Dr. Tara Hashemi, Assistant Professor of French in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, has teamed up with The Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Languages and Literacy (CERCLL) to develop a new kind of French language curriculum for first and second-year college students. CERCLL is a Title VI Language Resource Center housed at the University of Arizona, and Dr. Hashemi has contributed to developing the curriculum with assistance from the Dean’s Council Annual Fund for her travel and professional development.
What sets this new French curriculum apart is its focus, pedagogy and distribution. Dr. Hashemi says that most language curricula focus on tourism. A student learns words and phrases to find a restaurant, order food, locate a restroom and carry on a short small-talk conversation with someone. She is helping develop the curriculum based on the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The modular approach focuses each module on one of the United Nations’ goals and uses a multiliteracies approach to engage students in learning.
“For example, we are still talking about food, but we are talking about them in the context of food deserts, and why do we have food deserts? And how does that affect people? And eventually, what happens when people are in food deserts? What does that mean?” Hashemi said.
In the module covering the United Nations’ second goal, “Zero Hunger,” students read articles in French about food waste and food deserts and then complete an assignment on that topic.
The curriculum also takes a multiliteracies-oriented pedagogy approach, which uses creative approaches to student learning. The project leader is Dr. Beatrice Dupuy, Professor of French and Applied Linguistics at the University of Arizona and the co-director of CERCLL, who is an expert in the multiliteracies approach.
“Not only are we tapping into issues that are of interest to [our students], but we are also at the same time trying to develop their media literacy as well as their information literacy,” said Dupuy.
Multiliteracy is the use of creative methods and projects to take students outside of textbooks and tests and assign students presentations, zines, videos, podcasts, or other projects that require students to apply what they have learned. For example, in the “Zero Hunger” module, the final assignment is for students to create an infographic, combining art and text to explain concepts creatively.
“Initially, students were provided with infographics on similar topics for them to examine, but also analyze how these were composed. What choices did the authors of these infographics make? And why did they think they made these choices? And think about audience,” Dupuy said. “We want to get them not only to work with infographics but also maybe some video work, maybe some website design work and so on.”
The curriculum will begin to roll out in Spring 2024 in Hashemi’s FREN1B course for testing and continual refinement. The refined curriculum is expected to be finished and ready to present in the Summer of 2026. It will then be distributed as an open education curriculum, meaning it will be free to students. No additional textbooks or materials will need to be purchased. It will also be available for high schools and colleges to utilize in their programs.
“We are developing material that is free for everyone and free for use for other French programs around the country as well,” said Hashemi.
Using the sustainable development goals as a central focus, students will have the tools to use their newly acquired language skills to bring meaningful change to their communities and the world. The multiliteracies approach gives them the skill to communicate across mediums and borders in the realms of business, education and geopolitics. The best part is by using the open education resources model, any financial barriers for educators and students to use and engage in the curriculum are effectively removed, priming the curriculum for widespread adoption.
Hashemi says French is only the beginning. With assessment and flexibility built into the curriculum development, the project will be ready to be expanded to other language courses, exponentially increasing its impact.
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