Language dept. to apply for tech grant

Next year's students in the department of German, Russian, and Asian Languages may have more technology available to them both in and out of the classroom.

The department is working on a $30,000 grant proposal for the A Partnership in Technology (APT) program.

The proposal, which calls for the development of computer-assisted language learning and computer-assisted language testing programs, is due to be submitted to Tufts Computing and Communications Services (TCCS) by April 15.

The APT program "will allow instructors to better evaluate students' language skills, making their teaching more responsive to students' needs," Chinese language professor Mingquan Wang said.

The department plans to hold a workshop in order to evaluate existing computer-assisted programs before outlining the specifics of the APT proposal. "The problem for our department is that there is a lack of ready-made programs, especially for languages like Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, and Arabic," Japanese language professor Kiyomi Kagawa said.

Kagawa said professors of languages such as Spanish and German do not have to deal with developing an entire curriculum.

Another reason for the APT proposal, professors said, is to encourage students to keep up with their language skills over vacations. "Students' language skills suffer due to time away from school during the winter and summer breaks," Wang said.

Last week the department of German, Russian, and Asian Languages had its 106 students fill out an online Language Learning Resources Survey. The survey asked students how they would like to see technology utilized in the classroom.

Of the 67 respondents, 80 percent said interactive web exercises that utilize audio, video, and feedback could be helpful for their listening comprehension. Even more respondents -- 85 percent -- indicated that they would use web exercises over winter and summer breaks.

Kagawa agreed with the survey's results. "Doing online exercises during the summer will allow students to retain their language ability and proceed to the next level more easily," she said.

Students said they looked forward to the implementation of more technology in the department. "Technology could help in that we could have grammar exercises as computer programs that would reinforce the lessons into our heads," said freshman Anjin Stewart-Funai, who is currently taking German.

The APT program currently chooses four out of approximately fifteen proposals received each year to fund. Selected projects receive $30,000 worth of TCCS staffing time (600 hours).

Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate trustee representative Danny Kleinman proposed an extension of the APT program that would address more of the projects proposed each year at the February Board of Trustees meeting.

Kleinman said he hopes the language department's interest will encourage other departments to consider applying for the grant. "I think this is one of the coolest things going on at Tufts, and the program has a lot of potential to get ideas accomplished," he said. "People should know about it because so many professors have wonderful ideas and need tech support to make that happen."

After it is submitted, the proposal will undergo a review in May, and the four grant recipients will be announced in early June.

The APT program is open to faculty members and professional staff in any Tufts school or academic department. In order for a proposal to be eligible for the grant, a faculty member must be working on the project and it must have a curricular focus.