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Applied Linguistics | Arabic | Chinese | Classics | French
German | ITA | Russian | Spanish

CMLL

NEW in Fall 2020: Global Readiness Certificate

CMLL is pleased to announce the launch of the Global Readiness Undergraduate Certificate. Effective immediately, the certificate is open to students in all majors who are looking to bolster their portfolio and increase the competitiveness of their professional or technical degree. The Global Readiness certificate prepares students to be active and critical languages users who are capable of moving across cultural contexts and engaging in global literacies. Those who complete the certificate will be able to communicate in intercultural professional contexts while making use of their world language skills.

The certificate involves completion of the following:

• 2302 in any language.
• One upper-level course (3000 or 4000 level) in languages for specific purposes (LSP). If no LSP course is offered in the chosen language, students may substitute three credits of CMLL 4000 with an LSP focus.
• An approved study abroad program or internship with a global or intercultural focus for a minimum of three credits.

Contact Dr. Erin Collopy or Carla Burrus for more information.

David Villarreal shares career insights with students of languages and cultures

As part of the Global Readiness Through Language and Culture project, Army veteran and international education specialist David Villarreal spoke with undergraduate students about how studying languages and cultures helped him build a rewarding career and positioned him to have a positive impact both locally and globally. Students were encouraged to reflect on the ways in which the unique skills they gain through the study of languages and cultures can support their own career development and exploration of how they can address global challenges through their (future) work. Where have your skills taken you? What's next in your language adventure? We would love to share your story in a future issue of this newsletter (contact Carla Burrus)! For inspiration, you can listen to David Villarreal's 10-minute story here.

Nigerian-German filmmaker Sheri Hagen “visits” Lubbock for Q&A

As part of the Global Readiness Through Language and Culture project and in conjunction with the Fall 2020 Sexism|Cinema film series, director Sheri Hagen participated in a Q&A with students, faculty, staff, and community members via Zoom on November 4th. Prior to the discussion, participants had the opportunity to watch Hagen's 2013 film “Auf den zweiten Blick / At Second Glance,” which addresses issues of disability, loneliness, and love through the stories of three couples that unfold in the multicultural city of Berlin. If you missed the discussion on November 4th, you can watch it here. “Auf den zweiten Blick / At Second Glance” is available to rent for $5 on Vimeo.

Workshop T&P Ready!

On October 20th and October 21st, CMLL offered its second T&P-Ready Workshop aimed at new faculty, faculty preparing for 3rd-year review, and faculty preparing to go up for tenure and promotion to help them navigate the requirements to succeed at tenure and promotion at TTU. The workshop was led by Dr. Belinda Kleinhans and featured as guest speakers Dr. Susan Larson and Dr. Jim Lee who shared their insights into impact tracking and writing a successful portfolio. The workshop was attended by 12 CMLL faculty (all pre-tenure and pre-associate status) who received hands-on training in "academic story-telling" geared towards the research, teaching, and service statements required for promotion as well as an introduction to all parts of the dossier, and how to compile it.

Years of Service to Texas Tech Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures

CMLL celebrates and congratulates our members on their extraordinary service.

10 Years

5 Years

Applied Linguistics

As part of Dr. Lee's LING 5312 Introduction to Linguistics class, guest speakers presented research that demonstrates how linguists incorporate linguistic constructs in their work. As a class, upon completion of the chapter on syntax that included a discussion of the grammatical dependencies between active and passive sentences. Dr, Stephe Doherty, University of New South Wales, Sydnes. Director, Language Processing Research Laboratory, presented a study on passive sentences using eye-tracking in a virtual meeting on October 8, 2020.

The presentation, “Visual attention (eye-tracking) and the process of corrective feedback and linguistic targets (Spanish passive) in an instructed second language context”, emphasized how corrective feedback has been the subject of significant research much of which has examined the effects of feedback on learning outcomes under a product-oriented focus. The present study examined the effect of feedback type, implicit positive and negative feedback, delivered as part of the learning process, a process-oriented focus. Spanish L2 participants (n=22) received processing instruction on the Spanish passive through explicit explanation followed by structured input practice. Each practice item consisted of a series of slides: written sentence, paired images, response selection, and feedback. Using eye-tracking methodology, they examined the effect of feedback type on one target practice item on processing the elements in the next target practice item. Their results show that feedback type significantly affects subsequent processing where learners allocated less visual attention to the subsequent practice item if they received implicit positive feedback on the previous item than when they received implicit negative feedback.

