Organizer and Chair: Teresita V. Ramos, University of Hawaii
Discussants: San San Hnin Tun, Cornell University; John F. Hartmann, Northern Illinois University; Ruth Mabanglo, University of Hawaii, Manoa; Binh Nhu Ngo, Harvard University; Chhany Sak Humphry, University of Hawaii; Ellen Rafferty, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Frederick H. Jackson, Foreign Service Institute
The second language learning framework developed by Richard Brecht and Ronald Walton provides general guidance for establishing the goals and standards and their method of implementation for all languages. Using this generic framework as a guide, work on eight SEA languages (Burmese, Filipino, Hmong, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese) started two years ago and are now in different stages of development. The roundtable will discuss surveys, settings, types of teachers and students, available materials, goals and objectives for each level, learning strategies, linguistic descriptions and cultural notes of six SEA languages. The guides are meant to assist students who have dedicated themselves to learning the target language as a long-term, even life-long process. Problems in writing each guide will be discussed and an evaluation of what has been done will end the roundtable interaction.