Three projects were awarded funding in the CERCLL Faculty Research Grant program in 2017:
- Portuguese Language Program Evaluation: Implementation, Preliminary Results and Follow-up Strategies, Ana Maria Carvalho, Department of Spanish and Portuguese;
- Creation of Online Kannada Script Database and Repository, Caleb Simmons, Department of Religious Studies and Classics;
- Internet Freaks and Cultural Politics in South Korea, Sunyoung Yang, Department of East Asian Studies
Abstracts and webinars follow.
Portuguese Language Program Evaluation: Implementation, Preliminary Results and Follow-up Strategies
Ana Maria Carvalho, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
This project aims to earn funds to support the ongoing language program evaluation conducted in the Portuguese Language Program at the University of Arizona. Based on a utilization-focused approach (Norris, 2006) and inspired by Ecke & Ganz (2014), survey data have been collected since Spring 2016 as a student analytics tool to longitudinally map students’ profiles and needs. Additionally, enrollment trends in the University of Arizona have been compared with other post-secondary contexts to envision possible impacts on enrollment and influential trends in Portuguese language programs in the US. Preliminary results have informed decisions such as curriculum planning and rewriting of student learning outcomes. In order to continue the evaluation, the grant will afford a research assistantship for survey data coding and analysis. These findings will generate new procedures to be implemented in the Portuguese program as well as an updated evaluation model to be duplicated by other LCTL’s programs, promoted by conference presentations and a publication.
See the webinar about Dr. Carvalho’s project:
Creation of Online Kannada Script Database and Repository
Caleb Simmons, Department of Religious Studies and Classics
This project is aimed at collecting, cataloguing, and making accessible examples of the premodern and early modern scripts of Kannada, the South Indian language of Karnataka, via an online database and repository. Its goal is to capture the variety of Kannada scripts prior to the advent of the modern standardized print Kannada and preserve the wealth of its historical, aesthetic, and linguistic literature. The web-based database and repository would allow Kannada teachers and students to search through Kannada paleography from specific periods and regions with examples from original documents (i.e. inscriptions, manuscripts, paintings). This database will be an ideal resource for those interested in Kannada and the culture and history of Karnataka.
Internet Freaks and Cultural Politics in South Korea
Sunyoung Yang, Department of East Asian Studies
This research aims at conducting anthropological field research in South Korea from May 7 to June 30, 2017, with a focus on Internet cultures of Korean youths in relation to digital literacy and cultural politics. This research is a follow-up to Yang’s Ph.D. dissertation, as well as a part of her book project titled Loser Aesthetics: Internet Freaks and Cultural Politics in South Korea. This book challenges the image of Internet loners as social outcasts by showing how Internet users in South Korea provide a serious critique of the accelerated capitalist conditions in which they and their fellow citizens find themselves. The proposed research will help Dr. Yang to apply for external funding from the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program. This on-site research will also enable her to consult with experts in South Korea about developing technology enhanced language learning for Korean language courses at the University of Arizona.
See the webinar about Dr. Yang’s project: