Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges, Promoting Performance. Selected Papers from the 2019 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

The 2019 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSCTFL), held in conjunction with the Ohio Foreign Language Association (OFLA), was held at the Hilton Downtown Columbus from March 14-16, 2019. In accordance with the goals set forth by the founders of CSCTFL, the 2019 conference endeavored "to support language teachers and to advance the study of foreign languages." The conference theme "Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges, Promoting Performance" inspired presenters of 27 workshops and over 200 sessions to focus on three areas: breaking barriers to learning languages, building bridges to new teaching practices and cultures, and promoting and improving student and teacher performance both within and beyond classrooms. A wide variety of sessions and workshop topics offered ideas for infusing world language instruction with music, art, film, literature, technology, current events and much more. Participants explored innovative techniques that integrated technology to enhance student learning. World language educators discovered strategies to engage students to help them take control of their learning. The authors of this year's volume focus on making the U.S. exceptional through language immersion programs, interactive digital technology tools, cross-district and multi-grade collaboration, task-based integrative curriculum and instruction, and more careful mentoring of pre-service teachers during their student teaching practicum.