Despite the fact that they are spoken by millions of people, many languages
are not usually offered in schools or colleges in the United States. The
Critical Languages Program (CLP) at the University of Arizona, Tucson, was
created to meet the need for interactive instruction in less commonly taught
languages. In cooperation with the National Association of Self-Instructional
Language Programs (NASILP), the U.S. Department of Education, the National
Security Education Program (NSEP) and the University of Arizona College of
Humanities, The Critical Languages Program at the University of Arizona has
developed a series of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM courseware for Brazilian Portuguese,
Cantonese, Kazakh, Korean, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Additional courseware
is currently under development.
Each DVD-ROM courseware package starts with a competitive process to select the best-qualified author to develop the learning materials. An additional competition is held to select two pre-publication reviewers to aid in refining the learning materials. Additionally, auditions are held for native speakers of the language to appear in the courseware's video elements. With the completion and review of the first ten lessons, the first ten lessons are ready to be videotaped with the author and native speakers. Audio recordings for the thousands of words and sentences in all of the lessons are then recorded and edited. Another review process begins, including testing in language classrooms. The process is repeated for the second set of lessons, and following another extensive review period, finished courseware discs are pressed and readied for sale. Due to the thoroughness of these processes and the sheer volume of work involved, a product cycle takes roughly three years.
The
Critical Languages Series courseware is developed using the
MaxAuthor™ language-teaching authoring software that has been created, distributed,
and refined at the University of Arizona over the past decade. MaxAuthor
is free for non-commercial use to authors worldwide who wish to create their
own lessons. By providing completed courseware and the capacity to develop
additional lessons, and by continuing professional development efforts among
less commonly taught language programs and instructors, the Critical Languages
Program works to promote and further the study of less commonly taught languages
in secondary and postsecondary institutions and beyond.
Critical Languages Series Product Brochure
Page 1 (1.6MB PDF)
Page 2 (1.9MB PDF)
