Articulating Visions of South Asian Less Commonly Taught Language Instruction for Sustainable Growth

This chapter first briefly discusses the role of various institutions and projects in moving toward the common goal of less commonly taught language (LCTL) pedagogy, especially for Hindi. As opposed to the currently existing ad hoc practices for sharing materials and innovative developments, we argue for the need to coordinate a shared Hindi curriculum with input from all stakeholders across institutions and programs. In reflecting on the insights gained from participation in the Hindi Working Group of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded Less Commonly Taught and Indigenous Languages Partnership at Michigan State University, the authors discuss current and proposed projects and models of developing shared resources, primarily for Hindi but also for other South Asian LCTLs. Although modest progress has been made in Hindi and South Asian LCTL materials development and distribution, the true potential of South Asian LCTL programs cannot be realized without coalescing a consensus-driven approach that pools resources across stakeholders to support materials development, curricular resource networks, course sharing, and the professionalization of South Asian LCTL instruction.