Richard D. Lambert

Updating the Foreign Language Agenda

At the founding of the National Foreign Language Center in 1987, several major structural problems facing the field of foreign language (FL) instruction were identified in an editorial in The Modern Language Journal . These broad architectural issues are part of a national agenda for change, both here and abroad, and have been the focus of the NFLC’s activities since its establishment. The agenda issues identified in the article are: evaluating language competency; articulating instruction across educational levels and the different contexts in which FLs are taught; increasing the range of languages taught and studied; achieving higher levels of language skills; promoting language competency and use among adults; expanding research and maximizing its impact on FL teaching and learning; and assessing and diffusing new technologies in instructional practice, with particular attention to Internet communication, machine translation, and distance education. The article briefly indicates the nature of these challenges and notes the progress that has been made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language, education, and society in a changing world

Language and education language and society langauge planning bilingualism translation discourse analysis cultural awareness second language/second language acquistion L1/L2 literacy.

The transformation of an Indian labor market: the case of Pune.

This book presents the results of a series of studies of the labor markets in Pune, a medium-sized city in India. In the seven-year period over which these studies were carried out, Pune was transformed from a quiet administrative and educational center with a few isolated, relatively low technology factories, employing mostly unskilled and semi-skilled laborers, into a major manufacturing city with a substantial number of large-scale factories producing a diverse set of products, requiring high technology and a skilled work force. At the same time there was what is referred to as the Pune urban agglomoration growth. If there ever was a mix of rapid industrialization, and rapid urbanization, this was it.

Beyond Growth: The Next Stage in Language and Area Studies@@@New Literary Continents: Selected Papers of the Fifth NDEA Seminar on Foreign Area Studies Sponsored by the School of International Affairs Columbia University and Council on National Literatures

Abstract : This report examines language and area competencies, research, campus-based and national organizations, and library and information resources. It concludes that the combined federal and private resources invested over several decades have created an immensely valuable national resource in language and area studies, one unrivaled anywhere in the world. The period growth and expansion, however, has come to an end. Important parts of this national resource have are in clear danger of serious decline. Furthermore, vital gaps exist in both the research and teaching components of language and area studies programs. Present funding mechanism are inflexible and inadequate. Capacities, now missing, to monitor the cross-sectional nature of the field and to allocate resources in ways better suited to the nations needs for language and area expertise are required. The report recommends some new programs and modifications of existing ones in those government agencies and private organizations most interested in thesse areas. It calls for relatively small but carefully targeted investments.