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Arabic

Texas Tech and the University of Arkansas who are studying Arabic in level 1 collaborated in conversation partners which proved to be a great experience for all participants.

The Arabic Language Student Organization elected new officers via Zoom and bi- weekly meetings were held throughout the semester. Despite the pandemic's impact, the group discussed ideas and activities for fall and spring and one idea that they started working on this semester is making masks for the Texas Tech students and the community of Lubbock.

2020-2021 Officers
Gabriella Ghandour, President
Jude Alfayez, Vice-President
Hala Shabaneh, Secretary
Carissa Dianda, Treasurer
Yliana Magallen, Social Media Director

Classes and Arabic club activities definitely were impacted by the COVID pandemic. Students who felt uncomfortable or were unable to attend face-to-face lectures, stayed virtually interactive in class and made virtual class presentations. Students enjoyed a virtual special guest lecture on Egypt on class culture day.

As the semester drew to close, students expressed their appreciation of having face-to-face classes during the pandemic.

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Chinese

Students in the Chinese program celebrated 2020 Chinese Middle Autumn Festival. Chinese instructors packed the traditional Chinese snacks individually and shared to the students in the classroom.

Due to the COVID-19, Chinese program cancelled the traditional activities in the semester and initiated i-Reading Club, an online Chinese reading club. This club meets every month to share their reading reflection and discuss the culture topics associated to the reading content (Chinese fables).

Chinese classes were held face-to-face this fall during which students enrolled in 1501 learned Chinese culture by playing Chinese Mahjong.

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Classics

A Guided Web Exhibition on Pisgah National Forest

The Humanities Center at Texas Tech's annual theme for 2020-2021 is Forests. Thinking with forests, the Humanities Center's program this coming year will address this narrowing of the traditional division between the human and the rest of life. One of the focuses is to bring diverse sides of the university and community together for collaboration, discussion, and debate, as we observe and interpret these gathering trends toward species communion.

On October 15, "A Guided Web Exhibition on Pisgah National Forest" showcased recent work of a new community-engaged archaeological project in the Grandfather Ranger District of Pisgah National Forest. By locating and curating objects all but lost among the understories of the forest (ancient pathways, agrarian homesteads, overgrown pastures, remnants of logging or milling operations), this project aims to reconnect the diverse communities of western North Carolina with stories of Pisgah's bewilderingly diverse pasts. Weaving these stories into the fabric of different forest trails, "A Guided Exhibition on Pisgah National Forest" debuted a Web-based exhibition that will continue to develop organically over the coming year. Dr. Christopher Witmore, Classics, was one of the guides involved in the project and exhibition.

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French

Photo credit Toni Salama

Kristen Michelson, Assistant Professor in French and Applied Linguistics, was awarded the 2020 Early Career Research Award made through the ACTFL Research Special Interest Group (Research SIG). This award began in 2017 to recognize an emerging scholar in the field of teaching and learning world languages, and recognizes "excellence in research, contributions to the field, and promise for future impact in the field of foreign language learning or foreign language teaching research.”

The award includes an invitation to give a webinar sponsored by the ACTFL Research SIG; in spring 2021, Dr. Michelson will present the webinar: “Leveraging technologies for digital social annotated reading”.

About her research:
Her work is oriented around the broad goal of fostering second language learners' multi-literacies in interpreting and producing cultural texts, where texts are inherently multimodal, and are seen as material artifacts that shape and are shaped by cultures and discourses, representing both personal and collective knowledge. Her research is interested in exploring how second language learners of French interpret everyday internet texts and has pursued this broader question through various methodologies in solo and collaborative research projects. Recent and upcoming projects include investigating readers' meaning-making practices through digital social annotated reading (readers highlight and dialogue in the margins of a virtual text), prompted think-alouds (readers voice their thoughts about a text out loud, prompted by guiding questions), and through eye-tracking, in collaboration with Dr. Jim Lee (an eye-tracker measures readers' gaze while reading on screen, prompted by guiding questions). Ultimately, she aims to raise awareness of how particular representational choices are made with agency and intention against a backdrop of the broader social context, and to provide opportunities for second language learners to understand and participate flexibly in cultural discourses of target language cultures. Featured in Arts & Sciences Innovative Research

French Conversation Hour

Conversation inside and outside the classroom is encouraged for those learning languages. Due to the challenges of social distancing and class meetings moved to online format, the French program held French Conversation Hour under the direction of Dr. Voeks in an outdoor setting on campus from October 13 through November 17.

