Skyline College

Foreign Languages

Program Review

Executive Summary

Short Summary of Findings

 

Skyline College’s Foreign Language Program serves students well in their educational and life goals. It provides needed second language training the Bay Area community job market demands to serve immigrant customers/clients.  The program is led by its only full-time instructor Luciana Castro.  Besides English, Dr. Castro is fluent in four-languages, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. She is trained through Title III in current technology and active in professional organizations. Foreign Language adjunct faculty have top-notch preparation and proficiency in multiple languages. 

The Foreign Languages Program is a model of Skyline’s policy of “Students first.”  It is up to date, employing the most current pedagogy and learning theory to educate students. It enjoys strong relationships with the rest of the Language Arts Division, especially the English and ESOL departments and The Learning Center.  It provides foreign language education to students enrolled in diverse majors, from International Studies to Criminal Justice; it complements the offerings in the rest of the District’s Foreign Language Program.  Through its core courses, the Foreign Language program is connected to the Honors Transfer Program and hopes to build stronger links to the Puente and Kababayan Programs.  We serve a vulnerable population in terms of their preparation for college studies; the rate of enrollment, retention and success our core courses is high.   As our students’ skills improve in foreign language studies, they gain confidence in language learning, a confidence that should translate to other studies. 

Our courses represent the world’s languages and heritages: European, Middle-Eastern, Asian, and deaf language and culture.  Our students learn about world cultures and perspectives because one best learns a language by learning about the culture in which it is embedded; language and culture are intertwined. Spanish is the strongest of the current offerings; students enroll in Spanish courses to satisfy transfer and graduation requirements. We also offer courses in American Sign Language, Arabic, and Tagalog.  We will be offering Chinese in Spring 2003.  Budget constraints have required that we cut back on several of our offerings; Italian and Japanese will be reviewed to see if they should be offered in the future or deactivated.  (Since the last program review, German and French were deactivated.)

Foreign language faculty design courses depending on the public to be served.  For example, within the last two years, Spanish faculty designed and taught several experimental courses, including Spanish for Travelers, Spanish for Health Care Professional, and Spanish for Public Safety Officers.  These courses have since become regular courses under the names of Spanish for Travelers and Spanish for Pubic Service.  Spanish 690, independent studies, is often offered by our only fulltime professor to provide students with the right sequence of course materials to continue their education in Spanish when there may not be sufficient enrollment to offer more advanced courses.  A second example is in the development of offerings in Arabic.  Arabic studies began after the need for more Arabic speakers became apparent because of the US involvement in the Middle East after September 11, 2001.  The Division dean and fulltime professor identified a potential instructor and worked with him to designed elementary courses.  The courses have been successful; Skyline College is the only community college on the San Francisco Peninsula to offer Arabic.

 

Three Strengths of the Program

§         Personification of Skyline’s policy of “Students First” policy

ü       offerings (revised outlines, new courses, new area of study) based on students needs

ü       combination of methods to help students prepare  to continue on their education in other institutions

ü       support system through personalized conferences with instructors, tutorials in the Learning Center, language sharing groups in the Learning Center

ü       Mentoring, including Puente and mentoring students who studying for the Spanish major or certificate.

ü       Outreach to students, including letters to students to advertise offerings, posters advertising in the community specific courses such as  Spanish for Health Care Professionals, and personal outreach in hospitals, clinics and community centers in San Bruno and South San Francisco

·         Innovation

ü         Development of new courses, both experimental and permanent

ü         TLC workshops every semester on topics such as “How to keep your Spanish Alive, Vibrant, and Fluent”

ü         Development of courses in new language: Arabic

ü         Technology and modern up-to-date audio-visual methods implemented in the classroom instruction where technology available

·         Provides students with perspectives that they might not otherwise see

ü       Offerings representative of world languages: European, Middle-Eastern, Asian, and the Deaf community

ü       Specific instruction on the cultures of the languages being studied

 

Three Suggestions for Improvement

·         Make progress through the goals suggested in Item 1.A, specific goals for the future:

§         Build enrollment in basic Spanish courses to generate sufficient student interest to warrant the scheduling of the sequence of Spanish courses needed to complete the major (use the pyramid model: Three classes of Spanish 110, two classes of Spanish 120, two Spanish 130/220, one Spanish 140  and one Spanish 160 class.

