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Language programs authored by professors | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6499 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 5 15 May 2008 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've noticed that the most effective language programs, at least in my experience, were from professors deciding upon themselves to create a text for the students. April Wilson's German Quickly, Karl Sandburg's French for Reading, John F. Collins's Primer For Ecclesiastical Latin, Ian Press's Learn Russian...etc. all were far more effective than Assimil and Linguaphone in regards to content. The thing that held these courses from reaching perfection was that they didn't use audio. Had these courses used audio to accompany the text, there would be no question that they would superior to Assimil, Linguaphone and the Teach Yourself series in the audio category.
Why haven't foreign language companies utilized these professors' textbooks for creating comprehensive language courses? The Teaching Company, which has over 200 courses taught by professors from Ivy League and other high ranking universities, teaches subjects mainly in Literature and Philosophy(no foreign language teaching); and the professors, according to their website, are selected based on their teaching awards and publications. Thus, the learner can delve into a subject knowing that respectable professors are the ones teaching. How much of a problem is it for the language learner not knowing if his particular language program is ridden with errors or useless content? Is there a company that is akin to The Teaching Company that specializes in foreign languages? Couldn't a polyglot create the same process on selecting the best professors for each foreign language study or survey on the targeted language's literature? Is anyone familiar with the Teaching Company's products? If so, do you think foreign language products could be screened, constructed, and distributed in a similar fashion? I think it would help the language learner a lot if there were a foreign language company that only sold products which are authored by proven and effective professors. J. Barts Edited by Kugel on 15 May 2008 at 2:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6499 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 5 16 May 2008 at 10:24am | IP Logged | ||
Their longest course is 48 hours long, which is the same as one semester for some courses at university. If you combined these lectures with Assimil-like comprehension exercises, and added clips of 'real' material from film or magazines, then what other language product would rival it? J. Barts Edited by Kugel on 19 May 2008 at 9:24am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6499 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 5 16 May 2008 at 10:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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I suppose 'great teachers' would be a better definition than professors, as not all 500,000 professors in the U.S. are great teachers. The reason why I mentioned the Teaching Company was that they relied on effective teachers, who are incidentally professors. It's hard to get around the fact that good language teachers are 99% likely to be professors; and they are far more likely to give a better learning experience than a company that lays down each foreign language on a procrustean bed for marketing and profit purposes.
J. Barts Edited by Kugel on 19 May 2008 at 9:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7217 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes | Message 4 of 5 26 May 2008 at 1:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Mr. Barts,
Your idea is most attractive and I only wish it were more feasible. Certainly it is true that many of the best language courses are published by small presses rather than in large series, and it would be wonderful if these could be better known and receive better distribution. To a certain extent, Dunwoody Press, which I review today, is already doing what you propose. Unfortunately, however, I believe your letter contains some all too idealistic premises. I do not believe that most foreign language companies are honestly interested in offering high quality materials. Rather, in the main, they are interested in profits and sales, and thus it is actually better for them to produce glitzy, gimmicky courses that promise a great deal but fail to teach well. Furthermore, within academia, foreign languages currently suffer from an inexplicably low status, and foreign language courses are typically taught by graduate students, not professors themselves. All of this would be very different, of course, at an Academy of Polyglottery… Alexander Arguelles 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6499 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 5 07 January 2009 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Teaching Company I think is fully capable of producing foreign language courses for its catalog, which is mainly geared towards the humanities and the social sciences.
These courses are not glitzy and gimmicky. I'm not sure how the content would be presented. I'd imagine it would be as simple as providing a 10 min explanation with subsequent example problems. PDF worksheets would probably be necessary. As far as I know, no foreign language courses(not counting live sit-in college classes) are set up this way. Here is a flight controller in NASA that made a comprehensive series of Math Tutor DVDs with no glitz and gimmicks. The video is only a little better in picture quality than the average youtube video, but still rivals the glitzy math software and $150 textbooks with its colorful charts and skydivers. Math Tutor DVDs What I'm getting at is that any complex concept can be broken down into easily manageable chunks. Of course, there are textbooks and grammar manuals that teach foreign languages very well. It's just strange that in 2009 there are no decent language programs in video format. I don't know how much experience you have in video(your youtube videos worked well in presenting your ideas), but I think that your extensive knowledge of language learning materials rivals most college level professors'. The UW-Milwaukee professors in foreign language learning certainly don't have a high interest in foreign language learning materials. If they do, then they don't show it. J. Barts Edited by Kugel on 07 January 2009 at 4:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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