Second Language Component at the American Graduate School of International Management / Robert M. Ramsey.

The American Graduate School of International Management (AGSIM) in Glendale, Arizona, founded in 1946, has a tripartite curriculum incorporating modern language instruction, international studies, and world business. All students at AGSIM are required to achieve conversational proficiency in at least one of the eight languages taught there. Analysis of a survey of student attitudes towards learning and speaking foreign languages gives insights into the second language component (L2) at the school. Generally speaking, the students thought that L2 learning was worthwhile; 73.5% plan to learn additional languages, mainly for professional reasons. Most of the students found the audiolingual approach used by the school to be worthwhile and challenging. While 52% of the students thought they could get by without a foreign language, they felt that L2 proficiency makes their skills more marketable. It is suggested that the language teaching profession might play a role in expanding corporate concern for the linguistic and cultural aspects of doing business abroad by accommodating itself to real-world requirements. Appendices and tables distributed throughout the report provide statistics on students and their responses to the attitudes measure that is analyzed. (AMH)

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