Overcoming Obstacles: Teaching Language Majors in Response to Professional and Social Needs
Dr. Juanita Villena-Alvarez

Abstract
The article delves into the status of the teaching of Language for Specific Purposes(LSP), in multiple university programs with particular emphasis on the social and professional aspect, and then proposes practical steps and measures to counteract the myriad obstacles to the expansion of LSP. In the section “Manpower: Sharing the Burden and the Rewards” the article provides details on the expansion of programs in eight aspects: management plan and timelines; partnerships with a senior or junior faculty; benefits toward promotion and tenure; institutional benefits; marketing the results; employment for students; community benefits; and tracking the alumni. This work demonstrates how extending the programs in the humanities can reach out to other academic areas in the professional schools through vital language learner needs surveys and analyses. The article concludes with a home-grown solution borrowed from Voltaire’s Candide: “Il fautcultivernotrejardin” (“We must cultivate our own garden”).

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