COMMUNICATION
COMMUNITIES CULTURES
COMPARISONS CONNECTIONS
STANDARDS
FOR
FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
LEARNING  Preparing for the 21st Century
Language and communication are at the heart of the human experience. The  United States must educate students who are linguistically and culturally equipped to communicate successfully in a plural- istic American society and abroad. This imperative envisions a future in which  ALL students will develop and maintain proficiency in English and at least one  other language, modern or classical.  Chil
dren who come to school from non- English backgrounds should also have  opportunities to develop further profi- ciencies in their first language.
Statement of Philosophy
Standards for Foreign Language Learning
In 1993, a coalition of four national language organi- zations (the American  Council on the Teaching of  Foreign Languages, the  American Association of  Teachers of French, the  American Association of  Teachers of German, and  the American Association of  Teachers of Spanish and  Portuguese) received fund- ing to develop standards  for foreign language educa- tion, grades K-12.
This was the seventh  and final subject area to  receive federal support to  develop national standards  as part of the Bush Admini- stration’s America 2000  education initiative, which
continued under Goals 2000 in the Clinton Administration. An eleven-member task  force, representing a variety of languages, levels of instruction, program models, and  geographic regions, was appointed to undertake the task of defining content stan- dards—what students should know and be able to do—in foreign language education.  At each stage of development, the task force shar
ed its work with the broader profes- sion and the public at large. The resulting document represents an unprecedented  consensus among educators, business leaders, government, and the community on the  definition and role of foreign language instruction in American education.
The standards do not describe the current status of foreign language education in this country. While they reflect the best instructional practice, they do not describe what is being attained by the majority of foreign language students. The Standards for Foreign Language Learning will not be achieved overnight; rather, they provide a gauge against which to measure improvement in the years to come.
The standards are not a curriculum guide. While they suggest the types of curric- ular experiences needed to enable students to achieve the standards, and support the  ideal of extended sequences of study that begin in the elementary grades and contin-
ue through high school and beyond, they do not describe specific course content, nor  recommended sequence of study. They must be used in conjunction with state and  local standards and curriculum frameworks to determine the best approaches and rea- sonable expectations for the students in individual districts and schools.
The purposes and uses of foreign languages are as diverse as the  students who study them. ①Som
e students study another language in  hopes of finding a rewarding career in the international marketplace
or government service.② Others are interested in the intellectual chal- lenge and cognitive benefits that accrue to those who master multi- ple languages. ③Still others seek greater understanding of other peo- ple and other cultures. ④Many approach foreign language study, as  they do other courses, simply to fulfill a graduation requirement.
/ Regardless of the reason for study, foreign languages have some- thing to offer everyone. It is with this philosophy in mind that the  standards task force identified five goal areas that encompass all of  these reasons: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Compari- sons, and Communities—the five C’s of foreign language education.
comparisonsCommunication is at the heart of second language study,  whether the communication takes place face-to-face, in writing,  or across centuries through the reading of literature.
Through the study of other languages, students gain a knowledge and understanding of the cultures that use that language and, in fact, cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs. Learning languages provides connections to addit
ional bodies
of knowledge that may be unavailable to the monolingual English speaker.
Through comparisons and contrasts with the language being studied, students develop insight into the nature of language  and the concept of culture and realize that there are multiple  ways of viewing the world.
Together, these elements enable the student of languages to  participate in multilingual communities at home and around
the world in a variety of contexts and in culturally appropriate  ways.
The Five C’s of Foreign Language
Education
Communication
Cultures
Connections          Comparisons
Communities
“Knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom”
All the linguistic and social knowledge required for effective human-to-human inter- action is encompassed in those ten words. Formerly, most teaching in foreign lan- guage classrooms concentrated on the how (grammar) to say what (vocabulary).  While these components of language are indeed crucial, the current organizing princi- ple for foreign language study is communication, which also highlights the why, the  whom, and the when. So, while grammar and vocabulary are essential tools for com- munication, it is the acquisition of the ability to communicate in meaningful and  appropriate ways with users of other languages that is the ultimate goal of today’s for- eign language classroom.

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