Article published in:
Transdisciplinarity in Applied Linguistics
Edited by Daniel Perrin and Claire Kramsch
[AILA Review 31] 2018
► pp. 29–52

Transdisciplinarity across two-tiers

The case of applied linguistics and literary studies in U.S. foreign language departments

| University of Arizona
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.
Keywords: applied linguistics, literary studies, transdisciplinarity, institutional power
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
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 12 March 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.00012.war
References

Bibliography

Allen, H. W.
(2009) Beyond the language-literature divide: Advanced pedagogy for training graduate students. ADFL Bulletin, 41(2), 88–99. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
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
Berman, R. A.
(1994) Global Thinking, Local Teaching: Departments, Curricula, and Culture. ADFL Bulletin, 7–11. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bernhardt, E.
(2010) A reaction to the 2007 MLA Report. Reading in a Foreign Language, 22(1), 1–4.Google Scholar
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. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
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
Douglas Fir Group
(2016) A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World. Modern Language Journal, 1001, 19–47. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
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). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gramling, D.
(2016) Researching Multilingually in German Studies: A Brief Retrospective. German Studies Review, 39(3), 529–540. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
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
Hiram, H., & Maxim, H. H.
(2004) Advanced Foreign Language Learning: A Challenge to College Programs.Google Scholar
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. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kern, R.
(2000) Literacy and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kramsch, C.
(1993) Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2011) The symbolic dimensions of the intercultural. Language Teaching, 44(1), 354–367. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2015) Applied Linguistics: A Theory of the Practice. Applied Linguistics, 36(4), 454–465. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2018) Trans-spatial Utopias. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 108–115. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
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 http:/​/silk​.library​.umass​.edu:2048​/login​?url​=http://​search​.ebscohost​.com​.silk​.library​.umass​.edu:2048​/login​.aspx​?direct​=true​&db​=ufh​&AN​=27022856​&site​=ehost​-live​&scope​=site. Crossref
Maxim, H. H.
(2006) Integrating textual thinking into the introductory college-level foreign language classroom. Modern Language Journal, 90(1), 19–32. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
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. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
MLA
(2007) Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World. Profession 2007(1), 234–245. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ortega, L.
(2013) SLA for the 21st Century: Disciplinary Progress, Transdisciplinary Relevance, and the Bi/multilingual Turn. Language Learning, 63(1), 1–24. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paesani, K., Allen, H. W., & Dupuy, B.
(2016) A Multiliteracies Framework for Collegiate Foreign Language Teaching. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.Google Scholar
Pennycook, A.
(2018) Posthumanist Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 1–18. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
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. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, D.
(2017) Beyond tolerance of ambiguity: Symbolic competence as creative uncertainty and doubt. L2 Journal, 9(2), 12–34. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rosello, M.
(2011) Rudimentariness as Home. In A. Behdad & D. Thomas (Eds.), A Companion to Comparative Literature (pp. 312–331). Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Russell, A. W.
(2005) No academic borders?: Transdisciplinarity in university teaching and research. Australian Universities’ Review, 481, 35–41.Google Scholar
Swaffar, J.
(1999) The Case for Foreign Languages as a Discipline. ADFL Bulletin, 30(3), 6–12. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Swaffar, J., Arens, K., & Byrnes, H.
(1991) Reading for Meaning: An Integrated Approach to Language Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
van Lier, L.
(2004) The Ecology and Semiotics of Language Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective. Utrecht: Kluwer Academic. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van Patten, B.
(1999) What is second language acquisition and what is it doing in this department. ADFL Bulletin, 30(3), 49–53. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Warner, C.
(2011) Rethinking the Role of Language Study in Internationalizing Higher Education. Journal Issue: L2 Journal Journal, 3(3), 1–21. Retrieved from http:/​/escholarship​.org​/uc​/item​/7188g4z0%0Ahttp:/​/www​.escholarship​.org​/help​_copyright​.html#reuse%0Ahttp://​repositories​.cdlib​.org​/uccllt​/l2​/vol3​/iss1​/art1/
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
(2014) Kontaktpragmatik: fremdsprachliche Literatur und symbolische Beweglichkeit. Deutsch Als Fremdsprache, 501, 67–76. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Transdisciplinarity across two-tiers