§         Build the Arabic program by generating sufficient student interest in current offerings

§         Analyze student interest to see if there is sufficient interest to offer Tagalog classes during the day

§         Redesign and build the Tagalog program, whenever it is offered.

§         Advocate for dedicated space for a language laboratory that could be shared with the ESOL Department.

§         Advocate for dedicated space in The Learning Center

§         Advocate for better equipped classrooms.

§         Advocate for additional fulltime faculty to build both day and evening offerings

 

·         Keep the American Sign Language, Tagalog, Chinese and Arabic courses vibrant through evaluation/revision of the course outlines; revive Japanese and Italian with at least first year courses offerings, budget permitting.

·         Seek and obtain more support in advertising offerings; various counseling and administrative offices could offer invaluable support in this regard.

 

SKYLINE COLLEGE

PROGRAM REVIEW SELF STUDY

 

 

PART A: Overview of Program

 

1. State the goals/ focus of this program and how the program contributes to the mission and priorities of the College and District.

 

The Foreign  Languages Program has as its focus the following:

§         to serve students by meeting their educational goals of transfer, graduation, preparation for employment, and personal development. Students may enroll in foreign language offerings, all of which are college-level academic courses, to satisfy areas requirements at Skyline College and at transfer institutions. High school students are turning to Skyline in greater numbers as a primary source to complete the foreign language requirements needed to enter higher education; often, because of budget constraints or student interest, the foreign language course that students may want to enroll in are not available in area high schools.  The evening American Sign Language courses in particular are a draw to both students and parents who often enroll together and study side by side.  Moreover, Skyline College students enroll in foreign language courses to improve fluency and literacy in languages that may be spoken by elders in their homes and communities.  Skyline students also enroll to improve proficiency so that they are more competitive applicants to jobs where bilingual skills are a premium.  (Some jobs even provide extra pay for bilingual skills.)  

o        Skyline students improve critical thinking skills while engaging in foreign language study.  Even the basics of a second, third, or fourth language cannot be acquired without comparing/contrasting, analyzing, and synthesizing what is known about the native language and what is being learned about the target language.  Students must be able to engage in higher order thinking skills to learn to appreciate and value the cultures in which the languages are embedded; one cannot truly acquire a second language without understanding at a deeper level the values and norms of the people whose language is being studied.  Students are encouraged to think about ways other people from different cultural backgrounds see the world and therefore, they enhance their perspective about all kinds of issues and matters.  The language learning skills we teach  students are the key foundation for further work in critical thinking.  Students are encouraged to think for themselves in the context of a multicultural and rapidly changing world.

 

§         to serve the community and help fulfill the needs of the Bay area work force by providing employers and employees access to course offerings that may help them better serve their clientele and market their products to bilingual consumers.  Skyline College’s service area is home to large numbers of immigrant families whose educational, healthcare, and social services needs may be better met in languages the families are fluent in.  Further, these immigrants form a large part of the purchasing public.  Businesses that can market and sell to them in their native languages can earn a larger market share.  The courses we currently offer are relevant to the needs of the Northern Peninsula community (including the city of San Francisco) and the South Bay Area.  These courses are enumerated in section B.1.

 

The Foreign Language program has these specific goals for the future:

§         Build enrollment in basic Spanish courses to generate sufficient student interest to warrant the scheduling of the sequence of Spanish courses needed to complete the major.

§         Build the Arabic program by generating sufficient student interest in current offerings

§         Analyze student interest to see if there is sufficient interest to offer Tagalog classes during the day

§         Redesign and build the Tagalog program, whenever it is offered.

§         Advocate for dedicated space for a language laboratory that could be shared with the ESOL Department.

§         Advocate for dedicated space in The Learning Center

§         Advocate for better equipped classrooms.

§         Advocate for additional fulltime faculty to build both day and evening offerings

 

The Foreign Languages program contributes to the mission and priorities of the College by

offering  college-level courses that

In addition, the Foreign Language department provided community outreach and service by instructing a Spanish class for three semesters for Redwood City public officials.  This offering was coordinated by the district’s community service program.

