1. Incorporating CLAC in Teaching Public Administration
Ximeng Chen, MPA, PhD Student
Community and Public Affairs
Dr. Nadia Rubaii
Public Administration
Binghamton University

2. What is CLAC? Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum
“General principles of CLAC include:
A focus on communication and content
An emphasis on developing meaningful content-focused language use outside traditional language classes
An approach to language use and cross-cultural skills as means for the achievement of global intellectual synthesis, in which students learn to combine and interpret knowledge produced in other languages and in other cultures”

3. Visual Description

4. Why is CLAC Important in Teaching PA?
Source materials of teaching PA :
Written by and intended for a U.S audience
Written in American English
Associated problems:
United States-centric approach
Treat U.S as if it were a homogenous entity
Limitations in its breadth and generalizability
Our students are studying at a U.S. university, with a majority of classmates being both from the U.S. and with the intention of working in the U.S., and in a discipline in which much of the literature and professional source material is written by and intended for a U.S. audience. As such, it is very easy to adopt a very United States-centric approach and to treat the U.S. as if it were a homogenous entity.
Relying solely on source materials written in American English will inherently be limited in its breadth and generalizability. This is common shortcoming a great deal of published research and is perpetuated by scholars who rely solely on sources by U.S. authors, in U.S.-based journals, in which the all source materials and the publication are in English

5. Why is CLAC Important in Teaching PA?
PA Students demography:
Increased international students population (small minority)
Changing context of PA:
Globalized world
Culture competences needed
NASPAA Accreditation Standards:
Ability “to communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry.”
Ability “to lead and manage in public governance.”
P.7 standards.pdf

6. Question
What are your strategies for incorporating more global language and culture perspectives in your classes?

7. Our Strategies
Seek materials from other places and/or in other languages
Analyze from other English-speaking countries
Encourage appreciation for diversity
Compare different regional and ethnic cultures
We intentionally seek out materials which expand students’ horizons in terms of sources and applications.
We push students to examine how the course concepts are experienced and written about in other places and/or using other languages.
Students are encouraged to probe deeper into the languages and cultures they are already familiar with and to expand their appreciation for diversity through the deliberate use of more diverse sources and by learning from their classmates who can provide access to a wider range of source materials.
When individuals or groups have multiple language skills, they are encouraged to utilize those skills to access materials in a source language other than English. When English is the only language available to an individual or group, they must still apply a CLAC perspective and can do so by incorporating and analyzing from other English-speaking countries. A CLAC perspective can also be applied within the U.S. to compare the different regional or ethnic cultures.

8. Incorporating CLAC in Graduate Courses

9. PAFF 520: 21st Century Governance ---Spring 2016
Required, first semester MPA course
Generally with students
Key Themes: how globalization, diversity, technology, privilege are experienced differently by different populations and the implications for public and nonprofit administration.
Populations:
immigrants (immigrants to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America);
religion (U.S. rhetoric toward Muslims);
sexual orientation and identity (transgendered individuals);
refugees (Syrian and north African refugees to the European Union);
indigenous peoples (with Native Americans in the United States as the reference point).

10. PAFF 520 & CLAC
CLAC was identified in the syllabus as one of three core philosophical/pedagogical design elements of the course 
Shared Responsibility for Learning and Collaborative Knowledge Creation.
A Social Equity and Differential Privilege Perspective
Cultures and Languages across the Curriculum (CLAC)
Intercultural Effectiveness Scale
Semester-long team assignment on a comparative study of examples of marginalization and privilege
the CLAC experience was supplemented by the IES at the start of the semester and a semester-long team assignment that forced application of CLAC principles in a comparative study of examples of marginalization and privilege.

11. CLAC Activities Google Translate Activity Wikipedia Activity
Newspaper Comparison Activity (Headlines and Perspectives)
Newspaper Comparison Activity (Front Pages)
Search Engines Activity

12. Google Translate Activity-Instructions
Step 1: Translate the following paragraph into three languages other than English.
--- A note from US Visa Application Page
Step 2: Translate the translated paragraph from the three target languages back to English.
Step 3: Compare the original paragraph with the double translated paragraphs and see what the differences are.
Step 4: Translate a short paragraph wrote collectively by your group (i.e: a paragraph from your team contract draft) into three languages other than English.
Step 5: Repeat the double translation procedure.
Step 6: Compare the original paragraph with the double translated paragraphs and see what the differences are.
Step 7: What is your take-away from this activity?

13. Google Translate Activity-Sample Results

14. Wikipedia Activity-Instructions
Step 1: Read the English Wikipedia page of “Public Administration”.
Step 2: Read the Wikipedia page of “Public Administration” in a second language. You may rely on your group members who have reading proficiency in other languages or utilize Google Translate.
Step 3: Compare the two pages and find out the similarities and differences. Pay attention to the pictures if the pages have pictures.
Step 4: Read the English Wikipedia page of a term, concept, event, or location chosen by your group.
Step 5: Read the Wikipedia page of the same term, concept, event, or location in a second language. You may rely on your group members who have reading proficiency in other languages or utilize Google Translate.
Step 6: Compare the two pages and find out the similarities and differences. Pay attention to the pictures if the pages have pictures.
Step 7: Discuss in your group what the possible reasons are that the pages in different languages are similar and/or different and what does the similarities/differences reflect.

15. Wikipedia Activity-Sample Results “Public Administration”

16. Students Feedback Survey on CLAC Activities

17. Students Feedback Survey on CLAC Activities

18. Questions
In what classes do you envision trying these CLAC activities?
What are some other ideas?

19. References
Adams, T. M. (1996). Languages across the curriculum: Taking stock. ADFL Bulletin, 28(1), 9-19.
Kim, S., Vandenabeele, W., Wright, B. E., Andersen, L. B., Cerase, F. P., Christensen, R. K., Desmarais, C., et al. (2012). Investigating the structure and meaning of public service motivation across populations: Developing an international instrument and addressing issues of measurement invariance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, mus027.
Kim, P. S. (1999). Globalization of human resource management: A cross- cultural perspective for the public sector. Public Personnel Management,28(2),
Straight, H. S. (1998). Languages across the Curriculum. ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Center for Applied Linguistics.
Welch, D. E., & Welch, L. S. (2008). The importance of language in international knowledge transfer. Management International Review, 48(3),

20. Thank you!
Contact Information
Ximeng Chen, MPA, Doctoral Student, CCPA, Binghamton University,
Dr. Nadia Rubaii, Associate Professor, Public Administration, Binghamton University,