Strategic Language Initiative (SLI)

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Global crises in the past few years have highlighted the critical need for strategic and diplomatic expertise in major world languages, as well as less spoken languages of global “hot spots.” Recent deployment of military forces has underlined the essential role of linguists with the capability to communicate with multilingual populations and provide translation, interpretation and cultural competencies in the field, in strategic planning and intelligence. In addition, the U.S. Departments of Defense and State have called for a collaborative federal and academic effort to fill critical national foreign language shortfalls. Largely untappedresources for these needs are the large heritage communities in metropolitan areas in both southern and northern California.

No single university has the resources to meet this rapidly changing need for global and regional expertise in a wide range of world languages. National efforts have concentrated on developing flagship programs in languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and Korean, and creating demonstration materials for offering languages online. These efforts have not adequately tapped into the diverse heritage language communities in California, home to the densest concentration of linguistic and cultural diversity in the nation. Collectively, through the establishment of the CSU Consortium for the Strategic Language Initiative, the southern California

campuses of the CSU system have collaborated to provide an innovative approach to intensive language learning. These universities serve the nation's most linguistically diverse populations, with large heritage communities near different campuses. Preliminary assessment data collected from SLI participants showed an average language development progress that significantly exceeds traditional classroom and course-based programs in Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, and Persian. Compared to other models, SLI is very cost-efficient and effective in advancing a large group of undergraduate and graduate students through several language proficiency levels across multiple campuses in a relatively short time period. The SLI model must be expanded to other CSU campuses to meet the state and nationwidedemand for graduates, particularly those with science, engineering, and business degrees, with fluency to communicateprofessionally in critical world languages in local and international areas of high need. San Francisco State University and San Jose State University, sited in another area of the state and nation characterized by high cultural and linguistic diversity, and large numbers of heritage language speakers, will rapidly and significantly increase the educational and programmatic reach of the SLI programs, resulting in accessible strategic language programs in both northern and southern California.

Contributions of the CSU Strategic Language Initiative: The CSU Consortium has created a program that can integrate language learning with professional majors and career opportunities, and serve as a national model for:

• Training modules in critical world languages in a full range of professional majors such as political science, computer science, international studies, business, and engineering
• Affordable and accessible language instruction designed to bring students to advanced levels of proficiency through intensive summer, in-country immersion programs and use of language in academic majors
• Graduating a substantial body of students with the fluency to communicate professionally in critical world languages in local and international areas of high need
• Curriculum and instructional delivery designed for urban, commuter campuses with large heritage language student bodies
• Multi-campus collaborations in language offerings, creating practical and affordable means of making less commonly taught languages accessible to students on different campuses throughout large metropolitan regions
• Outreach to the full diversity of populations within California, recruiting students from communities underserved by traditional language instruction, with targeted outreach to students from ethnic and/or racial groups underrepresented in higher education
• Development of online language teaching and mentoring, pairing SLI participants with native speakers in target language countriesv
• Building partnerships and collaboration with cultural and civic organizations serving heritage and target language communities
• Development of common standards of assessing students’ language proficiency in less commonly taught languages
• Strengthening the Mandarin Language program at CSU Long Beach, leading to the development of the Single Subject Teaching Credential in Mandarin – the first ever in the CSU system
• Enhancing and strengthening the Persian language program at CSU Fullerton – the only CSU campus offering multiple levels of Persian language
• CSU San Bernardino will begin to offer an Arabic Studies Bachelor Program in the fall of 2008 – the first ever in the CSU system

The funding requested ($3,496,500 from Defense-wide O&M) will help SLI address many DOD language goals.

Additional information:

Jim Gelb, Assistant Vice Chancellor
CSU Office of Federal Relations
(202) 434-8060

Dr. Gerry Riposa, Dean
College of Liberal Arts, CSU Long Beach
(562) 985-1864