Modern Languages Commons^™

Student Centered Language Teaching: A Focus On Student Identity, Rachel Mano

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of essays that describe what the writer has come to see as essential topics in second language acquisition. It begins with a professional environment piece, and then a teaching philosophy statement focused on student identity and interaction in the classroom. This is followed by an essay on observations of teaching. The next two sections focus on pragmatic resistance among advanced learners and the importance of preparing learners for peer interaction. The portfolio concludes with an annotated bibliography outlining the main concepts associated with Communicative Language Teaching, a method that is commonly employed in second language …

Covid's Effect: World Dependency On Chinese Supply Chains, Rhiannon Toole

Senior Honors Projects

COVID’s Effect: World Dependency on Chinese Supply Chains

Since the 1990s, China has accelerated to become a global economic superpower. After the nation overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy in 2010, it began to become clear to the world that China was no longer a nation to be overlooked, and that utilizing their massive economy would prove to be invaluable from a growth and monetary standpoint. Of course, this all came to a halt in early 2020 due to COVID’s impact on global supply chains, many of which were sourced out of the virus’ origin country. Companies worldwide …

La Diversidad Lingüística Durante Y Después Del Franquismo En España, Molly L. Taylor

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

La historia lingüística de España es rica y diversa, pero ha sido sofocada por varios gobernantes españoles para promover el uso del castellano, o la lengua de "prestigio". Quizás las políticas lingüísticas más opresivas se promulgaron bajo el dictador Francisco Franco a lo largo del siglo XX. Estas políticas lingüísticas que trabajaron para promover el uso exclusivo del castellano se pueden ver en la educación, las leyes regionales, los paisajes lingüísticos e incluso las actitudes con respecto al idioma. Mientras existen esfuerzos para promover las lenguas y dialectos minoritarios que fueron silenciados durante el franquismo, los efectos de las políticas …

Resurrecting Gaelic: Modernity And Heritage Language Revival In Scotland In A Comparative Perspective, Sean Coady

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Many people from across the world have little or no connection to their heritage languages. Whether this loss is caused by conquest, colonialization, or simply lack of parent-child transmission, many believe that they are missing an integral part of their cultural identity and want to reclaim the languages of their forebearers. There is wide debate about how, why, and if this linguistic reclamation and revitalization should happen because, in the face of modernity and language evolution, the best solutions are not always clear. What constitutes successful language revitalization in the modern world, and why does it happen? Gaelic in Scotland …

Mephistopheles' Atopy, Allotry, Lottery. On Textual Proliferations In Goethe's Faust I And Ii, Pasqual Solass

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

Combining a careful reading of selected passages from Goethe’s Faust I and II and of marginal but nevertheless revealing lines on maybe the actual protagonist of the “Tragödie”, Mephistopheles, this paper aims to present aspects of what one could call Goethe’s vision of a modern devil. Taking departure from etymological considerations on the root of “diabolus”, i.e. diabállein, meaning to cast apart, to scatter, but also to accuse, as well as from different beliefs of German “Aberglaube” (superstition), it will become clear that one if not the major feature of Goethe’s Mephistopheles-figure is movement, not just …

Service Learning With Migrant Equity Southeast, Rachel Klien-Hart

Eagle Showcase: Excellence in Service-Learning (Archived)

Through the Spanish Department’s pilot program, Spanish for Community Engagement, I have had the opportunity to serve as a Community Apprentice for Savannah’s nonprofit, Migrant Equity Southeast (MESE). This experience has greatly developed my understanding of the Hispanic community while applying the tools and lessons I have learned in the classroom. Each week, I have gained more experience and awareness of the needs for local immigrant families. I have learned about immigrants’ rights relating to education, housing, interactions with law enforcement, and work. I have researched available resources for immigrants including food banks, legal assistance services, rent assistance, and medical …

Las Voces Desde La Liminalidad Sino-Peruana: –Una Lectura Comparativa De Mongolia Y La Vida No Es Una Tómbola–, Jing Tan

LSU Master's Theses

Chinese immigrants first arrived in Peru in the mid-19th Century. Since then, the Sino-Peruvian community has lived through myriad vicissitudes. Today, despite its indisputable influence in Peru’s history, it is still largely invisible in society, just as the concept of an Asian Latin American identity remains elusive in the national consciousness. In the literary and academic world, the scarcity of a voice highlighting Chinese legacies in Peruvian literature is echoed by the dearth of such a voice in the criticism regarding works by Sino-Peruvian writers about Sino-Peruvian experiences.

