SOME ISSUES IN LANGUAGE POLICY FOR HIGHER-EDUCATION

The American educational system is unusual in that a substantial porti on of basic foreign language instruction takes place in higher educati on. This requires that foreign language policy planning deal with that level; however, pan-institutional planning in higher education is esp ecially difficult. A foreign language agenda devised by a set of colle ge administrators is presented in this article. A number of more funda mental architectural topics are also discussed. These include the lack of articulation between the various levels of the system leading up t o collegiate foreign language instruction; the heavy emphasis on low-l evel courses and the lack of a carefully developed system of upper-lev el skill instruction; the need to orient foreign language instruction to eventual adult use; and the importance of rationalizing overseas la nguage study, particularly for the acquisition and utilization of adva nced language skills. An agenda for action growing out of these condit ions is proposed.