Transdisciplinarity across two-tiers
The case of applied linguistics and literary studies in U.S. foreign language departments
In the ten years since the Modern Language Association published their report, “Foreign Languages and Higher
Education: New Structures for a Changed World” (2007) dissatisfaction with the “two-tiered configuration” of US foreign language
departments has become increasingly vocal. While the target of the criticism is often the curriculum, it has often been noted that
programmatic bifurcations mirror institutional hierarchies, e.g. status differences between specialists in literary and cultural
studies and experts in applied linguistics and language pedagogy (e.g.
Maxim et al.,
2013; Allen & Maxim, 2012). This chapter looks at the two-tiered structure of collegiate modern language
departments from the perspectives of the transdisciplinary shape-shifters who maneuver within them – scholars working between
applied linguistics and literary studies. These individuals must negotiate the methodologies and the institutional positions
available to them – in many instances, the latter is what has prompted them to work between fields in the first place. The
particular context of US foreign language and literature departments serves as a case study of the lived experiences of doing
transdisciplinary work in contexts that are characterized by disciplinary hierarchies and the chapter ends with a call for applied
linguistics to consider not only the epistemic, but also the institutional and affective labor needed to sustain transdisciplinary
work.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Transdisciplinarity as a discourse within U.S. foreign language, literature, and culture departments
- 3.Stories from across two tiers
- a.My story
- b.The interviews
- 3.2.1Transdisciplinary motivations
- 3.2.2Institutional politics of belonging
- 3.2.3Transdisciplinarity on the career track
- 4.Conclusion: Lessons from applied linguistics/literary studies go-beyonds
- Notes
-
Bibliography
References (35)
Bibliography
Allen, H. W. (2009). Beyond the language-literature divide: Advanced pedagogy for training graduate students. ADFL Bulletin, 41(2), 88–99. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Allen, H. W., & Paesani, K. (2010). Exploring the Feasibility of a Pedagogy of Multiliteracies in Introductory Foreign Language Courses. L2 Journal, 2(1), 119–142.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Berman, R. A. (1994). Global Thinking, Local Teaching: Departments, Curricula, and Culture. ADFL Bulletin, 7–11. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bernhardt, E. (2010). A reaction to the 2007 MLA Report. Reading in a Foreign Language, 22(1), 1–4.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Butler, J. (2016). Rethinking Vulnerability and Resistance. In J. Butler, Z. Gambetti, and L. Sabsay (Eds.), Vulnerability in Resistance (pp. 12–27). Durham: Duke University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Byrd Clark, J. (2016). Transdisciplinary Approaches to Language Learning and Teaching in Transnational Times Introduction to the Special Issue. L2 Journal, 8(4), 2–19.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Douglas Fir Group. (2016). A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World. Modern Language Journal, 1001, 19–47. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grabe, William. (2010). Applied linguistics: An emerging discipline for the twenty-first century. In R. B. Kaplan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics (2 ed., pp. 3–12). ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gramling, D. (2016). Researching Multilingually in German Studies: A Brief Retrospective. German Studies Review, 39(3), 529–540. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Halliday, M. A. K. (2001). New Ways of Meaning. In A. Fill & P. Mühlhäusler (Eds.), The Ecolinguistics Reader. Language, ecology and environment (pp. 184–238). London: Continuum.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hiram, H., & Maxim, H. H. (2004). Advanced Foreign Language Learning: A Challenge to College Programs.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Katz, S., & Watzinger-Tharp, J. (2005). Toward an Understanding of the Role of Applied Linguists in Foreign Language Departments. Modern Language Journal, 89(4), 490–502. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kern, R. (2000). Literacy and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kramsch, C. (2011). The symbolic dimensions of the intercultural. Language Teaching, 44(1), 354–367. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kramsch, C. (2015). Applied Linguistics: A Theory of the Practice. Applied Linguistics, 36(4), 454–465. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kramsch, C. (2018). Trans-spatial Utopias. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 108–115. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kramsch, C., Howell, T., Warner, C., & Wellmon, C. (2007). Framing Foreign Language Education In The United States: The Case Of German. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 4(2), 151–178. Retrieved from [URL]. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Maxim, H. H. (2006). Integrating textual thinking into the introductory college-level foreign language classroom. Modern Language Journal, 90(1), 19–32. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maxim, H. H., Höyng, P., Lancaster, M., Schaumann, C., & Aue, M. (2013). Overcoming Curricular Bifurcation: A Departmental Approach to Curriculum Reform. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 46(1), 1–26. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
MLA. (2007). Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World. Profession, 2007(1), 234–245. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ortega, L. (2013). SLA for the 21st Century: Disciplinary Progress, Transdisciplinary Relevance, and the Bi/multilingual Turn. Language Learning, 63(1), 1–24. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Paesani, K., Allen, H. W., & Dupuy, B. (2016). A Multiliteracies Framework for Collegiate Foreign Language Teaching. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pennycook, A. (2018). Posthumanist Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 1–18. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Perrin, D. (2012). Transdisciplinary action research. Bringing together communication and media researchers and practitioners. Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies, 1(1), 3–23. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Richardson, D. (2017). Beyond tolerance of ambiguity: Symbolic competence as creative uncertainty and doubt. L2 Journal, 9(2), 12–34. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rosello, M. (2011). Rudimentariness as Home. In A. Behdad & D. Thomas (Eds.), A Companion to Comparative Literature (pp. 312–331). Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Russell, A. W. (2005). No academic borders?: Transdisciplinarity in university teaching and research. Australian Universities’ Review, 481, 35–41.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Swaffar, J. (1999). The Case for Foreign Languages as a Discipline. ADFL Bulletin, 30(3), 6–12. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Swaffar, J., Arens, K., & Byrnes, H. (1991). Reading for Meaning: An Integrated Approach to Language Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
van Lier, L. (2004). The Ecology and Semiotics of Language Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective. Utrecht: Kluwer Academic. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Patten, B. (1999). What is second language acquisition and what is it doing in this department. ADFL Bulletin, 30(3), 49–53. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Warner, C. (2011). Rethinking the Role of Language Study in Internationalizing Higher Education. Journal Issue: L2 Journal Journal, 3(3), 1–21. Retrieved from [URL]
Warner, C., & Gramling, D. (2013). Gerade Dir hat er eine Botschaft gesendet Contact Pragmatics and the Teaching of Foreign Language Texts. In J. Plews & B. Schmenk (Eds.), Traditions and transitions: Curricula for German studies (pp. 57–209). Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Warner, C., & Gramling, D. (2014). Kontaktpragmatik: fremdsprachliche Literatur und symbolische Beweglichkeit. Deutsch Als Fremdsprache, 501, 67–76. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Skopečková, Eva
2024.
Translation and Own-Language Use in Language Teaching: Key Arguments and Challenges. In
Translation and Own-Language Use in Language Teaching,
► pp. 29 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Byrd Clark, Julie S. & Sylvie Roy
2022.
Becoming “Multilingual” Professional French Language Teachers in Transnational and Contemporary Times: Toward Transdisciplinary Approaches.
The Canadian Modern Language Review 78:3
► pp. 249 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.