Academic Preparation in Foreign Language: Teaching for Transition from High School to College

The following is from this book’s Introduction written by the College Board. Several major themes are the foundation of this book. The primary theme is our commitment to foreign language study and our desire to reach more students. It is the commitment that has moved us to participate in the Educational Equality Project and to prepare this book. A second theme of this book is the interrelationship of language and culture and of foreign language education and multicultural education. Recent dramatic changes in ethnic and linguistic climate have helped us recognize broader horizons. Increasingly, we are coming to recognize that the bilingualism and biculturalism of our fellow citizens are resources to be encouraged and developed, not only in our classrooms but in the nation as a whole. A final theme is realistic expectations. In most schools foreign language is an elective subject. Students come to us by choice and leave us before they attain a usable skill level of skill. The typical two year high school sequence has fewer than 300 hours of actual instruction time. Except in the most unusual circumstances, the outcomes advocated in the Green Book and elaborated in this book must give all students the time they really need for developing their language proficiency. By learning a foreign language, a student can enter another world as a person who speaks only one language never can. Beyond our immediate tasks of teaching a given language, we develop in students those skills of communication that help them understand others and share the humanity that is the heritage of us all. The Educational Equality Project is a 10-year effort of the College Board that began in 1980, to strengthen the academic quality of secondary education and to ensure equality of opportunity for education for all students. The College Board membership is composed of 2,500 colleges, schools, school systems, and associations that provides tests and other services.