Form Following FunctionThe Evolution of the

Center for Language Studiesat Brigham Young University

Ray Clifford10 November 2012

A Brief History

• 1981: Recognized the need for a Center to teach “special” languages identified in a College of Humanities report, titled “A Comprehensive Language Program for Brigham Young University”.

• 1994: Submitted official proposal to create the Center to the Academic Vice President.

• 1999: The official founding of the Center.

A Brief History

• 2000. Taught the first Center-sponsored language classes – classes in 5 low enrollment languages and 5 in major languages.

• 2004. Recruited a full-time director.• 2005. Obtained a $5 million endowment.• 2005. Center took over operation of the

“Language Houses” for the language departments.

A Brief History

• 2006. Director accepted appointment as Associate Dean as an additional duty.

• 2006. Reclassified part-time secretary position into full-time program manager position.

• 2007. Formed a college-wide Language Acquisition Research Colloquium.

• 2008. Given responsibility (and funding) for the American Sign Language program which needed a new home.

A Brief History

• 2008. Center designated as the “home” of the College MA degree in 2nd Language Teaching.

• 2009. Received formal approval of an expanded mission statement for the Center.

• 2009. Formally delineated responsibilities between the Center and the Language Departments regarding the teaching of major and non-major languages.

A Brief History

• 2010. Gained approval for +Humanities program and a competency-based Language Certificate for all BYU students.

• 2011. Increased upper-division enrollments by implementing the Language Certificate program in our 10 major languages.

• 2012. Used the Center for Language Studies as a model to create a college Humanities Center with funded research fellows.

Growth: 1999 – 2012

• Personnel.– Faculty FTE lines: 0 => 3– “Shared” FTE faculty: 1 => 18 – Adjunct (PT) faculty: ≈ 7 => ≈ 50

• Dedicated space.– 100 sq ft => 4,000 sq ft– A department office suite and multiple offices.

Multiple Missions

• Instruction.• Assessment.• Research.

Instruction• General education classes in 50 languages.• Advanced (300 level) language classes in 40 of

those languages.• Teacher education courses and professional

development workshops.• Credentialing courses for dual immersion

teachers.• MA degree program in Second Language

Teaching.

Courses in 62 Languagesare taught on a regular basis:

Afrikaans Croatian* Hebrew* Latvian* Serbian*Albanian* Czech* Hiligaynon* Lithuanian* Slovenian*Arabic* Danish* (Ilonggo) Malagasy* Spanish*Armenian* Dutch* Hindi Malay* SwahiliASL* ESL Hmong* Mongolian* Swedish*Basque Estonian* Hungarian* Navajo Tagalog* Bulgarian* Finnish* Icelandic* Norwegian* Tahitian*Cambodian* French* Indonesian* Persian Thai*Cebuano * Georgian* Italian* Polish* Tongan*Chinese* German* Japanese* Portuguese* Turkish* (Cantonese) Greek* K’iche Romanian*

Vietnamese*Chinese* Guarani* Korean* Russian* Ukrainian* (Mandarin) Hawaiian Latin* Samoan* Welsh

*We offer advanced-level classes in these languages We will offer advanced Malay and Turkish in 2013Major Languages 1010

Assessment• College assessment workshops to help all

departments with accreditation requirements.– What?– So what?– Now what?

• Flagship language program outcomes.• Diagnostic “ability profiles” of graduating

language majors and curricular implications.• Language Certificate option for all students

regardless of their major area of study.

Research• Internally funded.– Language gain in study abroad programs.– Fluency gains of students living in campus foreign

language housing.– Language proficiency gains as result of curricular

innovation (Russian debate class). • Externally funded.– Computer rating of speaking proficiency.– Validation of multi-stage, computer-adaptive

reading proficiency tests.

Creating a Central Role for the Center

• An expanded mission statement that supports– Programs across the university.– The College of Humanities’ campus-wide

+Humanities initiative.• And a strategy for “moving the elephant”.– Take the time needed to build trust.– Feed it whenever you can.– Exert patient, but consistent pressure.– When the elephant shifts it weight, it will move in

the direction you want it to move.