The Alabama State Board of Education votes on Aug. 14, 2025. The board Thursday heard a presentation on proposed revisions to the state's world languages course. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama State Board of Education Thursday heard a presentation on proposed revisions to the state’s world languages course of study ahead of a potential vote later this year.
The course of study was last updated in 2017. Proposed changes would include “critical languages” including Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Japanese and a move from grammar-heavy instruction to a focus on proficiency.
Critical languages are determined by the federal government based on their importance to diplomacy and national security.
“We saw a shift in the tendency from grammatical instruction to more proficiency-based instruction, so we wanted to put attention closely on those areas, such as increasing target (language) communication, using authentic resources and also (using) proficiency-based assessments where we can integrate technology and communication tools,” said Teresina Vazquez, the world languages and seal of biliteracy education specialist for the Alabama State Department of Education.
The proficiency-based model aims to expand students’ opportunities for communication and cultural competency.
“Since we have a proficiency-based framework, we wanted to include that the students know how to understand the practices and perspectives of other cultures while they are speaking in other languages, but also at the same time, they are developing full-time understanding,” Vazquez told the board.
A draft revision for the course of study is scheduled to be released to the public Aug. 3, and would be worked on through an expected November presentation to the board. A vote on the subject could take place in December.
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Author: Andrea Tinker