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LINGUISTICS AND THE NDEA
Author(s) -
Marckwardt Albert H.
Publication year - 1959
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1959.tb01221.x
Subject(s) - linguistics , citation , psychology , library science , computer science , philosophy
The recognition of language competence as an important element in national defence i s the culmination of a sequence of events which, when looked at in retrospect, have a compelling logic behind them. Seven years ago the Modern Language Association began its foreign-language program, with the purpose of evaluating the place of foreign languages in American life and American education. One of the early activities of this program was the preparation, by Dr. William R. Parker , its director, of the UNESCO work paper entitled F o r e e n Language and the National Interest, a document designed to serve as the basis for community discussion groups. Finally i n 1958, Congress finds Itan insufficient proportion of our population educated.. .in modern foreign languages" and authorizes federal funds to the amount of some fifteen million dollars annually to "correct as rapidly a s possible the existing imbalances i n our educational programs. 17 This, then, is the path of propulsion which placed the language gap right alongside the missile gap as a recognized educational need. We have all learned, of course, to distinguish the linguistic scientist from the polyglot, and to discriminate proficiency in the practical command of language from the scientific analysis of language and languages. The NDEA, or a t least those titles of it which apply to foreign-language study, a r e designed principally to increase language competence. What, then, i s the role of linguistics in this national effort? This question may best be answered in terms of Title VI, that portion of the act devoted wholly to language training. Foreign languages are also, o r ,may be, part of the concern of Titles 111 and VII, but for the purposes of dealing with this question we may confine ourselves to the sixth section-of the act. There are four different kinds of programs o r activities supported by Title VI: language teachers' institutes, language and area centers, fellowships for language study, and language research. A s we shall see, linguistics has a significant role to play in each.