--- Forwarded Message from Bob Peckham <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 07:27:30 -0500 (CDT) >From: Bob Peckham <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Bob Peckham <[log in to unmask]> >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: #5229 Language Graduation Requirements >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> ------------------ Dennis said >(BTW, we have interepreted "proficiencying out" of the >requirement to mean that a student can READ, WRITE, and handle ORAL >communication on an intermediate-mid level. We doubt that he is able to >do the graphic skills, but, of course, we have no way to evaluate that >here.) I am not quite sure these claims students are bringing are really fair to academic institutions, whose requirements are supposed to aid the marketability of their students. If such a student learns yet another language, then she/he becomes even more marketable. In Tennessee, we bank heavily on the marketability argument: Why study a foreign language in Tennessee? http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/why.html I wonder if, since a number of colleges are accepting these arguments from students, they should not enlist the services of a major foreign language institute. For example, the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute http://www.foreignlanguages.org/ handles 141 world languages, Bengali among them. TBob Bob Peckham Director, The Globe-Gate Project Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages Univ. of Tennessee-Martin Martin, TN 38238 USA e-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html CV: http://globegate.utm.edu/french/globegate_mirror/tbobcv.html