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UNESCO and the Education Policy Center at American Institutes for Research have reported massive teacher shortages to exist around the globe. In the United States, an estimated 44 states and Washington, D.C. have experienced shortages of qualified world language (WL) teachers for decades. Limited research has addressed the reasons for this shortage and ways to remedy it. Out of concern about reduced enrollments specifically for WL teacher preparation programs, this study investigated recruitment and retention strategies used at two US Midwestern universities. Analysis of questionnaire data from preservice teachers and alumni revealed reasons why candidates chose WL education and persisted in the program. To improve the US WL teacher shortage, WL teachers, teacher educators, preservice teachers, and local, state, and national organizations must understand that they need to develop a symbiotic mutualistic relationship and collaborate more strategically to preserve, promote, and perpetuate WL education for global citizenship.

As a result of a university partnership, elementary students at two midwest Catholic elementary schools have been provided with exploratory world language instruction (FLEX) from pre-service teachers. To investigate students' attitudes and learning of Spanish, researchers interviewed second and fourth graders. The students' parents and pre-service teachers answered open-ended questionnaires. The research questions for this qualitative study were: (a) How does exploratory world language instruction (FLEX) affect children's attitudes about learning world languages and cultures? (b) How does exploratory world language instruction (FLEX) affect children's learning of a world language? The results showed that students possessed positive attitudes about world language instruction, and they learned numbers, colors, cultural information, and food and animal vocabulary, as well as how to communicate at the novice level. Universities should consider engaging in service-learning partnerships with Catholic elementary schools so students learn to open their minds and hearts to diverse languages and cultures.

In the last decade, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has mandated proficiency requirements for teacher candidates at nationally recognized universities and published a position statement recommending teachers use 90% or more of the world language during instruction. The author explains reform is more successful when change is initiated simultaneously from the top and bottom in pursuit of the same goals. Researchers and consultants need to provide teachers with on-site, experiential professional development on proficiency-based methods in order for world language education to improve in a meaningful and viable way.

This research explored essential elements to be considered when teaching US students to develop and define creativity in the general elementary (students aged 5-11 years) music classroom. This case study focused on answering the following research questions: 1) What are students' perceptions of creativity? 2) How can music educators successfully implement improvisation lessons to promote student creativity and learning? Data included students' in-class written work and homework, and field notes taken during observations of classroom discussions after improvisation lessons. Analysis of this data provided evidence that students produce more creative, original music when they are more confident with their musical ability. Students viewed music they enjoyed as creative. Students also believed that a variety of instruments or rhythms make music creative. Although improvisation skills were demonstrated for students, the results indicated that students might take more risks when creating music if their teachers played music and demonstrated skills more often in class.

An experiential approach to professional development (EPD) allowed Spanish teachers opportunities to improve their practice through demonstration, observation, collaboration, fieldwork, and reflection. As result of "experiential" professional development, Burke (2012) found that teachers' knowledge about communicative language teaching developed, and teachers' beliefs about language teaching changed. The Spanish teachers implemented communicative methods, which they had used rarely, if ever, prior to EPD. Through qualitative analysis of teacher questionnaires and written reflections, as well as the researcher's observations and field notes, it was discovered that specific components of EPD made it successful. Teachers believed it promoted a collaborative community because it incorporated purposeful meetings, peer observations, and peer and student feedback. Teachers appreciated the on-site coaching and practical application that allowed them time to experiment with communicative methods. EPD provided an effective alternative to classroom-based university courses that allowed for viable change in classrooms. The results show that experiential educators should consider collaborating with professors, researchers, staff developers, school administrators, and teachers to create meaningful, transformative, EPD in which classroom teachers understand and apply theory and research into practice effectively.

Brigid Burke is the program coordinator of World Language Education at her university, which is housed in the College of Education and Human Development. Since obtaining this position 4 years ago, she has become most concerned about certain recommendations that were made by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) in 2002, which were then approved by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) to identify the most qualified student teachers and weed out the weakest. As a long-time and dedicated member of ACTFL and a concerned teacher-educator, she is writing this piece for "The Modern Language Journal's" "Perspectives" column in hopes that her voice will prompt other members to convey their sentiments for or against certain policies in place to accredit institutions of higher education as World Language Education programs. In particular, she wants to problematize that if a state, like her institutional home state of Ohio, requires the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and the ACTFL Written Proficiency Test (WPT) for licensure, then a university desiring to achieve accreditation by NCATE in the area of World Language Education must have 80% of its program finishers obtain Advanced Low proficiency scores on these two high-stakes exams. At her university, students must obtain the required proficiency scores of Advanced Low before they are allowed to student teach. All World Language Education students are held to the same standard in order to graduate and become licensed teachers through the university in the state of Ohio. The OPI and WPT requirements have been affecting World Language Education majors at my institution who want to become teachers of French, German, and Spanish. For each of these languages, students must pass both exams with Advanced Low (AL) scores to begin student teaching; AL is an acceptable proficiency level for teachers according to ACTFL/NCATE. If students do not achieve these scores, they are not allowed to student teach until they do. Other U.S. universities require the same proficiency standards for students to student teach. However, many states set inconsistent requirements.

This case study looked at the transition of preservice teachers from world language education methods courses at a major U.S. university to a 5-week field experience in secondary school classrooms. Data included lesson plans and self-critiques of two lessons implemented during the field experience, world language teaching philosophies the preservice teachers wrote, e-mail correspondence between the preservice teachers and their supervisor reflecting on the field experience, a final reflection paper, and responses to an open-ended survey after completion of the field experience. Analysis of the data served to identify three teacher profiles: the communicative (CLT) teacher, the grammar-translation teacher, and the hybrid teacher (a mix of the two other profiles). The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and their implications for university methods courses, field experiences, and professional development. (Contains 1 table.)