Comfort Pratt, Ph.D.
Email: c.pratt@ttu.edu
Phone: 806-834-5710
Office: Education 354
Dr. Comfort Awotwi Pratt is an Associate Professor of Bilingual Education and Secondary
Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She is from Ghana, West
Africa. She attended the University of Ghana, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain,
Texas A&M University, and Louisiana State University. Her areas of specialization
include Spanish, French, linguistics, foreign language education, and sociolinguistics,
and her research focuses on teaching strategies and student motivations. She directs
a summer study abroad program in Salamanca, Spain, where the students study at Universidad
Pontificia de Salamanca. She is a member of the Executive Council of the TTU Teaching
Academy, and she has received numerous awards including: President’s Excellence in
Teaching Award, Teaching Academy Award for Meritorious Achievement in Teaching, Professing
Excellence Award, and American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Outstanding
Teacher of the Year Award. She teaches Spanish, language acquisition, pedagogy, and
diversity courses and is the advisor for Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic
Honor Society. She serves on the leadership team of the TExES Bilingual Target Language
Proficiency Test and is the National Vice President for the Southwest of Sigma Delta
Pi. She was honored with an endowment in 2011 and an endowed study abroad scholarship
was established in her name in 2015 (http://ttusigmadeltapi.wix.com/texastechuniversity#!dr-pratt-scholarship/cbox).
Education
- Ph.D. in Romance Linguistics, Louisiana State University. Dissertation: El español del Río Sabinas: Pervivencia de un dialecto amenazado.
- Master of Arts in Spanish, Texas A&M University. Thesis: La variedad lingüística de la mujer del área metropolitana de San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- Graduate Certificate in Translation. Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
- Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Spanish and French. University of Ghana.
Areas of Expertise
- Spanish
- French
- Foreign Language Education
- Applied Linguistics
- Sociolinguistics
Selected Publications
Pratt, C. (2016). Factors that motivate high school students to continue studying French in college. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 6(11), 1-15.
Pratt, C. (2016). Factors that motivate high school students to study French. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 6(9), 9-19.
Pratt, C. et al. (2014). Investigating the primary orientations and principal majors of learners of less commonly taught languages. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4(3), 41-53.
Pratt, C. (2012). Are African American high school students less motivated to study Spanish than other ethnic groups? Hispania 94(1), 116-134.
Pratt, C.,Lluna, F., & Dan, Y. (2011). Improving second language learners’ understanding of the preterite/imperfect dichotomy. Southern Journal of Linguistics 35(1), 1-28.
Pratt, C. (2010). Maintaining the momentum of students of Spanish from high school to college. Hispania 93(4), 671-685.
Pratt, C., & Lluna, F. (2010). Review of the book Linguistics for everyone, by K. Denham & A. Lobeck. Southern Journal of Linguistics, 34(2), 124-130.
Pratt, C., Agnello M., & Santos, S. (2009). Factors that motivate high-school students’ decisions to study Spanish. Hispania, 92(4), 800-813.
Pratt, C. (2008). In-class communicative projects. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Pratt, C. (2008). Dialect death: The case of Adaeseño Spanish in Northwest Louisiana. In A. Balestra, G. Martinez, & I. Moyna (Eds.), Recovering the U.S. Hispanic linguistic heritage (pp. 191-214). Houston: Arte Público.
Pratt, C. (2004). El español del noroeste de Luisiana: Pervivencia de un dialecto amenazado. Madrid: Editorial Verbum.
College of Education
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