 

2. Discuss how this program coordinates, impacts, and/or interacts with other programs in the College.

 

The Foreign Languages program coordinates primarily with the English  Department (as home to a number of special programs and learning communities), the ESOL Department, The Honors Transfer Program (HTP) , the International Studies major, and with The Learning Center (TLC). 

 

 

3. If the program utilizes advisory boards and/or professional organizations, describe their roles.

 

The Foreign Language program does not have an advisory board.  However, Foreign Language  faculty are members of professional organizations such as

 

Faculty also attend conferences, workshops, seminars and symposiums every year locally, nationally and internationally.  Through these means, department faculty stay current,  learning about new theory, instructional design, new methodology and materials available to enhance success.   Through our work at IMPAC, we are also hoping to shape the discussion about under-graduate requirements for foreign language majors.

 

     

4. Explain how this program meets the needs of our diverse community.

 

We meet the needs of our diverse community, its students  and their programs, in a number of ways.

 

Students:  We  seek to engage our students with lively texts, videos, CDRoms, videotapes, cassette tapes, siberdictionaries, Internet tutorials that are mainly all content/culture based.   We  sellect texts emphasizing reading and viewing sellections across a variety of college discipliines (not solely literature), including materials about popular culture, history, geography, folklore, and  journalism.   All of the aforementioned material provides different perspectives about a variety of world cultures. 

 

Further, a new language cannot be learned without learning about the culture in which it is embedded.   It is a truism in foreign language learning that the best language learner is one who values the target language to the same degree as the primary language.  Helping students understand, appreciate, and harness this practical aspect of language learning may transfer to other learning about cultures or ways of being that are different from the one with which they are more familiar.  

 

By demonstrating that there are a variety of ways of speaking about everyday life and all of them are good, we show students in a concrete way how they can value what they know and how they can also value something from a different culture.  It teaches them to honor and appreciate the subtleties of difference.  It may also teach them about the power of language in everyday communication and for both good and ill. 

 

Other Programs:  While we infuse our general curriculum with this defintition of diversity, we have also designed foreign language courses to complement other majors.   We have designed and offered Spanish 103, Spanish for Public Service, a course that could be offered to complement study in the health professions, in criminal justice, or in education.  If relevant,we could offer similar coursework for other majors, such as International Business

 

     

5. If the program has completed a previous self-study, evaluate the progress made toward previous goals.

 

The last self-study was done some time ago and listed the specific goals below.  We assess progress in meeting these goals immediately following each goal.

§         to provide lower division AA degree and transfer programs which prepare students for continued education in baccalaureate colleges and universities.

o        Response:  the program offers degree applicable and transferable courses in American Sign Language

o        Response:  the program offers degree applicable and transferable courses in Arabic

o        Response:  the program offers degree applicable and transferable courses in Chinese

o        Response:  the program offers degree applicable and transferable courses in Italian

o        Response:  the program offers degree applicable and transferable courses in Japanese

o        Response:  the program offers a major and degree applicable and transferable courses in Spanish:  Spanish 110, Spanish 120, Spanish 130, Spanish 140, Spanish 161, and Spanish 162.

o        Response:  the program offers degree applicable and transferable courses in Tagalog

 

§         to provide offerings that will address the needs of businesses and the labor force within that community

o        Response:  the program developed and offered the courses listed below but was unable to continue offering them due to budget constraints.

·         Japanese 115, Japanese for Business

·         Spanish 101, Spanish for Public Service I

·         Spanish 680, Spanish for Public Safety Officers (experimental)

·         Spanish 680, Spanish for Health Care Professionals (experimental)

 

§         to provide a variety of foreign languages for traveling or life enhancement

o        Response:  the program developed and offered the course lsited below but was unable to continue offering them due to budget constraints

·         French 680, French for Travelers (experimental)

·         Italian 680, Italian for Travelers (experimental)

·         Spanish 103, Spanish for Travelers

·         Spanish 680, Spanish for Travelers (experimental)

 

§         to expose our students to other cultures as they learn the target language; their customs, history, values, music  and geography.

o        Response:  current course outlines include an emphasis on culture.  They are Chinese 111/112, Spanish 130, Spanish 140, Spanish 161 and 162 (Readings in Spanish American Literature I and II).  The elementary Spanish courses also include cultural awareness but not with the depth as the more advanced courses. 

