The Center for Middle Eastern Studies is hosting an in-person book launch at The University of Arizona on September 22nd, 2023. CERCLL is a co-sponsor of this event.
Mahmoud Azaz, Associate Professor in MENAS, will present his book Instructed Second Language Acquisition of Arabic, followed by a Question and Answer session. There will be a small reception afterwards, to discuss the ideas more informally.
Agreement asymmetries or irregularities between two linguistic units in terms of formal features (particularly gender and number) represent some puzzling aspects in the grammatical system of Arabic. These asymmetries manifest in multiple morphosyntactic phenomena including nominal disagreement, verbal disagreement, referential disagreement, and numeral disagreement. They have driven some scholars to include Arabic among languages with ‘rogue’ or ‘wild’ grammars. In this book launch talk (Routledge Press), Azaz presents a descriptive overview of these phenomena. After that, he discusses the results of a cluster of evidence-based research studies that examined how to improve the L2 learning of these asymmetries. Using contextualized input-based, output-based, and conversational form-focused instruction, he shows the comparable effects of these learning conditions in the development of explicit and implicit knowledge of asymmetries. The book engages in four recent debates in instructed second language acquisition: whether incidental exposure develops implicit and/or explicit knowledge in morphosyntax; the possibility of parallel routes for input-based and output-based effects in restructuring interlanguage; whether direct instruction impedes the acquisition of implicit knowledge; and to what degree learning gains are modulated by the inherent characteristics of the target features such salience and differential feature mismatch. The book provides implications for SLA/applied linguistic researchers, instructors, curriculum designers, and textbook writers of Arabic.
➣ There are more details about Dr. Azaz’ new book on the Routledge website, where you can also purchase the volume.
A webinar presented by Deb S. Reisinger, Ph.D, Duke University and Joan Clifford, Ph.D, Duke University
September 6th, 2023, at 10 am Arizona time
Dr. Clifford and Dr. Reisinger’s Presenter Slides
Abstract:
Language programs are struggling to articulate their value to students and administrators. As career choice and credentialization continue to drive student decision-making, the decline in language enrollments seems to confirm waning interest in language learning. Language program faculty realize they must be more explicit in articulating their learning outcomes and are responding in various ways. Some programs have returned to their core values to remind students that the skills they develop in learning a language will help them become interculturally competent critical thinkers. Others have reassessed their program design by developing innovative certificates or tracks, such as Business Spanish, Translation Studies, or French for the Professions.
Despite its clear applications to career readiness and the practical nature of the service experience itself, Community-based language learning (CBLL) has not received the same strategic attention. Its development and expansion, however, present multiple ways to draw students to our programs and to clearly demonstrate how language studies will have an impact on the broader world.
In addition to framing service learning as an immersive experience oriented to social change, programs may wish to consider positioning CBLL as a place to develop transferable skills for career readiness. Our community-engaged colleagues in the STEM fields describe “client-based” and “project-based” experiences that tackle real-world problems. Why not frame CBLL within this broader context and help students make connections to their larger goals, which include career and self-development, teamwork, leadership, and professionalism?
In this webinar, presenters draw on two decades of experience in community-engaged and internship-based courses to share research-based outcomes, sample courses and modules for workplace development, and practices to develop these transferable skills within community and workspace contexts.
Bios:
Deb S. Reisinger is Professor of the Practice of French in the Department of Romance Studies at Duke University. She is Director of Duke’s Language Outreach Initiatives, Associate Director of the Markets and Management Studies Program, and Affiliate Faculty in the Duke Global Health Institute. Deb is passionate about establishing connections between language proficiency and the disciplines. She is the author of Crime and Media in France (Purdue 2007), co-author of Community-based Language Learning (2019, with Clifford), and lead author of the textbook Affaires globales: S’engager dans le monde professionnel en francais, niveau avancé (Georgetown Press, 2021), as well as numerous articles on language pedagogy, French for the Professions, and community-based learning. She chairs the World Languages Advisory Committee to the College Board and has directed study abroad programs for over 20 years. She was recently awarded the Chevalier des Palmes Académiques from the French Republic.
Joan Clifford, PhD, is Associate Professor of the Practice in Spanish in the Department of Romance Studies and Director of Duke Service-Learning. Duke Service-Learning provides resources to faculty and staff to further purposeful university-community partnerships in academic-based community engagement. She also regularly teaches courses that include a community-based component and advises undergraduate students conducting independent research projects tied to health issues within Latine communities. Her experiences abroad include directing global education programs in Chile, Mexico, and Spain. She is co-author of Community-based Language Learning (2019, with Reisinger). Her research interests include the intersections of language and community-engaged pedagogies and intercultural communicative competency.
