African Language Instruction in the United States : Directions and Priorities for the 1980s / David Wiley, Comp. and David Dwyer, Comp.

A conference of African scholars was held in the United States in 1979 to develop a consensus and a statement about the direction that African language teaching and learning should take in this decade. African languages are among the so-called "less-commonly taught languages," and funding for their teaching and study has come from federal legislation. There are a number of reasons for studying Africa: humanistic reasons, economic reasons of developing trade, and political reasons of developing positive and productive foreign policy. The language situation in Africa is fundamentally different from many other areas in the world, in that each nation has many languages, none of which dominates. A classification of African languages is given here. To determine which African languages should be taught, criteria have been developed, including the number of speakers of the language, its political, cultural, and social implications, and its implications for U. S. speakers. There is also a need for guidelines for materials development, for basic linguistic and language research, and an adequate funding to insure quality teaching and material and needed research. (Author/PJM)

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