Premium
Educational Reform and the Babel (Babble) of Culture: Prospects for the Standards for Foreign Language Learning
Author(s) -
DAVIS JAMES N.
Publication year - 1997
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.1540-4781.1997.tb01170.x
Subject(s) - rhetoric , assertion , sociology , context (archaeology) , foreign language , relation (database) , politics , decentralization , linguistics , political science , pedagogy , law , computer science , paleontology , philosophy , database , biology , programming language
Advocacy of foreign language mandates in the U.S. plays out within a socioculturally determined “context of reception,” a volatile background of contradictory voices, both internal and external to organized education. As an example of this assertion, this article discusses implementation of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (1996) in relation to their historical and political dimensions. 1 Drawing upon research studies and theoretical notions from critical discourse analysis (e.g., Lemke, 1995; Luke, 1995) and applied rhetoric (e.g., Allen & Caillouet, 1994; Cheney, 1991), I demonstrate how the extreme decentralization of the American educational system often works to subvert genuine innovation. I also propose “multidiscursive” communication strategies that may enable foreign language advocates to address effectively the diverse identities of our many constituencies.