Bioprobit
Appendix D. Themes and Subthemes from the Structured Interviews
Author Bios
Figures, Tables, and Appendixes
References
Subject Index
