MSI Press Blog

  Cambridge University Press has made the introduction to Transformative Language Learning and Teaching free to access until 31 May -  https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/transformative-language-learning-and-teaching/introduction/52FA1941150765CB5D292294338651AC   This book is considered ground-breaking in the foreign language field and written by 30 leading L2 educators, three of whom are pictured here. Left to right: Betty Lou Leaver (Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, USA), Emilie Cleret (French War College, Paris), Jerome Collin (French War College, Paris). About the book: Transformative learning has been widely used in the field of adult education for over twenty years, but until recently has received little attention in the field of world languages. Drawing on best practices and the research of distinguished international world language experts, this volume provides theoretical and classroom-tested models of transformative education in world languages at major u

  Betty Lou Leaver, managing editor of the MSI Press LLC, has joined with two colleagues, to edit a groundbreaking book on transformative education. The back of the book says it all: Transformative learning has been widely used in the field of adult education for over 20 years, yet until recently has received little attention in the field of world languages. Drawing on test practices and research of distinguished international world language experts, this volume provides theoretical and classroom -tested models of transformative education in world languages in major university, state, and government programs. Chapters outline theoretical frameworks and detail successful models from cutting-edge programs in a wide range of languages, with plenty of examples included to make the theory accessible to readers not yet familiar with the concepts. Classroom teachers, program administrators, and faculty developers will find support for their courses. With its innovative approach to the teachin

  Betty Lou Leaver's book, Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (see affiliate books), published by Cambridge University Press, recently received the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages book prize for Best Book in Pedagogy 2022. Leaver, Davidson, and Campbell’s  Transformative Language Learning and Teaching  is a groundbreaking volume on the theory and practice of transformative teaching in the language learning context. The world language education field has experienced many methodological upheavals corresponding to theoretical or practical paradigms over the past century. The editors of this volume distill these changes into three large patterns whose practices are based on educational philosophies the primary paradigm of which encompasses three elements: transmission, in which information flows unidirectionally from teacher to learner, resulting in rote memory, reproduction, and accuracy; (2) transaction, in which information flows bi

    Book review from Issue 8 of the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies -- REVIEW   Mastering Italian through Global Debate Authors : Marie Bertola, Sandra Carletti Publisher: Georgetown University Press, 2023 Summary Mastering Italian Through Global Debate (2022) is divided into six chapters, each one focusing on a different topical subject relevant to the current global debate. The first chapter centers on ecology. It includes a reading exercise and an argumentative essay on plastic and its environmental and economic impact. The second chapter addresses the topic of globalism versus localism, with a focus on the Covid-19 pandemic’s effect on both phenomena. In chapter three, the conversation brings attention to the themes of economic inequality, self-sufficiency, and redistribution of wealth. Chapter four takes on immigration, multiculturalism, and diversity, while chapter five addresses the question of security and individual freedom, and the clash between mass surv

  Excerpt from review of Transformative Language Learning and Teaching in by Benjamin Rifkin (Farleigh Dickinson University) in Russian Language Journal --  The length parameters of this review prevent me from offering even the shallowest analysis of each of the chapters in this outstanding volume. Suffice it to say that the volume includes chapters on language learning as well as on east-west concepts of selfhood, community engagement, service learning, virtual immersion, dual immersion, engagement with migrants and refugees, technology, open-architecture curricular design, and testing and assessment, among others. I confess that I ordered this volume the moment I saw it appear in press and read it cover to cover with great interest as soon as I had it in my hands. Reading it again 204 Russian Language Journal, Vol. 72, Nos. 1-2, 2022 Reviews for the purposes of this review was just as powerful. The editors of the volume and all the contributing authors are to be commend

  Today, Dr. Betty Lou Leaver and co-editors, who published the MSI Press affiliated book with Cambridge University Press, Transformative Language Learning and Teaching , were awarded the premier book award in the foreign language field, the Modern Language Association's Kenneth W. Mildenberger award. The citation for the award was given as: Betty Lou Leaver, Dan E. Davidson, and Christine Campbell bring together well-known and up-and-coming scholars in language teaching and learning to provide a thorough, coherent treatment of the concept of transformative learning in Transformative Language Learning and Teaching. Each of the twenty-four content chapters outlines relevant theoretical approaches and supplements them with successful examples from institutions around the world to illustrate theory into practice. With a broad range of examples and end-of-chapter discussion questions, this book is certain to become a go-to resource for teachers, teacher educators, administrator

