K-20 Collaboration in World Languages: Embracing our Commonalities

Dr. Grant Moss, Pittsburg State University

Dr. Tonia Tinsley, Missouri State University 

While mindsets about and attitudes toward Second Language Acquisition might differ between K-12 and higher education, World Language (WL) professionals at all levels have more in common than we might recognize. In our session at KSWLA, we delineated the challenges faced by the WL field K-20 to illustrate how much common ground we actually share. The session also explored possible collaborative solutions through partnerships between primary, secondary, and higher education to support and strengthen our programs. We were encouraged by the exchange and openness of the session; the interaction between the presenters and the attendees provided a great opportunity for establishing a common picture of the profession, without the divisions that sometimes appear in professional development. 

The session was organized around a Think/Pair/Share model, with a series of questions posed to the audience about similarities and differences in our working environments, challenges we face, and connections we can foster. We plan to examine these questions and elements, along with the relationships that they evoke, more closely in a wider study. This will involve soliciting input from our colleagues at both the university and K-12 levels. At the end of this short article, you will find a Survey Interest Form for your consideration.  

Here are the questions we raised during our presentation. They are followed by a brief summary of the main points gathered in relation to each one. 

What do you think K-12 and University World Language Programs have in common?

The commonalities we discussed during the presentation included: different perspectives (ours are the only classes in the entire school where the language of instruction is not English), geography and culture (where everything in the world is located and our relationship with it; language as the common element), student success (we know our students in ways that other teachers do not because of our content), relationship building and overcoming affective filters (we teach them not to be afraid, to be comfortable making mistakes, to try, to take risks, to overcome anxiety), and differentiation (we might possibly have Novice- to Advanced-level learners in the same class).

How do K-12 and University World Language Programs differ?

The differences noted during the presentation included many social aspects of the learning process, such as student experiences (where they come from, age, mandatory primary/secondary school; students as clients or customers), classroom spaces (institutional gray/white offices/classrooms or make it your own, dual use of classrooms, traveling teachers), high-leverage practices (non-linguistic representations, questions, cues, summarizing, note taking; many university faculty do not have much pedagogical training, similar to provisional certificate holders K-12), relationships with administration (top-down, tasks, attendance, policies, substitute plans, laws regarding minors, informal subbing, travel for WL PD, small program road warriors), relationships with stakeholders (FERPA, coaches, alumni, parent/teacher conferences, milestone events), and academic environment (academic freedom, choice of teaching material such as textbooks, supplemental tools, tenure, promotion, salary questions/extra duties, schedule flexibility).

What do you think the biggest challenges are for K-12 and University World Language programs?

The challenges we discussed during our session at the conference included: scheduling (set periods for elective classes, schedule by academic year, classes are set between four class periods in a day, lack of elasticity; if we only have one section, students choose something else), lack of requirements (choose required courses instead of elective WL, competition with other courses across campus forces students to choose one), degree types vs. workforce development (relevance, sheer numbers, demographic shift, institutions and states solely focused on numbers of students, Humanities as useful?), time to proficiency (misunderstandings outside of our field about how long it takes to achieve certain levels of proficiency, what it means to be a “native” speaker, imposter syndrome), active engagement of teachers in our profession (turning to the same people over and over makes us weaker because we are losing out on mentorship opportunities), training and assessment (often university training was in language, literature, and cultural studies, PRAXIS preparation, course grading structure).

How can we create connections between us?

Some of the ideas we mentioned in our collective group at the conference were: joining forces (conversation circles, guest speakers, both formal and informal opportunities), extending invitations for visits (K-12 visits to universities and vice versa, invitations to international groups and students, include community members), co-presenting at conferences (find a friend who does things a little differently than you; find common ground), participating in WL PD (we teach our students not to be afraid, let’s live by that principle ourselves; let’s be ready to talk about difficult topics), reaching out to others (you are not alone in the experiences you are facing; the challenges are real and they are everywhere; we are all in this together, so we can’t stay in our silos), making time for sharing (this is perhaps the biggest issue! Start small. You don’t know the positive impact that you might have on a colleague or a new teacher).

It should not surprise us that these responses are so multi-faceted, since teaching a World Language truly represents the epitome of complexity. We have provided the parenthetical groupings above to illustrate the different aspects raised in our discussion. 

Grant and Tonia’s Invitation

We are currently designing a study to explore collaborations between K-12 and university WL educators. This will be a qualitative study, where the time commitment will be minimal. There will be a confidential questionnaire and possibly an interview for selected volunteers. 

If you are interested in participating, please take a minute to fill out the Survey Interest Form so that we can send you the survey once it is ready.