ABSTRACT
In 2007, the Modern Language Association (MLA) issued a formidable challenge to U.S. collegiate FL (foreign language) departments, stating:
[F]oreign language departments . . . must transform their programs and structure . . . [r]eplacing the two-tiered language-literature structure with a broader and more coherent curriculum in which language, literature, and culture are taught as a continuous whole . . . will reinvigorate language departments as valuable academic units central to the humanities and to the missions of institutions of higher education. (p. 3)
Since then, the FL profession has debated these curricular recommendations. One critical area it de-emphasized was how overarching changes in collegiate FL study should influence the professional development of future professors. Its only specific recommendations were to “teach graduate students to use technology in language instruction” and “enhance and reward graduate student training” (pp. 8-9).
