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Increasing the Number of Minority FL Educators: Local Action to Meet a National Imperative
Author(s) -
WILBERSCHIED LEE,
DASSIER JEANLOUIS P.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
the modern language journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.486
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1540-4781
pISSN - 0026-7902
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4781.1995.tb05408.x
Subject(s) - economic shortage , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , foreign language , minority language , underrepresented minority , political science , sociology , public relations , pedagogy , medical education , linguistics , medicine , government (linguistics) , geography , philosophy , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
The low number of minority foreign language (FL) educators reflects an overall decline in the number of minority educators. Both declines pose serious threats to effective education in the coming decades. Many recommendations have been made for increasing the number of minority educators in general, but the need continues for specific strategies to increase the number of minority educators in our own profession. This article sets the context of the problem by discussing difficulties of definition of the term “minority” and reviews the literature regarding minority students in general and the minority educator shortage in general. Then follows a discussion of problems specific to the foreign language profession and some of the surprisingly few proposals for solutions. One possible solution is action at the local level by community members, by schools and universities, by associations, and by each individual foreign language educator.