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The MLA College Language Manual Project: History and Present Status

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Kenneth W. Mildenberger
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Extract

On 19–20 May 1956 the Foreign Language Program sponsored a Conference on Criteria for a College Textbook in Beginning Spanish, held at MLA headquarters. Nearly all of the seventeen participants had considerable experience in teaching the Spanish language to beginners at the college level, and most were authors of beginning texts. They represented in their theory and practice of language teaching a wide variety of views in both the academic field and the field of linguistic science.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 72 , Issue 4-Part2 , September 1957 , pp. 11 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1957

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References

1 The participants were, with their academic connections at the time of the conference: Frederick B. Agard, Div. of Mod. Langs., Cornell Univ.; Richard Armitage, Dept. of Rom. Langs., Ohio State Univ.; R. S. Boggs, Dept. of Mod. Langs., Univ. of Miami; Dwight L. Bolinger, Head, Dept. of Spanish and Italian, Univ. of Southern California; J. Donald Bowen, School of Langs., Foreign Service Institute, U. S. Dept. of State; Agnes Marie Brady, Dept. of Rom. Langs, and Lits., Univ. of Kansas; D. Lincoln Canfield, Head, Dept. of For. Langs., Univ. of Rochester; Lewis U. Banke, Dir., Institute of Latin American Studies, Univ. of Texas; Robert Lado, English Lang. Institute, Univ. of Michigan; John Kenneth Leslie, Dept. of Rom. Langs., Northwestern Univ.; Lawrence Poston, Jr., Chairman, Dept. of Mod. Langs., Univ. of Oklahoma; Norman P. Sacks, Dept. of Spanish, Oberlin Coll.; William H. Shoemaker, Chairman, Dept. of Rom. Langs, and Lits., Univ. of Kansas; Robert P. Stockwell, School of Langs., Foreign Service Institute, U. S. Dept. of State; S. N. Trevino, Asst. Academic Dean, Army Lang. School, Monterey, Calif.; Laurel H. Turk, Dept. of Rom. Langs., DePauw Univ.; Donald D. Walsh, Head, Dept. of Spanish, Choate School. Present from the MLA staff were William R. Parker, George Winchester Stone, Jr., Theodore Andersson, and Kenneth Mildenberger (Conference Chairman).

2 Participants at the Dec. 1955 conference, with their academic connections at that time and some of their professional achievements, were: Theodore Andersson, Assoc. Dir., FL Program, MLA (on leave from Yale); former Dir., MAT Program at Yale; Dir., UNESCO International Seminar on the Teaching of Mod. Langs. (1953). Emma M. Birkmaier, Chairman, Dept. of Mod. Langs, and Assoc. Prof, of Education, Univ. High School, Univ. of Minnesota; Pres., Central States Mod. Lang. Teachers Assn.; past secretary, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of German. George P. Borglum, Chairman, Dept. of French, Wayne Univ.; creator of instructional for. lang. films. John A. Crow, Chairman, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, Univ. of California at L.A.; former secretary, Institute Interamericano de Literatura Iberoamericana and former coeditor, Revista de Literatura Iberoamericana. Stephen A. Freeman, Vice President, Middlebury Coll.; President, National Fed. of Mod. Lang. Teachers Assns.; past president, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of French. Margaret Gilman, Chairman, Dept. of French, Bryn Mawr Coll.; Vice President, International Federation for Modem Languages and Literatures; member, Executive Council, MLA. Daniel Girard, Dept. of English and For. Langs., Teachers Coll., Columbia Univ.; founder and past dir., National Information Bureau, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of French. C. R. Goedsche, Chairman, Dept. of German, Northwestern Univ.; past president, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of German. Julian E. Harris, Chairman, Dept. of French and Italian, Univ. of Wisconsin; past president, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of French; Editor-in-Chief, French Review. Henry C. Hatfield, Dept. of German, Harvard Univ.; former editor, German Quarterly and Germanic Review; member, Executive Council, MLA. Ruth Mulhauser, Chairman, Dept. of Rom. Langs., Western Reserve Univ. Howard Lee Nostrand, Executive Officer, Dept. of Rom. Langs., Univ. of Washington; former cultural attache, U. S. Embassy, Peru. William R. Parker, Executive Secretary, Dir. of the FL Program, MLA; chairman of the conference. Henri Peyre, Chairman, Dept. of French, Yale Univ.; President, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of French; member, Executive Council, MLA. Milton L. Shane, Chairman, Dept. of Mod. Langs., George Peabody Coll, for Teachers; former dir., Bureau de Correspondence Scolaire. William H. Shoemaker, Chairman, Dept. of Rom. Langs, and Lits., Univ. of Kansas; past president, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Charles N. Staubach, Chairman, Dept. of Rom. Langs., Univ. of Michigan. F. W. Strothmann, Executive Head, Dept. of Germanic and Romanic Langs., Stanford Univ. Norman L. Torrey, Chairman, Dept. of French, Columbia Univ.; Vice President, MLA; former editor, Romanic Review. John Van Horne, Chairman, Dept. of Spanish and Italian, Univ. of Illinois; former editor, Italica; former president, Amer. Assn, of Teachers of Italian; former cultural attaché, U. S. Embassy, Spain.

3 The “Summary Report” of the Dec. 1955 conference has been published in the French Rev., xxix (Feb. 1956) and Hispania, xxxix (March 1956).

4 Attended by all participants in the conference of May 1956 (see n. 1 above) except Frederick B. Agard and Robert Lado. Also participating were George E. McSpadden (Univ. of Chicago) and Robert G. Mead, Jr . (Univ. of Connecticut). The late Aaron Schajfer (Univ. of Texas) was present as an observer. Also present from the MLA staff were George Winchester Stone, Jr., Theodore Andersson, and Kenneth Mildenberger (Conference Chairman).