Just added as an affiliated book. Published by Cambridge University Press . Available through CUP or Amazon (and other online stores). Transformative learning has been widely used in the field of adult education for over twenty years, but until recently has received little attention in the field of world languages. Drawing on best practices and the research of distinguished international world language experts, this volume provides theoretical and classroom-tested models of transformative education in world languages at major university, state and governmental programs. Chapters outline theoretical frameworks and detail successful models from cutting-edge programs in a wide range of languages, with plenty of examples included to make the theory accessible to readers not yet familiar with the concepts. Classroom teachers, program administrators and faculty developers at every level of instruction will find support for their courses. With its innovative approach to the teaching and lear

  excerpt from  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  by Boris Shekhtman -  Some Words about Boris Shekhtman and This Book I met the late Boris Shekhtman when I became the Russian Language Training Supervisor at the U. S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He had been enjoying remarkable success as a Russian language instructor of diplomats—they glued themselves to him as one would to a prophet. And perhaps he was sort of a language prophet. He earned teaching awards and established and taught an immensely successful advanced language course. He did not fit into the mainstream of language teachers, though. His methods were his own—no labels for them that fit with current thought. Today, one might point them out as transformative, and the advance course structure did give rise to what today is called Open Architecture Curriculum Design. His approaches and techniques in the 1980s are only now, 40 years later, entering the consciousness of the mainstream of L2

Betty Lou Leaver (Ph.D., Pushkin Institute, Moscow) is Director of The Literary Center of San Juan Bautista and previously served as provost, associate provost, and dean at the Defense Language Institute. She established an international language program at NASA for cosmonauts and astronauts assigned to the International Space Station; served as a language training supervisor at the Foreign Service Institute, curriculum developer for the Federal Foreign Language Training Lab, dean and chief academic officer at the New York Institute of Technology in Jordan, president of the American Global Studies Institute, co-director of the Center for the Advancement of Distinguished Language Proficiency at San Diego State University, and founding director of the Center for the Languages of the Central Asian Region at Indiana University; and provided consultation to educational programs in 24 countries. She has published 21 books, more than 100 articles, and is currently co-editing a book,  Tran

My first day of freedom was January 1, 2018. I had retired from the Defense Language Institute, where, as provost, I served as the senior civilian leader for 2000 foreign language teachers. That was the last of many career positions associated with overseeing foreign language programs: Foreign Service Institute, NASA, American Global Studies Institute, American Councils for International Education, Federal Language Training Laboratory...in short, if a niece of nephew or Uncle Sam had studied a foreign language, chances are I had had something to do with that program of study at some point in time. Leaving a high stress job, where I had gained a few more pounds than typically come with the aging process and had let my muscles, once finely shaped by another form of Uncle Sam's influence on me -- the US Army, where I served as enlisted and officer for almost eight years (counting a few years of reserve duty), atrophy. I just did not have time for much physical activity in a job th

  Dr, Betty Lou Leaver, MSI Press author , was interviewed on TeachRussian podcas t a while ago (better late than never to share the podcast) -  From  http://www.teachrussian.org/Podcasts#/ Teach Russian has started publishing a monthly Foreign Language Teaching Podcast which will bring you interviews with experienced teachers, SLA and bilingualism experts, textbook authors, and scholars who will share their thoughts on teaching foreign languages. The podcast host is Natasha McCauley, a visiting assistant professor of Russian studies at the University of Richmond.  In their first episode you can listen to an interview with Betty Lou Leaver (PhD, Pushkin Institute), former provost of the Defense Language Institute who is currently editing a book with Dr. Dan Davidson on Transformative Approaches to language learning and teaching. She defines transformation in language learning using terms such as “bilingualism,” “biculturalism,” and “reaching outside the classroom.”  To listen to the po