Events
- Annual Convention
- Great Teaching Round-up
- Leading from the middle
- fall conference for faculty leaders
- The Texas Network
"I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision."
Events: 2009 Foreign Language Schedule
Foreign Language Summary
Friday, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
"Pragmatics in Second/Foreign Language Teaching"
Speaker: Dale Koike,
Professor of Spanish & Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
Saturday, 10:30-11:45 a.m.
"The Classroom Culture: Promoting High-Energy Learning"
Speaker: Glynis Cowell,
Director of the Spanish Language Program, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Friday, February 20th, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
"Pragmatics in Second/Foreign Language Teaching"
Speaker: Dale Koike,
Professor of Spanish & Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
Recent research in the application of the linguistic field of pragmatics to second language acquisition and teaching indicates its utility for promoting language learning. For those who are unfamiliar with pragmatics, it is a field that examines speaker intentions and how they are interpreted by a listener. This presentation introduces the key concepts of pragmatics, why they are relevant to second and foreign language teaching and learning, their relationship to socio-cultural norms, how they can be used in teaching, how they reflect different learner levels of proficiency, and what implications they have for language methodology, curriculum, and assessment. Discussion will also introduce the role of expectations in learning to use second language pragmatics. The presentation is enhanced with videotaped illustrations and audience participation to make the talk as interactive as possible, and concludes with some links to other resources on pragmatics.
Biography:
Dr. Dale Koike (Ph.D., Romance Linguistics, University of New Mexico) is Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin. She has taught numerous undergraduate language and linguistics courses as well as courses directed at teacher training such as Spanish Applied Linguistics and Advanced Spanish Oral Expression for Teachers. At the graduate level she teaches seminars on Spanish Second Language Acquisition and Spanish Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis. Prior to joining the faculty at UT, she served as Spanish and Portuguese Language Course Director at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and also taught at North Carolina State University and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At UT she was awarded the Silver Spurs Centennial Teaching Excellence Award in 2002 by the College of Liberal Arts.
Dr. Koike has presented many papers on various themes of teaching, testing, second and third language acquisition, pragmatics, and discourse analysis. She is the co-author of Lingüística aplicada: adquisición del español como segunda lengua (with Carol Klee, 2002, John Wiley), and has authored or co-authored many book chapters and refereed journal articles in venues such as the Journal of Pragmatics and the Modern Language Journal.
Saturday, February 21st, 10:30-11:45 a.m.
"The Classroom Culture: Promoting High-Energy Learning"
Speaker: Glynis Cowell,
Director of the Spanish Language Program, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
With limited classroom hours, increasing numbers of students per class,
and a lot of material to cover, it is becoming more and more difficult
to create an engaging, interactive, learning environment. Regardless of
the format (pairs, small groups, large groups or whole class) most
students learn best in an engaging, interactive, high-energy learning
environment. Research regarding classroom formats, student engagement,
and their impact on learning will be briefly reviewed, followed by the
presentation of strategies for developing high-interest, engaging,
contextualized lesson plans. An abundance of high-energy activities will
be demonstrated with audience participation.
Biography:
Glynis Cowell is the Director of the Spanish Language Program in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and an Assistant Dean in Academic Advising, General College and Arts and Sciences, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has taught first-year seminars, honors courses, numerous Spanish language courses, and team teaches a graduate course on the theories and techniques of teaching foreign languages. Dr. Cowell received her M.A. in Spanish Literature and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, with a concentration in Foreign Language Education, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the faculty at UNC-CH in August 1994, she coordinated the Spanish Language Program in the Department of Romance Studies at Duke University. At UNC-CH she has received the university Students’ Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching as well as the Graduate Student Mentor Award for the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
Dr. Cowell has directed teacher workshops on Spanish language and cultures and has presented papers and written articles on the teaching of language and literature, the incorporation of information technology in language teaching, and teaching across the curriculum. She is the co-author of two other college textbooks.
Foreign Language Section Chair: Janett Hillar, Houston Community College-Southwest