College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Elementary languages

Marcia Harmon Rosenbusch's desire to enhance foreign language instruction has been recognized with a national award.

She directs the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) at Iowa State.

And while she is actively involved in improving foreign language instruction throughout the educational system, you only have to talk a few moments with Marcia Harmon Rosenbusch to soon realize that her passion for teaching foreign languages is elementary.

As director of the resource center, Rosenbusch pilots improvement of student learning of foreign languages at both the elementary and secondary school levels.

Rosenbusch, an adjunct associate professor in both the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction within the College of Education, can tell you about the hey days of elementary school foreign language instruction in the 1950s and '60s. And how those programs "crashed" in the following decade.

Or how a 1979 Presidential Task Force on Foreign Language Studies brought forth a series of recommendations that reinforced the need for foreign language instruction not only at the secondary level, but the elementary level as well.

Those recommendations led to a resurgence in foreign language education in Iowa.

"That led to the golden age of foreign language instruction in this state," she said. "Things really moved along."

Things like an increase in elementary school foreign language programs. In 1985, there were only 18 such programs offered. That increased to 45 three years later and peaked at 84 in 1991. There are now less than 75 such programs in Iowa.

But Rosenbusch is also concerned not only with the decrease in programs, but in the lack of diversity in foreign languages offered in elementary and secondary programs across the state.

"Most school administrators perceive that Spanish is the only language that needs to be offered," she said. "But we feel that there are benefits to learning any language."

As part of her ongoing activities with the NFLRC, Rosenbusch seeks to get that word out. The Iowa State program is one of nine centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education, International Education and Graduate Programs. To carry out its work, the NFLRC collaborates with foreign language organizations, school districts and institutions of higher learning.

The Iowa State center offers a series of summer institutes and special projects to assist foreign language educators in improving student learning of foreign languages.

There are three such institutes planned for this summer at Iowa State. They include a program on integrating technologies in the foreign language classroom, teacher preparation for K-8 Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew and Japanese, and action research in foreign language education.

"There is a critical need for well-prepared teachers of less commonly taught languages in the growing number of elementary school foreign language programs in the nation," Rosenbusch said. "The (K-8 Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew and Japanese) institute will enhance the skills of teacher educators and supervisors who prepare teachers in these languages, especially those who have little or no experience with elementary school teachers."

Rosenbusch also leads the "New Visions in Action" program at Iowa State. The national project involves PreK-16+ foreign language educators from every state in a collaborative effort to improve the profession. The program is identifying and implementing the actions necessary to improve foreign language programs throughout the nation.

These activities have all led to a recent award that Rosenbusch received from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). At the ACTFL national meeting, Rosenbusch was honored with the top teacher education award, the Anthony Papalia Award for Excellence in Teacher Education.

The award recognizes Rosenbusch for work that has made major national impact in the education of current and future foreign language teaching professionals. She was cited for leading far-reaching and innovative initiatives involving early language learning and technology as an instructional tool.