Introduction

At the higher levels of foreign language proficiency (Interagency Language Roundtable [ILR] 2 and above [Appendix A]), a carefully designed professional internship provides a venue for language acquisition, cultural study and professional development to merge in a mutually reinforcing relationship. Through its overseas internships for US undergraduate students who have qualified for the overseas study year at ILR 2, the Language Flagship Program provides a laboratory for the integration of language and culture with professional development at the highest levels for US undergraduate students.

This chapter examines how overseas professional internships in the target language are associated with the interventions needed to achieve the highest results in foreign or second language acquisition (SLA). The chapter begins with a discussion of the dynamics of linking proficiency standards in higher education to professional goals, followed by an overview of SLA research on professional internships abroad. It then examines the structure and development of the model of the Language Flagship overseas internship, providing examples from Flagship programs in several languages. The chapter concludes with an analysis of elements of Flagship students' self-reflections on their overseas internship experiences that illustrate the interconnections between language acquisition at the highest levels, increasing cultural competence and professional growth.

Proficiency, Assessment and Professional Goals

The professional focus of the Language Flagship Program bridges the traditional gap between professional studies and foreign language, literature and culture education. Humanities and liberal arts educators have long viewed the encroachment of professional programs into the undergraduate curriculum as a dilution of the purity of the educational mission. The debate between the humanities and professional education advocates has been ongoing for hundreds of years (Harpham, 2011; Small, 2013). To take the British example, Small (2013: 61) observes that, ‘The belief that the humanities, almost by definition, must be at odds with economic instrumentalism has been a potent strand in English thinking about the university, and about culture more broadly, running through Newman, Mill and Arnold’.