Less Common Languages, Common Needs for K-12 Instructors

This study sought to understand the needs of U.S. K-12 teachers as they guide students learning languages with non-Roman writing systems, which we have termed “Languages with Diverse Written Representations (LDWR).” While there is a growing body of research on the teaching of languages that do not u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages Vol. 32; pp. 104 - 141
Main Authors Leslie Fink, Francesca Di Silvio, Jamie Morgan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages 01.04.2022
Subjects
k-12 education
logographic languages
non-roman alphabet
standards-based education
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Summary:This study sought to understand the needs of U.S. K-12 teachers as they guide students learning languages with non-Roman writing systems, which we have termed “Languages with Diverse Written Representations (LDWR).” While there is a growing body of research on the teaching of languages that do not use the Roman alphabet in the United States, relatively little research has looked in the K-12 context and across languages to find shared needs. However, some commonalities emerge in K-12 instructors’ experiences and challenges. This paper describes exploratory focus group research conducted with instructors of Arabic, Mandarin, and Russian in Massachusetts elementary, middle, and high schools. Discussion showed that K-12 instructors working with languages that do not use the Roman alphabet form a coherent group with unique needs and challenges related to use of standards for world languages and finding and applying appropriate resources.
ISSN:1930-9031