Roundtable: Current Trends in Teaching Southeast Asian Languages and Cultures

Organizer and Chair: John F. Hartmann, Northern Illinois University

Discussants: Robert J. Bickner, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Hoai Tran Bac; University of California, Berkeley; Uli Kozok, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Susan F. Kepner, University of California, Berkeley; Chhany Sak-Humphry, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Ellen Rafferty, University of Wisconsin, Madison

At this roundtable, participants will explore some urgent issues the teaching of Southeast Asian languages, literature, and culture. Topics will include the role of translation within the communicative approach, the development of proficiency guidelines for each of the four skills that can be considered specific to a Southeast Asian language, and the various factors that create trends in teaching, such as the availability of teaching materials and technological resources. What distinguished trends last a long, long time and benefit the field enormously from others that are relatively short-lived and non-productive? The roundtable hopes to provide a forum for Southeast Asianists to discuss the merits and demerits of a few of these trends, to forge some common goals, and to bring about broad-based collaboration down the road