REPORT OF THE NALRC/ASP DIRECTORS’ MEETING
Saturday, November 3, 2001

Introduction:

As a rule, languages have not been mentioned in high-level policy discussions. However, the world has changed since the event of September 11, 2001. The importance of language is really coming to light. Before now, language was generally discussed as part of area studies. The focus now is more on foreign languages than area studies. If there ever was a time to strengthen language instruction particularly African languages, it is now. The fact remains that language and national security also go hand in hand. They cannot be separated.

At the National African Language Resource Center organized meeting of Directors of African Studies Centers, which was held in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday, November 3, 2001, several issues pertaining to the enhancement of African language instruction were discussed. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss how the NALRC and the ASP Directors could collaborate to better achieve the goal of providing quality instruction for learners of African languages in the U.S. No one at the meeting questioned the important role that African languages play in the existence of both the NALRC and the ASP Centers. The crucial question raised at the meeting was how the NALRC and the ASP directors can work together to improve the status of African language learning and teaching in the U.S. Since most of the ASP Directors could not personally attend the meeting, it was decided upon that we come up with a statement summarizing the discussions at the meeting and make the report available to the ASP directors. Below are the crucial issues raised at the meeting:

1. Professional Training: Both the NALRC and the ASP directors need to collaborate in providing Pre- and In-service professional development programs for African language instructors since majority of the instructors are graduate students who do not have the training to teach their languages as foreign languages and in the U.S. context.

2. Curriculum Strengthening and Standardization: It was also unanimously agreed upon that the ASP directors and the NALRC should work together with professionals in the field to develop curriculum guidelines for the different African languages that we offer in the U.S. This could be achieved by jointly organizing a one-week workshop for different language working groups to develop these guidelines.

3. Annual Meeting: There should be an annual one day meeting of the NALRC, African language coordinators and ASP Center Directors so that the kind of conversations that took place during the November 3rd, 2001 meeting could continue.

4. Professional Development for Language Coordinators: Both the NALRC and the ASP Directors should collaborate on providing the necessary training for African language coordinators so that they can be better informed of their responsibilities. The responsibilities of a language coordinator should never be an “add-on” responsibilities. A certain percentage of the coordinators time should be assigned for these responsibilities.

5. Strengthening U.S. Institutions’ African Language Offering: There should be a network of U.S. Institutions offering African languages with those of African Institutions. This will encourage personnel support for the teaching of African languages in the U.S. as African Institutions could supply qualified personnel in some cases.

6. Domestic Population Language Priority Needs: Both the NALRC and the ASP directors should collaborate in sponsoring a research to find out what the domestic population language needs are in relation to African languages. The findings could lead to a substantial revision of the language priority list written by Wiley and Dwyer (1980).

So far, the NALRC has been impacting the field of African language pedagogy in the U.S. through the following 6 major projects:

1. National African Language Program Coordination
Under National Coordination, the center has carried out the following projects:

a. African Language Program Inventory List:
b. African Language Program Evaluators’ List
c. African Language Coordinators’ Training Programs.
d. African Language Resource List:
e. African Language Material and Workshop Lists:

2. African Language Materials Development and Dissemination
Textbooks and Manuscripts so far published by the NALRC
a. Swahili Learners Reference Grammar (Spring 2001)
b. Fula Learners’ Reference Grammar (Fall 2001)
c. Bambara Learners’ Reference Grammar (Forthcoming)
d. Yoruba Learners’ Reference Grammar (Forthcoming)
e. Sesotho Learners’ Reference Grammar (Forthcoming)
f. Chichewa Learners’ Reference Grammar (Forthcoming)
g. Twi Learners’ Reference Grammar (Forthcoming)
h. Zulu Learners’ Reference Grammar (Forthcoming)
i. African Languages in U.S. Colleges and Universities: Program Development and Administration Guidelines (Fall 2001)
j. African Language Material Development Guidelines (Fall 2001)
k. African Language Classroom Management (Forthcoming)
l. Hausa First Year Course (Forthcoming)
m. English-Yoruba Pocket Dictionary (Forthcoming)

Brochures
The following brochures have being developed and disseminated to all the African language programs in the nation. The purpose of the brochures is to promote awareness of all the African languages that are taught in the U.S.
a. Fula Brochure
b. Hausa Brochure
c. Swahili Brochure
d. Yoruba Brochure
e. Wolof Brochure
f. Zulu Brochure
g. Bambara

3. Professional Development for African Language Educators
a. Annual Summer Institute for African Language Instructors
b. Annual ALTA Conference Workshop
c. Workshops for Different African Language Programs

4. Research in African Language Pedagogy

5. African Language Program Development and Evaluation

6. Funding Opportunities for African Language Instructors

The NALRC has the following funding opportunities for African language instructors:
a. Funds to Attend Annual ALTA Conference
b. Funds to Attend the Annual NALRC Summer Institutes
c. Mini Grants for African Language Material Development

The National African Language Resource Center (NALRC) hopes to continue to provide the above support for the strengthening and enhancement of African language learning and teaching in the U.S. However, the conclusion arrived at the meeting was that greater impact will be achieved in African language pedagogy if the ASP directors and the NALRC can collaborate in providing the needed support for this important emerging field.

Chair
Antonia Folarin-Schleicher U.Wisconsin-Madison

Participants

Eyamba Bokamba Univ. Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Richard Brecht Johns Hopkins University
Carolyn Brown Rutgers University
Amma Oduro U. California Berkeley
John Inniss Johns Hopkins University & Delaware State U.
Richard Serrano Rutgers University
Paul Kotey U. Florida Gainesville
Maria Grosz-Ngate Indiana University
Magdalena Hauner UW-Madison
Akin Akinlabi Rutgers University
Sandra Sanneh Yale University
David Dwyer Michigan State U.
Lioba Moshi University of Georgia
James Delehanty UW-Madison
Russell Schuh U.C. Los Angeles

Administrative Assistants:
Olusola Adesope UW-Madison
Oyenike Effiong UW-Madison