Looking for more resources?
See the book written by the presenters:
Community-based Language Learning offers a new framework for world language educators interested in integrating community-based language learning (CBLL) into their teaching and curricula. CBLL connects academic learning objectives with experiential learning, ranging from reciprocal partnerships with the community (e.g., community engagement, service learning) to one-directional learning situations such as community service and site visits.
This resource prepares teachers to implement CBLL by offering solid theoretical frameworks alongside real-world case studies and engaging exercises, all designed to help students build both language skills and authentic relationships as they engage with world language communities in the US. Making the case that language learning can be a tool for social change as well, Community-based Language Learning serves as a valuable resource for language educators at all levels, as well as students of language teaching methodology and community organizations working with immigrant populations.
Participants attending live can request a certificate of attendance for 1.5 hours of Continuing Education during the event. They can request a digital badge after the webinar, once they are contacted by CERCLL after the event.
Participants who require closed captions or an ASL interpreter during CERCLL’s events should make this request at least a week in advance by emailing CERCLL at cercll@email.arizona.edu.
Presenters: Dr. Mahmoud Azaz (University of Arizona) and Dr. Hicham Assaoui (Virginia Military Institute).
Saturday August 12th, 2023
Registration in advance of this event was required, but there was no fee to attend.
This is a FREE workshop for Arabic instructors, on the use of interactive task-based learning to enhance linguistic complexity in Arabic classrooms. Participants discovered the potential of interactive task-based learning, and were given access to free educational resources for the teaching of Arabic, including sample learning tasks, lesson plans, and interactions.
The workshop recording is here:
Please note that this free workshop is intended for Arabic instructors and the presentation will be in Arabic, not English.
The resources have been created as part of a CERCLL project funded by CERCLL’s Title VI Language Resource Center grant, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the UArizona Graduate College. Link to be provided at the event!
The workshop is cosponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) and the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL), both at the University of Arizona.
Title: Performance-Based Activities for the World Language Classroom
Presenter: Melanie Mello, award-winning teacher and teacher-trainer, specializing in language acquisition and theater-pedagogy
Event Date: May 6th 2023
Time: 9:00 am to 2:00 pm (includes lunch)
Location: In-person at The University of Arizona, Tucson. (There are no remote access options for this event.)
Registration is free! It closes on April 24 or when the event fills.
LaTeS is now full, but you can add yourself to the waitlist on the LaTeS page.
Limited funding for travel is available. See the LaTeS page for more details about eligibility and how to apply.
LaTeS is normally a biannual in-person workshop at which K-12 language teachers can share ideas and issues that are specific to their community, and leave with methods and materials that they can implement into their own classrooms. Arizona Continuing Education is available. Because of the pandemic, we have not been able to host this event since 2019, and we are excited to be back in-person with LaTeS once again!
Abstract:
Recent studies found that participation in performative play can lead to significant improvement in cognitive functions, such as visual and auditory memory. This is because when we act we enter a state of full concentration and simultaneous relaxation allowing the brain to enter a processing mode in which previously stored information can be linked to new information improving retention (Ganz et al, 2020). Additionally, Drinko’s research on improv and neuroscience (2013) shows that performative practices help improvisers communicate more engagingly and interactively; accelerating language learner’s progress in proficiency in the interpersonal mode of communication.
In this workshop, participants will be introduced to several performance-based activities and concepts connecting improv, neuroscience, film, and language acquisition in theory and practice. After a couple of warm-up activities through which participants will learn how to control their voice and use their body to convey status and express feelings, we will try out several proven improv activities to explore firsthand how students’ communication and collaboration skills can be further developed through improv.
During the second half of the workshop, participants will be introduced to two drama-based pedagogical concepts developed by Ingo Scheller – Rollenbiographie and szenische Intpretation – that can be used in a variety of classroom activities. In this presentation, we will connect these ideas to a lesson focused on the study of a film. Both methods focus on the actor’s dramatic interpretation of the behavior patterns, feelings, and experiences of the character they represent based on their own personal feelings, thoughts, and experiences. In small groups participants will come up with their own dramatic interpretations of a “challenging” situation as presented in the movie Sachertorte (2022); a Vienna-based rom-com. After each group’s performance, we will watch the film scenes to compare our versions to the original.
About the Presenter:
Melanie Mello (M.A in Education) is an award-winning teacher and teacher-trainer, specializing in language acquisition and theater-pedagogy. In 2023, she was named Distinguished Alumna in Humanities and Fine Arts by her alma mater, California State University, Chico. She has taught German at the Saturday school, middle school, high school, and collegiate level since 2008 teaching classes ranging from beginner German to the graduate level. Melanie is currently co-authoring the intermediate level book in the Interkulturell series with Wayside Publishing. She is a German Educational Multiplier and Coach with the Goethe-Institut’s Teacher Training Program where teachers receive mentorship tailored to their needs.
