In response to Jon Leibowitz’s Letter to the Editor (10/27/10), it seems timely to remember the goals of a liberal arts education, as well as to review the nature of second language acquisition.

First, WCAS offers a succinct summary of the goals of a liberal arts education on its webpage, highlighting the importance of being prepared for a “lifetime of change” in a complex world. Through emphasis on critical thinking and writing, through exposure to many fields of study-and the ways they interact-and through attention to reason, liberal arts students can expect to be well prepared intellectually for life beyond the university, as well as be “informed and responsible” citizens of the world. In fact, WCAS underscores that most importantly, a liberal arts student learns how to acquire knowledge and expand understanding.

As part of these goals, all WCAS students must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language. In an increasingly interconnected world, linguistic and cultural competency are even more important today than ever, and in today’s global market, all professionals – even great chemists – collaborate with, manage, and/or trade with people and organizations from all parts of the world. Thus, not only is proficiency in a foreign language helpful or, depending on the situation, even crucial, but cross-cultural understanding also is fundamental to working well with others.

Foreign language faculty are experts in their field and have a deep understanding of how second language acquisition works. Current second language acquisition pedagogy focuses on developing communication skills in the language of study, skills that are useful for real communication in the real world. Cultural content is central to this learning process, and forms the cognitive basis for language acquisition.

Also fundamental to foreign language study is practice, as acquisition is a subconscious process whose success depends on meaningful interaction in the target language. Thus, in order to ensure that students are exposed to both learning and acquisition processes, foreign language faculty are careful to incorporate assignments steadily and effectively throughout the course. Moreover, students must be in class in order to interact, i.e., communicate, in the target language. While an immersion experience cannot be replicated on campus for obvious reasons, a steady amount of work in a foreign language course solidifies learning and acquisition-going beyond the 50 minutes of daily class time, and thus, reinforcing and assisting with the student’s learning. By creating a continuum that will help students with the acquisition process, as well as by focusing on cultural knowledge, foreign language faculty fulfill their role in WCAS’ mission as a liberal arts school.

-Heather Colburn

Director of the Spanish language program

-Elena Lanza

Assistant Director of the Spanish language program

On behalf of the Spanish Language Program faculty