This comparative analysis engages with two novels that evince deep parallelism with …

Language Barriers In The U.S.: Exploring The Protection Of Human Trafficking Victims Whose Native Language Is Spanish, Rachel Klien-Hart

Honors College Theses

Human trafficking exists as a multi-billion-dollar industry that impacts millions of people around the world, mainly targeting vulnerable populations. In the United States, one vulnerable population includes non-English speaking victims trafficked for labor, agriculture, domestic, or sex purposes. Protecting trafficking victims involves providing justice, medical assistance, identification, therapy, rehabilitation, and reintegration tools which often falls within the purview of nonprofit organizations. Research on human trafficking has underscored language barriers as a key obstacle in the protection of trafficking victims. However, little is known about the role of language barriers in the nonprofit sector, and specifically the experiences of nonprofit organizations …

Clic Newsletter - Spring 2022, Daniel Alegre, Michael Berman, Antonio Gonzalez D'Orazio, Penelope Soto, Qiaofei Yan, Kevin Zhou

CLIC Newsletter

Cover Page

PAGE 1: Interview with director of CLIC, Dr. Alessia Dalsant

PAGE 4: Event Throwback: International Trivia Night

PAGE 5: Restaurant Recommendations

PAGE 9: LP at Sea: Updates on Coti’s Study Abroad

PAGE 12: Event Throwback: UEFA Champions League @ CLIC

PAGE 13: Sports Across the World

PAGE 15: Recipes To Try From Our LPs’ Countries

PAGE 20: Interview with Students Who Studied Abroad

PAGE 24: Event Throwback: Foreign Language Karaoke Night

PAGE 25: Interview with Exchange Students at Bentley

PAGE 27: Cultural and Identity Student Organizations at Bentley University

PAGE 30: Interview with Mariana Varela – Fall LP …

Translation Studies And Public Policy, Gabriel Gonzalez Nunez

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

Chapter 9 discusses relationships between translation and public policy. When challenges of organizing public spaces involve the use of more than one language, translation is often employed, and, in such circumstances, translation may serve a variety of functions, including the deployment of language policies alongside other policy aims such as the promotion of human rights or multiculturalism. The chapter explores this link between public policy and translation, presenting a survey of insights that have been provided by scholars, and suggesting areas where scholarship can provide further understandings. These insights are important, given the continuing multilingualism and diversity of societies.

Us Central American Identities In Roberto Quesada’S Big Banana And Nunca Entres Por Miami, Adrian Taylor Kane

World Languages Faculty Publications and Presentations

Following several calls in recent scholarship for increased attention to the study of the Central American diaspora in the United States, this article offers readings of Honduran-born author Roberto Quesada’s novels Big Banana (1999) and Nunca entres por Miami (2003). Written in New York City, where he has resided since 1989, Big Banana highlights issues of Central American identity, migration, and immigrant experiences. Published four years later, Nunca entres por Miami continues to engage with these important topics. My readings of Quesada’s novels focus on the ways in which they construct cultural memory and identity by providing critical historical context …

Translanguaging Space In A Bilingual Program In New York City Chinatown Middle School, Xiaodi Zhou, Danling Fu

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This study explores how translanguaging pedagogy was practiced in a New York City Chinatown middle school to engage emergent bilingual students (EBs) with diverse language literacy backgrounds in their study of the grade level social studies curriculum. The data were collected over the past two decades while we worked with classroom teachers in search of effective ways to improve EBs’ school performance. We revisited this data utilizing a translanguaging lens to reconceptualize this past work and reframe our analysis to deepen understanding of translanguaging teaching praxis. Therefore, this research not only seeks possible ways to meet challenges in the education …

El Juego En La Enseñanza Del Francés Entre Las Técnicas Y Práctica De Clase, Khalid Aada

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nations Within Nations: The Heterogeneity Of Mexican Transnationals Of Indigenous Descent From Anzalduan Lenses, David Martinez-Prieto