Building on CERCLL’s Digital Literacies Project and the associated Second Language Digital Literacies symposium (L2DL), the Second Language Multimodal Literacies symposium (L2ML) will bring together educators, practitioners, and researchers, who share common interests in exploring the role of multimodality in contexts of second or multiple language and culture learning. This free, virtual event will include a series of digital presentations and discussions, including three invited talks by experts in the fields of multimodal language and literacy education. Recorded presentations will be available to view from April 17th, with asynchronous discussion leading up to the live events on April 21st and 22nd.
Invited Speakers:Denise Newfield, University of the Witwatersrand, South AfricaAna Oskoz, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USJennifer Rowsell, University of Sheffield, UK
In recent years, studies of multimodal communication and composition from education, literacy studies, and applied linguistics have fueled intense discussions about the place of non-verbal modes in the historically lingua-centric field of second language teaching and learning. These conversations and the research that supports them have been motivated by innovations in digital technologies, which encourage and enable the ready use of images, videos, and sounds in everyday acts of communication (e.g., Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; Lotherington & Jenson, 2011); but interest in second language multimodal literacies has also found theoretical buttressing in recent work in applied linguistics where language is conceptualized within a broader semiotic repertoire for meaning making (e.g., Busch, 2012; Li, 2017). Increasingly, there is a shared understanding that “In a profound sense, all meaning-making is multimodal” (New London Group, 1996, p. 81). However, there continues to be a need for research on the multimodal practices of multilingual speakers, and for the development of research-based practices for educators to integrate and assess multimodality into their language classes.The organizers of the L2ML symposium saught proposals that address these themes; the deadline to submit a proposal was January 12, 2023.
Visit the L2ML website for all the details and to register for this event.
We are hosting this Spring’s AZLA Café, in person
When: 14 April, 2023, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, MST. Stop by when you can!Where: American Eat Company, 1439 S 4th Ave, Tucson, AZ 85713
Free networking event for World Language educators! Join us for this informal meeting of language teachers. Bring your ideas and resources, and share with / learn from your peers.
Includes appetizers and a gift card drawing!
This event in the AZLA Café series is cosponsored by the Arizona Language Association (AZLA) and the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy at the University of Arizona (CERCLL).
Questions? Email AZLA
The Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL) will host the annual UArizona Language Fair on April 5, 2023, an event designed to raise the visibility of the wide range of languages that students study at The University of Arizona.
Departments, programs, and UA student clubs representing the languages and cultures taught at UArizona are hosting interactive activities that showcase the languages taught in their departments and spoken in their communities. The event is open to all students, faculty/staff, and visitors to campus.
Participants in the Fair enjoy free food, games and other activities that celebrate the benefits and opportunities that come from communicating in another language.
The following languages and cultures will be represented this year:
- American Sign Language and Deaf Studies
- Arabic
- Chinese
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Latin
- Persian
- Portuguese
- Slavic and Eurasian languages, including Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh, Bashkir, and others
- Spanish
With representatives from the following programs on hand, to share information about their offerings in language and culture as well:
- Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL)
- Center for English as a Second Language (CESL)
- College of Humanities
- Critical Languages Program – including Cantonese, Danish, Hindi, Korean, Modern Greek, Norwegian, Scots-Gaelic, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese
- Study Abroad
- World Literature
Join the fun on the UArizona mall!
This event is organized through the College of Humanities, and cosponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Center for East Asian Studies.
A webinar presented by Elyse B. Petit, Santa Rosa Junior College, California
March 22nd, 2023, at 10 am Arizona time
Presenter slides are here:
Download Petit’s Webinar Slides_DigitalStorytelling
Handouts are here:
Abstract:
Digital Storytelling (DS) is a textual narrative embedded with other modes of communication. It consists of a “short, two to three-minute mini-film usually based on still photos brought into a multimedia format with a textual narrative read with the narrator’s voice” (Lundby, 2008, p.366). Many studies have examined the integration of digital stories in educational settings. Still, studies have yet to explore DS in Foreign Language/L2 learning contexts and the beneficial impact on students’ cognition, language learning, and technology and media skills. Inspired by the Story Center’s movement and mission to “create spaces for listening to and sharing stories” and to provide “skills and tools that support self-expression, creative practice and community building” (https://www.storycenter.org), Dr. Petit uses the Story Center’s steps into the curriculum to help students to produce personal and unique digital narratives in L2.