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German

This fall, German Club organized a lantern- making event and a lantern walk to bring some light into the darker season and create a spirit of safe communality despite the social distancing measures. On Saturday, October 25, the German Club offered a free German Lantern Arts & Crafts shop from 2 to 5pm in conjunction with TTU Culture Fest. Our youngest workshop participant was just 5 years old and learned how to do a paper lantern with some assistance by the Club officers. Many international people participated, from India, Germany, and the US, to name just a few places, and learned about German paper lantern crafting.

On Saturday, November 7 at 7pm, German Club hosted a Lantern Walk in honor of the German holiday of St. Martin. This holiday celebrates community and sharing. In rural areas of Germany, children and adults alike flock to the streets just after dark with their lanterns for a communal walk.

The walk at TTU took place with 12 participants, who carried their lanterns from the Headwaters Fountain just behind CMLL to Memorial Circle and back, spreading some joy along the way. Despite the fact that all were wearing face masks and stayed 6 feet apart, all felt connected and reminded that we are not alone in this difficult time.

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ITA Program Moves Online

In July 2021, we will hold the International Teaching Assistant Workshop online for non-native English-speaking teaching assistants from departments across TTU. In classes of around 15 students, led by an experienced ESL instructor, participants develop language and culture skills to provide engaging classroom lectures, facilitate classroom activities, handle office hours, and manage other communication aspects of teaching. Students also meet in live virtual conversation sessions with a small group of classmates to discuss cultural topics and practice unplanned English communication.

Participants must past two final assessments to be approved to teach. Students are evaluated for approval to teach by the ITA Performance Test v10 and the SPEAK Test ©. The ITA Performance Test v10 evaluates candidates' English performance in a 10-minute semi-planned classroom lecture on a topic from their discipline. The SPEAK Test © evaluates candidates' unplanned speech on a variety of academic and daily topics. Throughout the workshop, students complete practice assessments and engage in other activities designed to prepare them to be successful on the final assessments.

In summer 2020 we offered the workshop fully online for the first time for around 100 students. According to workshop leadership, instructors, and students, the workshop in an online format was a great success! The majority of the course content is provided asynchronously. In addition to Blackboard, the workshop includes assignments on Flipgrid, PlayPosit, and other interactive virtual tools. The content is designed to feel interactive while allowing students to work at their own pace from time zones across the globe.

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Russian

As a teaching assistant for Russian/Applied Linguistics, Irina started Cultural Exchange Project for students of Russian (all levels). This program gave students an opportunity to talk to Russian native speakers in Russian. Every week students were given a topic for discussion, they spoke with conversation partners about their culture, life in Russia, and anything students were curious about. Communication was organized through Russian social network “Vkontakte (VK)” or by email. This social network gives also students access to Russian groups, music, and videos.

Irina also coordinated this semester the Tech Russian Club meetings. She set up a collection of music and YouTube videos with English subtitles to help students of Russian division to improve their listening and pronunciation skills. Irina Lavrova is an excellent graduate student, she is a recipient of the Sustainability scholarship. Irina is huge fan of cinematography, passionate about sustainability and cats. Irina is an active member of the Tech Feral Cat Coalition.

Online SRAS Study Abroad informational meeting took place virtually on October 28, 2020. Students of Russian consider SRAS because of the quality and breadth of their programs, which emphasize both language and professional development. Even if they were not planning on going in 2021, it's never too early to learn about some options.

School of Seduction

 

Students of Russian were participating in School of Seduction event (a documentary film by Alina Rudnitskaia, with Q & A with the director) on October 14, 2020. Alina Rudnitskaia's documentary explores the cultural climate that leads women to enroll in a “school of seduction” in search of ways to win a desirable husband. She follows three women as they learn the art of seduction Russian style and then put their new skills to work in today's Russia and beyond. The documentary goes on to follow the lives of these women after they have completed the program. In School of Seduction, Rudnitskaia explores more than just sex roles in Russia, but also the notion of seeking happiness in an idealized romantic partnership.

