Some Aspects of the Application of Linguistics to the Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages

The widely-publicized Statement of Qualifications for Secondary School Teachers of Modern Foreign Languages of the Modern Language Association provides for seven areas of competence. One of these, Language Analysis, is assigned the following levels of achievement: “Minimal-A working command of the sound patterns and grammar patterns of the foreign language, and a knowledge of its main differences from English. “Good-A basic knowledge of the historical development and present characteristics of the language, and an awareness of the differences between the language as spoken and as written. “Superior-Ability to apply knowledge of descriptive, comparative, and historical linguistics to the language-teaching situation.”‘ The major purpose of language institutes, as defined in Title VI of the National Defense Education Act, is the provision for “advanced training, particularly in the use of new teaching methods and instructional materials,” which explains why a course in applied linguistics has become a regular feature of institute programs. In this paper I shall attempt primarily to spell out some principles and points of view expressed in the Instructor’s Manual, which accompanies Modern Spanish, a project of the Modern Language Association, and in a statement on linguistics and its applications which was prepared at an MLA conference in May of 1960 by an ad hoc committee consisting of Professors Albert H. Marckwardt, Patricia O’Connor, Ruth Hirsch Weir, and myself, which runs as follows