From the Chair (1998)

Dear alumni and friends,

We've had an extraordinarily busy and active year at EALL. In addition to a variety of programmatic changes and expansions, we've hosted four conferences and numerous visiting speakers and colloquia, and EALL faculty have been--as usual--active in scholarship, teaching, and outreach to the community. (See below for highlights.)

EALL welcomed its first class of Japanese graduate students into the newly restructured M.A. program in the fall of 1997. Our M.A. now includes tracks in Chinese language and literature, Japanese language and literature, Chinese language and civilization, and Japanese language and civilization. The graduate students organized the CU East Asian Graduate Association (CUEAGA) this past year, and they put on their first annual graduate student conference this spring on "Taboos" (April 16-18), with participants from the University of Chicago, Michigan State University, University of New Mexico, Kyoto University, Indiana University, Stanford University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Michigan.

In addition, the first students--one each in Chinese and Japanese--were admitted into a newly-approved "streamlined" B.A./M.A. track that will allow exceptionally able students to complete both degrees in a five-year program of study.

Our two exchange programs in Japan--at Kansai Gaidai and Tsukuba Daigaku--continue to attract undergraduate students who find that the exchange arrangements (combined with Japanese AIEJ scholarships in many cases) make financing study abroad feasible, though still expensive.

EALL continues to cooperate with the School of Education in offering state secondary teacher certification in Japanese, and faculty are working with the School of Education on a Chinese certification program. As the number of K-12 language programs increases nationwide (Japanese is now the third most-commonly taught language in elementary school and the fourth most-commonly taught language overall; numbers of students studying Chinese have grown more rapidly than any other language over the past five years), demand for well-trained teachers also increases.

In collaboration with the Linguistics Department, EALL has begun offering an M.A. track (which may be pursued within either department) in Teaching English to Speakers of East Asian Languages (TESEAL). The program combines departmental strengths to offer students instruction in an East Asian language and culture as well as in general linguistics and teaching techniques.

All this activity is making us painfully aware of the inadequacy of the space we're occupying, scattered as it is among three buildings on campus. Thus, we were pleased to celebrate the groundbreaking for the new Humanities Building on April 2, 1998. If all goes according to schedule, we'll be moving into our new quarters in the Humanities Building around the turn of the century.

Finally, thanks to our technologically savvy graduate students, EALL is now on the World Wide Web. Please visit us at http://www.colorado.edu/ealld for additional information and breaking news.

Laurel Rasplica Rodd