The North American Christian Foreign Language Association (NACFLA) has been meeting for annual conferences since 1991, the conference being held at a different Christian college campus each year. The membership of the organization is drawn mostly from college and university foreign language departments, and many of those active in NACFLA are specialists in Spanish, French or German literature. Why, then, should CETESOL folk take note?

There is in fact a significant overlap between the concerns of the two organizations, since both are interested in the relationship between Christian faith and the teaching and learning of second languages. I would like to highlight here two NACFLA projects that may be of benefit to members of the Christian TESOL caucus - and to which you might be able to contribute.

1. Bibliography Project

The first is a bibliography project that is under construction at the NACFLA website (http://www.spu.edu/orgs/nacfla/bibliogr.htm). You can find there a steadily growing list of publications dealing specifically with the significance of Christian faith for foreign and second language education.  At present, articles on literature, language pedagogy and linguistics are listed together, but we plan to organize the list into categories soon. If you are thinking about or already engaged in graduate study, or if you want to find out what other Christians have written about language teaching, this bibliography is worth a visit. You can also assist in its construction - if you know of books or articles that should be listed (including any you have written!), please send them to me ([email protected]) or use the link on the website to send them to our webmaster.

2. New Journal

In the early years of NACFLA, papers presented at the conference were collected in spiral bound volumes of conference proceedings. Four years ago we were able to establish a new journal, the Journal of Christianity and Foreign Languages. This journal is now published once a year, is fully peer-reviewed and is indexed in the Modern Language Association bibliography. Again, there is partial overlap with ESL concerns. While many articles deal with topics in Spanish, French or German literature or culture, there are also regularly article dealing with the aims, ethos and methods of the language classroom. To gain a flavor of the journal, you can read the editorial articles from the last two years online for free (http://www.spu.edu/orgs/nacfla/publicat.htm). If you would like to support this venture by subscribing to the journal (only $16 per year), you can also find subscription details at the website. Finally, if you are working on material for publication that deals with the connection between faith and language learning, I would be happy to receive it for consideration. In addition to fully referenced research articles, we also publish shorter pieces for our "forum" (meditations, pedagogical suggestions, opinion pieces, etc.) and book reviews. Again, submission guidelines can be found on the website.

The threads connecting faith and education are rich and complex, and tracing them is a significant part of our calling as Christian educators. Given the significant overlap between the interests of foreign language educators and those of ESL specialists, it would be a great shame if we ploughed entirely separate furrows, failing to learn from one another's work. I pray that projects such as the bibliography and journal will help all of us to grow in faithfulness and fruitfulness as Christians involve in language teaching.

 

Smith teaches German and foreign language pedagogy at Calvin College, Grand rapids, Michigan and is editor of the Journal of Christianity and Foreign Languages.