Applying systems thinking to address labor in language programs

Abstract

The paper discusses a case study of how a Modern Language Department at a liberal arts college in the U.S. addressed a college-wide call for departments to propose their own workload model in reaction to shifting education initiatives. Despite the autonomy to propose their own model, the language department faculty struggled to articulate their situation, much less a proposal. It was not until the department applied a visual analysis of its workload that it was able to discover how unarticulated assumptions and behaviors contributed to the larger conundrum of its invisible and emotional labor concerns. This paper proposes systems thinking (Meadows, 2008), an approach that takes a holistic view of interconnected elements, their behavior and function, as a framework to reveal the complexity of our labor, thereby rendering tangible the hidden structures and dynamics of language programs. Systems thinking is a method for critically examining and evaluating our work as language educators, especially as we adjust to new post-pandemic norms that are adding stress to an already overstrained faculty. An applied systems thinking model can identify multiple facets of language faculty labor concern, including the relationship between unobvious or unintended components and thus, potentially provide a pathway towards specific behavioral outcomes of change.