About

Contact Information

Office: Liberal Arts Building, LARTS 398G
Phone: (508) 910-6586
Mailing Address: GLC, UMass Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Rd., North Dartmouth MA 02747

Misson

Mission

The mission of the Department is to provide all students with opportunities to learn about and reflect on diverse cultural perspectives, practices, and products, while at the same time developing students' communicative abilities in a language.

The Department is aligned with the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). These standards are organized around the 5 C’s:

Communication: The communication standard stresses the use of the target language for communication in "real life" situations. It emphasizes "what students can do with language" rather than "what they know about language."

Cultures: Experiencing other cultures develops a better understanding and appreciation of the relationship between languages and other cultures, as well as the student's native culture. Students become better able to understand other people's points of view, ways of life, and contributions to the world.

Connections: Language instruction must be connected with other subject areas. Content from other subject areas is integrated with language instruction through lessons or courses that are developed around themes common to other subject areas.

Comparisons: Students are encouraged to compare and contrast target language structure with English structure and also to compare varied target language cultures with their own. They discover patterns, make predictions, and analyze similarities and differences across languages and cultures.

Communities: Extending learning experiences from the target language classroom to the home and multilingual and multicultural community emphasizes living in a global society. Activities may include service learning, field trips, participation in clubs, exchange, or study-abroad programs, and cultural activities.