Course description

More and more, job announcements for academic positions in U.S. world language departments request some form of curricular management, be it course coordination, instructor supervision, or language program direction.

Effectiveness in these roles requires a solid understanding of second language acquisition (SLA) theories, second language (L2) teaching methodologies, and learning technologies.

It also requires organizational prowess, administrative savvy, and strong leadership skills in order to guide programs through challenging times and shifts in higher education.

Despite the various scholarly, instructional, managerial, and relational demands of the job, seldom have individuals in these roles benefited from sufficient pre-job training.

At Ohio State, various graduate-level courses on SLA and L2 teaching methodologies are already offered. The course at hand addresses many remaining issues in language program administration, including, but not limited to:

• curricular planning and development (for both L2 and heritage language (HL) learners)
• technology integration and online instruction
• assessment
• articulation across course levels
• innovation; supervision and evaluation of instructors
• program promotion and outreach, especially for less commonly taught languages (LCTLs)

These issues are approached through the lenses of leadership and social justice.

Course requirements

Course requirements include:

• weekly readings and discussions
• in-class presentations
• written reflections
• hands-on projects (among a choice of options) applicable to future job positions

Course materials

Materials for the course include:

• Lord, G. (2014). Language Program Direction: Theory and Practice. Pearson
• journal articles (provided)
• two online leadership assessments for increasing self-understanding and flexibility when approaching management challenges (CliftonStengths, $19.99; and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), $33).

Who is this course for?

This course is not language-specific, nor is it only for students in SLA or linguistics. It is open to all world language disciplines and counts toward the Graduate Interdepartmental Specialization (GIS) in Second Language Studies (SLS).