MILLENNIALS MOVING FORWARD: UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF STUDYING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WITH A NEW GENERATION OF STUDENTS

Nationally, university and colleges have begun paying attention to the new generation of students that has been arriving on campuses since 2000. Reasoning for much of this interest stems from census data indicating that this generation will be the largest (Yax, 2000). To date, research has focused on identifying their distinctiveness, how they develop, and their impact on campus life. It is only recently that researchers have begun to examine the relationship between these students and how they learn. However, this research has centered primarily only on general characteristics of learning. Yet, what does a new generation of students mean for the foreign language classroom? As campuses across the country are continuing to globalize their curriculum, how can we best help these students learn and make the most out educational opportunities in foreign languages?

Inherently global and multicultural in their thinking, this generation exhibits attributes that are ideally suited for the study of foreign languages, and as such, faculty and administrators need to ask the question: how can we best attend to and capture these students, taking advantage of their interest to enhance their education experiences in foreign languages. Therefore, this paper will focus on examining the challenges and benefits of the millennial student population in the context of foreign language educational experiences. Specifically, I will examine how faculty can best utilize the strengths of these students and pay attention to the concerns that arise in order to make more informed decisions about curriculum and assessment for programs in foreign languages.