Mission Statement
adopted November 2005
  
The mission of the Elon University Department of Foreign Languages is to promote insight into foreign cultures and mastery of languages other than English.

Language, literary and cultural studies are central to our program.

We further equip students to discover the unique insights available only to those who study a foreign culture through its own linguistic code. As our students become aware of language as a vehicle of culture, they learn to connect and interact with other cultures, locally and abroad.

In support of Elon’s language proficiency requirement and the drive to internationalize the campus, our professors employ a communicative pedagogy that emphasizes the essential skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing, critical thinking and cultural literacy.

Foreign language courses are supported by the state-of-the-art Language Media Center, and department members are adept at using computer and multimedia technology in the classroom.

Our courses foster originality of thought and encourage research in the target language.

Students acquire substantive knowledge of other cultures with different values and priority systems; such knowledge leads them to become responsible global citizens.

Majors and minors use skills they acquire in the classroom in practical situations involving service, research, and outreach, both at home and abroad. We help students find such opportunities, require study abroad of our majors and encourage it for all our students.

Additionally, in conjunction with Elon's Department of Education, we provide students with the opportunity to earn teaching licensure in French and Spanish.

Our faculty members are active scholars in linguistics, literature, cultural studies, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.  They integrate their research into the classroom, engage students in their scholarship and make meaningful contributions in their fields.

We fulfill Elon’s mission by preparing students culturally and linguistically “to be global citizens and informed leaders motivated by concern for the common good” through an academic program that is  a model of the engaged learning for which Elon University is recognized.