Per Urlaub: “From Communicative Competence to Critical Literacy: Genre, Proficiency Levels, Strategies”

Many foreign language departments at North American research universities structure their curricula as follows: Introductory courses provide language training with a strong emphasis on oral communication, more advanced courses help learners to develop critical literacies through the analysis of cultural artifacts. This two-tiered curriculum that isolates “language” and “cultural content” has been harshly criticized by some of the most esteemed members of the profession, both applied linguists and literary scholars. However, institutional realities often prevent departments – especially at R1 universities – from implementing fully integrated language/literature/culture curricula. Therefore, instead of advocating a radical reconfiguration of departmental structures, this talk represents a more realistic approach: The first part of the presentation will introduce research insights from the field of second language studies that will encourage us to rethink our curricular choices within the parameters of institutional constrains. In the second part, I plan to share concrete approaches that help instructors (1) to integrate more substantial literacy instruction into introductory courses and (2) to increase the communicative value and participatory dynamic in upper-level literature and cultural studies classrooms.