ADFL Resources

ADFL Guidelines and Policy Statements

Class Size

ADFL reaffirms its position that the maximum class size for foreign language instruction in classes where all four skills are equally stressed should not exceed 20. We hold that the optimum class size is 15. In any case, particularly at the elementary and intermediate levels, class size must be small enough to enable--rather than to inhibit--the kind of effective interaction between teacher and students necessary to developing proficiency in the language.

Teaching Load

Foreign language faculty members should spend no more than twelve hours per week per semester in the classroom. If there is an expectation of ongoing research, they should not be required to teach more than nine hours per week (three courses). Institutions that require publication for tenure and promotion should lower teaching loads, especially for junior faculty members.

Variable Workloads

Departments of foreign languages and literatures, to make the best use of their faculty members' interests and abilities, should adopt flexible workload policies.

Standards for Selecting a Chair

Except in unusual circumstances, the chair of a department of foreign languages and literatures should be a tenured member of the department. The position of chair demands qualities that will encourage faculty members of the department to excel in teaching, scholarship, and service. In addition, the position demands the qualities and skills necessary to represent the department to the students, the administration, other departments of the institution, professional organizations, and other entities of the academic community.

Junior Faculty Development

Faculty members on probationary appointments should be given the maximum opportunity for professional accomplishment sufficient to achieve tenured status. These faculty members should have fair and reasonable teaching loads, appropriate release time and internal grants for research, and modest service assignments, even while being full members of the department and college governance system. Foreign language department chairs, tenured faculty members, and college administrators should encourage their junior colleagues to participate in professional organizations and conferences, to engage in scholarly research and publication, and to travel for professional development, both domestically and abroad, and support them in doing so.

Evaluation of Nontraditional Fields

The curricula of departments of foreign languages continue to change and expand. The thrust toward interdisciplinary work and the study of new technological advances, broaden the legitimate areas of both teaching and research within a foreign language department. Department members may be involved in disciplines not traditionally considered integral parts of a foreign language department, such as area studies, creative writing, film studies, foreign language acquisition research, foreign language pedagogy, gender studies, and literary and technical translation.

In questions of promotion, tenure, and salary, colleagues working in these fields should be evaluated using the same procedures and standards as those used for the more traditional fields but with proper consideration for the particular standards each discipline requires.

Teacher Education in Graduate Programs

The ADFL recommends that graduate departments of foreign languages and literatures include the theory and practice of teaching foreign language, literature, and culture as integral components of their graduate degrees.
(Proposed in 1991; adopted in 1993.)

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