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

This chapter analyzes the significance and limitations of utilizing Gloria Anzaldúa’s framework when examining Mexican transnational communities of Mesoamerican ancestry after they return to Mexico. In this way, this chapter calls for a better understanding of the historical and political factors that impact the identities of Mexican transnationals of Indigenous origin. Based on data collected during three investigations with transnational (pre)service teachers from Indigenous communities in the Mexican states of Puebla (2017), Tlaxcala (2017), and Oaxaca (2018), the author analyzes the pertinence of Anzaldua’s framework in understanding the subjugation and internal differences of Indigenous transnational populations. This chapter also examines …

Tolkien, Cline, And The Quest For A Silmaril, Tom Ue, James Munday

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

J. R. R. Tolkien has had a significant influence on American writer Ernest Cline. In Ready Player One (2011), the character Ogden Morrow invites Wade and his friends to his mansion, which is modelled after Rivendell from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films (2001- 03). Cline goes further in his sequel Ready Player Two (2021) by staging a part of Wade’s virtual quest on Arda I, the First Age of Middle Earth. In this paper, we focus on this episode and, in so doing, argue for Cline’s insights into how we approach fantasy. First, we attend to the …

Who’S His Daddy? Approaches To Merlin’S Father In Children’S And Ya Media, Michael Torregosa

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

In the 1130s, Geoffrey of Monmouth originated the character of Merlin, setting him upon the world stage as a wonder-working youth fathered (in the tradition of Greek and Latin authors of the past) by a daemon. However, later writers of the Middle Ages, beginning with Robert de Boron, reconceived Merlin within a more Christianized world, altering his heritage and transforming his sire into a demon from Hell. This shift from benign daemon to malevolent demon has impacted the representation of the wizard of Camelot for centuries. Contemporary fiction for the page as well as for the screen has adopted and …

"Shivering Trees": Horror Monstrosity In Selected Stories From Tolkien’S The Silmarillion, Elise Mckenna

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

In The Silmarillion, Tolkien used conventions of horror within the setting of Arda. To begin with, the entire world, which is monstrous, is in upheaval with mountains being raised and valley being delved, lanterns of light created, and huge beings walking the land. Then, these landscapes are torn down, the lights are smashed and go out, and new creatures of horror prowl the world. The differences between the portrayals of monstrosity on a grand scale border the grotesque and the sublime. Monstrous beings, Valar and Maiar, command the elements of earth, air, fire, water. They have pre-ordained roles that …

The Story, The Narrator And The Reader: Mediated Horror In C.S. Lewis’S Narniad, William Thompson

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

In her introduction to Reading in the Dark: Horror in Children’s Literature and Culture, Jessica R. McCort defines horror for children and young adults as a hybrid genre, one having its roots in both the gothic and the nineteenth-century fairy tale. She explains that the exploration of dark forces in children’s books is often not limited to those tropes traditionally associated with the horror genre for adults: “Think of the books that are considered children’s classics. The best of them contain dark forces of one kind or another, as well as internal battles between the light and the dark: …

Environmental Horror And Restoration: Tolkien And Today, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Caitlin Rottler

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

J.R.R. Tolkien never forgot the felling of a willow tree that had overlooked the mill-pool in Sarehole, nor how his former climbing companion had been left to rot in the grass. His horror at that small environmental violence bleeds through his works, from poems like “From the many-willow’d margin of the immemorial Thames” (1913) to the Party Tree in The Hobbit (1937) to a letter to The Daily Telegraph in 1972 when he decried the modern “torture and murder of trees.” This presentation will draw on the excellent foundations laid by Dinah Hazell, as well as the father-son pair of …

Nature And Horror In Tolkien’S Legendarium, Julia Bowers

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Tolkien incorporates horror in his legendarium through the twisting of the natural world in order to signal upcoming dangers to his characters. This creates a dichotomy between the idyllic natural world that represents good in his works and the twisted natural world that has been tampered with by evil. Most of the focus on Tolkien’s portrayal of nature looks at the conflict between nature and technology; the natural world of Middle-earth is portrayed as more complex than merely all nature being good. His natural settings take on an eerie tone to convey a sense of horror to the reader as …