Implementing an Ecological Interdisciplinary Approach to Language Teaching: Biological Topics in French

Dr. Jean Schultz

Department of French, UCSB

Teachers have long been encouraged to take an interdisciplinary approach to foreign language instruction. However, the implementation of such approaches has remained an ideal rather than a reality in the majority of college-level language classrooms. This talk will explore some of the new issues involved in actualizing interdisciplinary approaches to language teaching, as well as focusing on the benefits of an ecological pedagogical approach for successful implementation. This talk will draw on the experience of UCSB's experimental French 10, "Biological Topics in French" course to illustrate the various learning objectives and language acquisition results of an ecological interdisciplinary approach to language teaching.