o        Response:  several course outlines have been rewritten to emphasize culture.  They are ASL 112 and Spanish 120.

o        Response:  All new course outlines are written to emphasize culture.  They are Arabic 111, Arabic 112, Arabic 121, Arabic 122, Spanish 101, Spanish 103, Spanish 680, Italian 680, French 680,

 

A number of recommendations were also made; they are listed below together with an evaluation of progress:

§         Spanish: Continue assessment of needs and staying current with new trends in teaching Spanish.

o        Response:  The program has stayed current with new trends through the efforts of the only fulltime instructor of the program.  She atends conferences and meetings and maintains open communication with other foreign language professionals.

§         French:  The French program at its present enrollment level could not support hiring a full-time instructor.  However, a full-time instructor is needed to maintain, foster and develop interest and functionability of this program. It is recommended that consideration be given to hiring a full-time instructor who has the qualifications to teach both French and Spanish.  The Spanish program could support part of the load of a full-time teacher in addition to the existing fulltime position.

o        Response:  a new full-time instructor qualified to teach in both languages was hired.  However, the full-time faculty assigned to teach Spanish only retired and was not replaced resulting in the new fulltimer taking over his prior assignment and not being assigned to teach French.  French courses were deactivated in 2000-2001.

§         Italian:  Keep an active needs assessment program.  Strengthen the available tutorial services and software materials for outside of class practice.

o        Responses:  This was done to a limited extent before the current year.  Due to budget constraints and a changing student demographic, Italian classes were not offered in Spring 2003 and Fall 2003.  The program will review these offerings to see if they should be deactivated.

§         Japanese:  Keep an active needs assessment in this area. 

o        Response:  Due to budget constraints and a changing student demographic, Japanese classes were not offered in Spring 2003 and Fall 2003.  The program will review these offerings to see if they should be deactivated.

§         Tagalog:  It is recommended that the Filipino student body be surveyed to establish Tagalog language needs and interest. It is further recommended that courses be designed to addess those needs and interests.

o        Response:  To our knowledge, a survey was not done.  However, additional courses in Tagalog were developed but have not been offered due to budget constraints.

§         Facilities and equipment:  It is recommended that some (ten) computers be placed in the area where language cassette tapes are being used for the purpose of listening and oral practice.  There is a need for all the foreign language programs to increase or upgrade their software holdings.

o        Response:  The Learning Center computers that allow students to practice foreigm languages are a limited option due to the noisy location where they are placed.   A dedicated foreign language laboratory would and should provide adequate conditions to practice foreign languages.

     

 

PART B: Curriculum

 

1. Describe how the courses offered in the program meet the needs of the discipline(s) and the students. (This may be answered through descriptive narrative evaluation or quantitative research).

 

Foreign language courses include

 

The foregoing languages are representative of the world’s languages and population.  They include two European languages (Italian and Spanish), three Asian Languages (Chinese, Japanese and Tagalog), one Middle Eastern language (Arabic), and one language from the deaf community (American Sign Language.)   Students who want to learn about culture and language as a human phenomenon which has a number of ways for expressing word relationships, (i.e, grammar and syntax) have a breadth of different languages with expressly distinct origins from which to choose.

 

Further, these languages may be of great interest to the students for a number of reasons:

 

Faculty and the division dean have made great strides in the area of ascertaining the appropriate mix of course offerings to serve the economy, needs of our  constantly changing Bay Area community, and our students.  The data about the enrollment retention suggests that this is working.

 

 

2.      State how the program has remained current in the discipline(s).

 

The program remains current in the discipline through its faculty who regularly attend and present at professional meetings and conferences, meet with representatives from other Bay Area community college foreign language departments, discuss language learning theory with colleagues in ESOL and English, and read in the area.

 

The only fulltime faculty member in the department participated in Title 3 training and shares what she has learned with her adjunct colleagues whenever time permits.

     

 

3.      If the student population has changed, state how the program is addressing these changes.

 

The student population at Skyline continues to become increasingly diverse, with larger numbers of Filipino/Filipino American students and students from countries where Arabic is the official language.  The Foreign Language Department has responded by