Curriculum: Foreign language learning

This article presents an overview of various issues related to curriculum in foreign language learning in diverse contexts of the world. The particular focus of here is on curriculum issues in teaching English as a foreign language, although key literature in the broader field of foreign language education is included. Also included is a consideration of issues such as the position and status of the foreign language in relation to other languages in the community and society, the social consequences of immersion as an ambitious form of foreign language instruction, and the tension between the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach and traditional approaches to foreign language pedagogy. New digital literacies and new media and their role in foreign language curricular innovation are also discussed. The article concludes with the proposal of drawing on cultural studies, critical sociolinguistics, critical pedagogy, and postcolonial studies to inform the theory and practice of foreign language education. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.