Abstract
During the last three decades of the twentieth century, foreign language (FL) curricula at the postsecondary level in the United States focused on oral proficiency and ignored explicit attention to the development of literacy competencies. In recent years, this has changed. In response to the structural shortcomings of the two-tiered undergraduate curriculum and inspired by new scholarship in second language (L2) literacy, a number of researchers have developed curricular approaches that integrate at all levels of instruction communicative language training with the systematic development of literacy competencies. New research results on second language reading as well as an expanded view on literacy has provided for the theoretical foundation for the development of undergraduate foreign language curricular that aim at the integration of language and content learning.
This chapter traces developments in second language literacy research and describes their impact of postsecondary FL curricula. The first part of the chapter describes an early phase when second language (L2) reading and writing was mostly inspired by first language (L1) research. During this phase, reading and writing were frequently investigated as isolated competences. Developments in content-based language instruction during this period provided an important catalyst for the development of literacy-based FL curricula. The second part of this chapter will concentrate on more recent developments. More holistic views of literacy that integrate reading and writing processes have emerged as common paradigms. Moreover, many literacy researchers in the twenty-first century are investigating learner interactions with a broad variety of discourses beyond traditional print media, including multimedia and digital forms of communication. The chapter outlines these research trends, sketches their theoretical underpinnings, describes implications for postsecondary FL curricula, and elaborates on the role of professional organizations in supporting the proliferation of literacy-based FL curricular in the United States. I will conclude by pointing out challenges and suggest future research directions.
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Urlaub, P. (2017). Second Language Literacy Research and Curriculum Transformation in US Postsecondary Foreign Language Education. In: Van Deusen-Scholl, N., May, S. (eds) Second and Foreign Language Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02246-8_12
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