The mission of the Council on Language Instruction is to:
enhance and streamline language instruction across departments,
and
encourage and facilitate the professional development of
language instructors.
By providing a forum for the discussion of a wide range
of issues related to second language teaching, the council
facilitates the sharing of ideas among language instructors
and promotes an open dialogue with literature faculty.
The council also oversees the administration of the WCAS
foreign language requirement as established by the faculty
of the College of Arts and Sciences. These responsibilities
include overseeing student petitions for a waiver of the foreign
language requirement and organizing proficiency testing in
languages not formally taught at Northwestern.
The council also organizes workshops, seminars, and talks
dealing with the newest research on second language acquisition
and with applied and practical matters in language teaching.
These presentations are designed to promote the professional
development of language instructors. The council also oversees
two funds set up to support language instructors: The Professional
Development Fund (PDF) reimburses travel and conference
expenses and The Teaching Enhancement Fund (TEF) pays
for projects or workshops which directly enhance the quality
of language instruction at Northwestern University.
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