Foreign Language Professional Standards and CSL: Achieving the 5 C's.

Abstract

Nowadays, however, study abroad is no longer the only path to immersion for students of Spanish.Indeed, Spanish programs find themselves at a crossroads.While still housed within "foreign languages," they teach the language and cultures of the largest US minority.Carlos Alonso, Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Columbia University, wrote: "Spanish should no longer be regarded as a foreign language in this country" (2006, p. 17).This pronouncement's impact on Spanish programs is profound, yet it highlights what the early adopters of CSL in Spanish have already proved with their courses.In fact, in the United States, CSL in Spanish appears even more developed than in English as a Second Language programs (Minor, 2002).By situating CSL within the current sea change in Spanish programs, our research responds to Edward Zlotkowski's call to research CSL within "the norms of the disciplinary (and interdisciplinary) communities where service-learning is practiced" (2000, p. 61).Language issues are rarely problematized in the research on CSL, even when describing courses and programs involving work with non-English speaking or limited-English proficiency communities.For example, while considering CSL's relationship with globalization, Keith (2005) does not take into account language issues.As is often the case, English is assumed to be the language of globalization-and of CSL.Articles that describe CSL projects that specifically take place within Spanish-speaking communities mention language issues briefly, if at all (Jorge, 2003b;