A Tale of Two Schools: Developing Sustainable Early Foreign Language Programs

This volume documents a sixteen-year longitudinal study of two elementary schools in which Spanish and Japanese foreign language programs were implemented and evaluated. Evaluation of the programs involved documenting children’s language development, assessing the attitudes of various constituents, and examining critical issues related to the introduction and successful operation of a well articulated sequential foreign language program in schools. The volume concludes with a discussion of possible reasons why over time certain sequential foreign language programs flourish and grow while other programs are reduced or eliminated from the school’s curriculum. Parallels with the theory and practice of environmental sustainable development are used as a framework for this analysis.

Richard Donato is an Associate Professor of Foreign and Second Language Education and chair of the Department of Instruction and Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. His publications include studies of early foreign language learning, sociocultural theory and foreign and second language learning, and classroom interaction. In addition to his work in North America, he has worked in Mali and in Thailand.

G. Richard Tucker is Paul Mellon University Professor of Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University. He has published widely concerning diverse aspects of second language learning and teaching and language policy and planning. In addition to his work in North America, he has lived and worked as a Language Education advisor for the Ford Foundation in Southeast Asia and in the Middle East and North Africa.