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The initial motivation and principal rationale for this proposal is, thus, the
need to address the articulation problem. However, a substantial corollary
benefit to be derived from the adoption of the approach to program develop-
ment described in this document would be that many programs would have a
coherent definition for the first time. Only a very small percentage of the college
level Russian teachers in this country have any training in program design of
any kind. Thus, most programs are developed principally on the basis of one or
two teachers own learning experience. The principled examination and
redesign of any of these programs would, therefore, improve the current
situation, whether or not the articulation problem is actually "solved."
The common curriculum: At the intersection of different programs
In the following section of this document are proposed goals described in
a variety of domains of knowledge and abilities that seem reasonable, both in
the sense that they are achievable and that they correspond in many ways to
what is typical of college programs. The goals represent our attempt to find a
way to describe the knowledge that might be acquired by learners across
relevant domains. The sets of goals intersect in ways that sometimes result in
difficulties in interpretation. Unfortunately, the very nature of the knowledge we
have attempted to describe makes these intersections unavoidable.
These goals are not to be interpreted as minimal goals for each student
to achieve in order to be placed into any second-year college Russian. These
are, instead, a general set of cumulative goals, intended as guidelines for cur-
riculum development both in high schools and colleges. Programs that adopt
them will be able to tell their students that, for example, they have completed the
elementary stage of Russian, and that in their new institution they should be
able to move into the intermediate stage, whatever year in the new program that
may correspond to.
The development of these goals has been guided by the intent to make
them implementable irrespective of the choice of textbooks. It is assumed that
within the great variety of types of textbooks there is a core of common gram-
matical knowledge, and that attention to functional skills is under the control of
the teacher who can use the textbook as background in a variety of ways. This
puts a great deal of responsibility on the teacher to follow the principle that lan-
guage instruction needs to be goal-driven and not textbook-driven. It is impor-
tant that these goals inform not only the program, but also the each day's lesson
plan.
There has always been a strong demand from students to be prepared in
precisely this type of knowledge. We are accustomed to hearing from our
students that one of their primary reasons for learning Russian was to spend
time in Moscow, Leningrad/St. Petersburg, or even Siberia. Thus, for both
practical and theoretical reasons there is strong motivation for focusing heavily
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