Event Sponsors:
Texas Tech Russian Club, Department of Political Science, Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures, Department of History, Buena Vista Foundation, and Russian Cultural Center-Our Texas.

Halloween Day

First-year students of Russian had fun for Halloween Day. Since they meet face-to-face, many were wearing costumes. They learned scary phrases in Russian (one of them is related to wishing a good luck in Russian before the test, which equals to the English Break a leg), and tried traditional Halloween treats.

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Spanish & Portuguese

Workshop on Language Industry Jobs

A virtual workshop organized by Dr. Brendan Regan on Language Industry Jobs took place on September 25. Dr. Cindy Blanco, a Learning Scientist at Duolingo (with a Ph.D. in Linguistics from UT-Austin), presented, “Understanding and identifying your transferable skills: A workshop for student of language and linguistics”. The focus of the workshop was to promote and disseminate more knowledge surrounding language industry jobs outside of academia. That is, how one can best utilize his skills from the Texas Tech graduate program and transfer them to a language industry jobs. In addition to covering general transferable skills, Dr. Blanco spoke specifically to what linguists do at Duolingo.

Understanding Spanish Heritage Language Learners in the Language Classroom

A two-part virtual workshop, Understanding Spanish Heritage Language Learners in the Language Classroom, with Dr. Ariana Mikulski (Penn State) took place on October 16 and November 13. The first workshop addressed the characteristics of heritage learners of Spanish, how to identify heritage learners, how to place them into an appropriate course, and how to encourage SHL learners to enroll in SHL courses. 

This second workshop addressed the best instructional practice for teaching asynchronous SHL classes, specifically during the pandemic. The workshop will focus on curricular choices and decisions as well as finding effective ways to teach SHL students online.

2020-2021 Graduate Student Representatives Named

Congratulations to Gilberto Garcia and Dania Martinez on being selected as the 2020-2021 Graduate Student Representatives. Each fall, Spanish and Portuguese graduate students are charged with the task of nominating and electing two graduate student representatives. These individuals represent graduate student voices to the faculty in meetings once per month. All efforts are made to select one student specializing in Linguistics and one in Literature and Cultural Studies. The elected representatives must be on the Lubbock campus for the entirety of the academic year and are in their second year of their graduate program.

Nominees
Brittani Chaffin
Gilberto Garcia
Gema Lopez
Dania Martinez
Nicolas Spencer

XXII Annual Virtual Céfiro Conference on Latin American and Iberian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

“Interfaces between Practice*, Teaching and Professionalization”

April 15-17, 2021
Texas Tech University
Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Program

The 2021 Virtual Céfiro Conference will explore how practice, teaching and professionalization interface with the academic disciplines of Luso-Hispanic Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies as they are conceived within graduate curricula today.

Possible topics include:

• how teaching and education are represented in literature and film
• teaching Cultural Studies methodologies
• teaching Linguistics to beginners
• successful Heritage Learner pedagogies
• the intersection of the Environmental Humanities and place-based teaching
• recent pedagogical theories and methods
• technology in the classroom
• professionalization of women and under-represented groups in academia
• preparing for non-academic careers
• preparing for the job market
• Spanish and Portuguese literary studies
• Spanish and Portuguese linguistic studies

In addition to individual papers, we welcome proposals for workshops and round tables. Presentations can be given in Spanish, Portuguese, or English.

Both individual proposals and submissions for panels of 3 to 4 papers (highly encouraged) will be considered. Each presenter will have 15 minutes and 5 minutes will be set aside for questions from the public. Workshop presenters will have 60 minutes.

Submission specifications:

The deadline for submission of abstracts is February 14th, 2021. They should be sent to cefiro@ttu.edu as Word documents. Abstracts should be approximately two hundred and fifty words and include the following personal information: (1) presentation title; (2) full name; (3)
university affiliation; and (4) e-mail address.

Those interested on publishing their work in the Céfiro Graduate Student Journal after the
conference should visit https://journals.tdl.org/cefiro/index.php/cefiro/index or send an email to
cefiro.journal@ttu.edu.

Details & updates about the conference can be found at www.cefiro2021.weebly.com
Any inquiries should be sent to Jasmin Euceda

CÉFIRO Committee and Céfiro faculty advisor: Dr. Antonio Ladeira

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