COTSEAL in the 21 st century

1. COTSEAL in the 21st century The need for a Southeast Asian Language Resource Center

2. Building the field of Southeast Asian language teaching • Looking back while planning for the future • The importance of the teachers who are on the front lines. This includes all of you: SEASSI teachers, the experienced, the new fledgling, the teachers at NRCs, the teachers at four year colleges and community colleges. • My question- How do we plan for a more vibrant, active, & professionalized field of SE Asian language teaching that serves the globally connected world of the 21st century?

3. History of COTSEAL • COTSEAL was established in 1984 at the first SEASSI to “promote the discipline of Southeast Asian language teaching”. • Prof. Richard McGinn of Ohio U served as the first president from 1984-87 • Second president, Prof. Teresita Ramos of U. Hawaii, introduced the COTSEAL workshops at SEASSI. These were later transformed into the COTSEAL conference in 1991

4. Organizational developments • In 1990 a COTSEAL panel at AAS was established. • In 1991 NCOLCTL organization was established giving voice to the needs and importance of the less-commonly-taught languages. • 1992 the Journal of Southeast Asian Language Teaching (JSEALT) was established. It now has gone online. • Under Bac’s leadership, the NCOLCTL conference has become a venue for COTSEAL workshops and panels . • COTSEAL now has professional events at AAS, NCOLTCL conference & the SEASSI COTSEAL conference.

5. Changes in pedagogy • The field of language teaching has moved from audio-lingual & grammar-translation to communicative approach. • The field has shifted from a teacher-fronted to a student-centered classroom management style. • These changes demand a great deal of work from the teacher yet institutional support for updating materials has been scanty.

6. Changes in student demographics • Numbers have fluctuated from 86 students in 1984, to 214 in 1994. From 2000-2010 range is from 130-170. (2009 40% undergraduates) • Type of student has changed: Contrast ISSI students with SEASSI 2010 students. • Living in a globalized world: citizenship, ethnicity, & residence do not predict language ability. • We all juggle multiple identities and multiple languages.

7. Our globalized world & language teaching • SEA is intimately connected with cultural flows of information and entertainment genres that circle the world daily. • Indonesians watch S. American telenovellas, Japanese anime, & Indonesian sitcoms. • This globalized world offers opportunities to build new (speech & written) communities via technology. (Pipeline café). • It also offers challenges of a diverse student body. • Problems with resources (material & personnel)

8. Need for Southeast Asian language expertise • Security needs – The government lists 10 SE Asian languages as priority languages: Burmese, Indonesian, Malay, Javanese, Cebuano, Filipino, Khmer, Lao, Thai, & Vietnamese. • There are numerous domestic and international needs for advanced speakers of SE Asian languages to serve the needs of educational institutions, government, business, social, & humanitarian organizations.

9. SE Asians in the US: a rich resource • Due to massive and diverse immigration since the 1980s, the US is more linguistically diverse than it has ever been. • The six SE Asian languages in the 2005 US Census data are: Filipino 1.2 million; Vietnamese 1 million; Khmer 180,000; Hmong 160,000; Lao 150,000, & Thai 120,000. • These populations are a great resource & potential for growth in the study of SE Asian languages. • SEASSI now has approximately 1/3 heritage students. • Since 2001 heritage students at SEASSI ranged from 22-40%

10. SE Asian in the US • It is time that the US policy recognize (& reward) multilingualism as an asset not a threat. • Multilingual speakers are often labeled LEP (limited English proficiency). • M.L. Pratt (2003) has commented that LEP should stand for linguistically endowed person. • US public attitudes toward multilingualism are slowly shifting in the post 9-11 era. • Ideally all immigrants would have an opportunity to gain advanced proficiency and maintain pride in their heritage language.

11. Need for a Language Resource Center (LRC) for Southeast Asian languages • The federal government funds 15 language resource centers. • Southeast Asia is the only world region to have never been served by a national LRC. • SE Asian language teaching lags behind other world areas in terms of the development of proficiency guidelines, national curricular standards, assessment tools, communicatively-based teaching materials and research tools.

12. Objectives of Southeast Asian Language Resource Center • To provide professional development opportunities for teachers. (Teachers must be supported as the field develops.) • To develop national oral proficiency guidelines. • To develop assessment tools for speaking and reading skills. • To develop and maintain communication networks among SE Asian language teachers through professional associations, workshops, conferences, collaborative projects, and a SEALRC website. • To develop and disseminate communicatively-based language teaching materials. • To develop an evaluation rubric for SE Asian language programs.

13. Potential projects • National survey: Assessment of national resources and needs for SEA language learning and teaching. •  Development of Oral Proficiency (OP) guidelines and sponsorship of an ACTFL OPI workshop. • Development of Reading assessment tool using Computerized Assessment Program (CAP) in collaboration with CASLS, U. Oregon.

14. Potential projects • Development & implementation of materials for Pipeline Café to teach advanced level language and culture using the CULTURA model in collaboration with the NFLRC at U. Hawaii • Offer the online course: Fundamentals of Language Teaching Methods • Workshop on the use of Lingua Folio in collaboration with CASLS U. Oregon. • Workshop to introduce Standards Development to SE Asian language teachers • Development of a rubric to evaluate a SE Asian language program