Introduction

Nugent and Slater (this volume) describe the US Language Flagship program from the perspective of individuals involved in spearheading and administering the federally funded initiative to address national needs in both the public and private sectors for US citizens with advanced abilities in certain languages (National Security Education Program [NSEP], 2003). This chapter, authored by directors of Language Flagship programs at three different US universities, provides a description of how the goals of the national program have been realized in practice by educators at the local level, on their home campuses. The chapter shows how different Language Flagship programs have built on existing strengths at their universities to develop ways for undergraduate students of any major – many of whom have had no formal instruction or exposure to the foreign language (second language [L2]) prior to matriculation – to combine the study of an L2 with other academic interests or specializations to achieve a high level of proficiency in the L2 and an in-depth understanding of the cultures and societies in which the L2 is spoken.

The chapter is descriptive, focused primarily on the design of domestic (US) Language Flagship programs that aim to enable undergraduate students to reach Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) 2 (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages [ACTFL] Advanced; Appendix A) in the L2, in preparation for a year-long Language Flagship capstone overseas program for students at ILR 2 to reach ILR 3 (ACTFL Superior) by graduation. The chapter begins with a broad overview of foreign language education at the post-secondary level in the United States, including a brief description of current enrollment trends in languages other than English (LOEs) and a discussion of the typical design of L2 undergraduate majors.