Researching literacies and textual thinking in collegiate foreign language programs: Reflections and recommendations

This article reflects on the literacy turn in collegiate foreign language (FL) programs, taking as its central argument that the focus in FL curriculum, instruction, and research should not be on the content we teach, be it language, literature, or culture, but rather on textual thinking and literacies development. After providing a snapshot of findings from previous research, the article focuses on the need for scholarly innovation to fully understand and realize the potential of a literacies and textual thinking orientation for unifying collegiate FL programs. Six future research areas are recommended and discussed: operationalizing key concepts; reconsidering the notion of text in collegiate FL programs; exploring the sociocultural dimension of literacy; building transferable skills and cross-disciplinary collaborations; investigating connections among literacies, textual thinking, and ACTFL guidelines and standards; and supporting instructors’ implementation of literacies-based pedagogies.