Through samples drawn from learners’ productions, this webinar will present how digital narratives engage students with all language modalities (writing, reading, listening, and speaking), combine various modes (soundtracks, voiceovers, and images) and genres (interviews, documentaries, and moving and still images), and develop coherent narratives in which they can express their emotions and values.
In this webinar, participants will 1) define digital storytelling and reflect on what it entails in foreign/L2 language classrooms.; 2) consider the challenges and strategies to organize and assess digital storytelling projects; and 3) discuss how to implement DS in their teaching context.
Bio:
Elyse B. Petit, a native of southern France, is Faculty and Program Coordinator in French at Santa Rosa Junior College, California. Before earning her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at the University of Arizona, she taught French as a Foreign Language in K-12 settings in France and the United States. Her research interests focus on designing curricula and teaching materials that promote visual and media literacies and intercultural competence and foster social justice awareness. She is currently working on developing a lower-level French curriculum grounded in Multiliteracies, further enhanced through the integration of Slow Teaching and Eco-Pedagogy approaches. She is also interested in designing classroom projects around media productions and digital storytelling to support learners’ creativity, voice, and agency.
Participants attending live can request a certificate of attendance for 1.5 hours of Continuing Education during the event. They can request a digital badge after the webinar, once they are contacted by CERCLL after the event.
Participants who require closed captions or an ASL interpreter during CERCLL’s events should make this request at least a week in advance by emailing CERCLL at cercll@email.arizona.edu.
A webinar presented by Christelle Palpacuer Lee, Rutgers University.
February 28th, 2023, at 10 am Arizona time.
Download the presentation slides here.
Abstract:
In this webinar, we will connect with the material, creative, and embodied dimensions of L2 learning and teaching, by examining what we can learn from, at, and with the art museum. We will engage with the following questions: ‘What is a museum?’, ‘How do museum-based and pedagogies of multiliteracies intersect?’ and ‘How can I engage L2 learners with (art) museum texts across sites of practice?’ This webinar will provide answers to these questions with a specific focus on the PreK-16 world language classroom, using texts from diverse museums, as well as instructional and experiential strategies drawn from research and from various collaborative projects. First, we will interrogate the art museum as a space of possibilities for language learning and teaching. This will lead us to consider museums as dynamic, situated and multilayered texts and to discuss multimodality, intercultural dialogue, and democratic engagement. Second, we will explore the intersections of pedagogies of multiliteracies with creative, embodied, sensory and material approaches to language and literacies learning and teaching. Third, I will provide frames for engaging L2 learners with, at, and through museum texts, using examples and strategies from research and various projects. Participants will be invited to share their own ideas, strategies, and local practices to include in their own contexts. Finally, we will examine how our engagement with museums and museum texts can open up speculative spaces for the collective re-imagining of world languages and literacies education.
Bio:
Christelle Palpacuer Lee is Associate Teaching Professor in Language Education at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. In this role, she prepares community-engaged language educators as scholars, teachers, and advocates committed to equity, social justice, and solidarity in language education and beyond. Her work is situated at the intersection of language teacher education, the arts, and community engagement. She investigates the tensions and possibilities of knowing in informal spaces of learning through place-based, material, and multiliteracies pedagogical approaches. She conducts this collaborative and participatory work locally and internationally, at the museum, in virtual environments, and in community-based settings. Her work has been published in Foreign Language Annals, the L2 Journal, the International Journal of Multilingual Education, the NECTFL Review, and Language Teaching Research. She is currently working on a book that explores language teacher education at, and with, the art museum.
Participants attending live can request a certificate of attendance for 1.5 hours of Continuing Education during the event. They can request a digital badge after the webinar, once they are contacted by CERCLL after the event.
Participants who require closed captions or an ASL interpreter during CERCLL’s events should make this request at least a week in advance by emailing CERCLL at cercll@email.arizona.edu.
- CERCLL Summer Workshop Series
- Intercultural Competence Conferences
- Digital Literacies in and beyond the L2 Classroom: A Hybrid Symposium on Research and Practice (October 2014)
- Multilingual, 2.0? (April 13-15, 2012)
General Professional Development and Other Events
Lectures and Cultural Events
CERCLL sponsors and co-sponsors numerous public events throughout the academic year. If you would like to receive announcements about these and other language-related opportunities, join CERCLL’s mailing list here.
CERCLL’s NSF Grant and Related Events
A UA’s Linguistics symposium was about the National Science Foundation grant from the Cyberlearning: Transforming Education program that CERCLL received in 2013. Jon Reinhardt spoke about the digital materials produced by the project in “Augmented Reality Mobile Games for Language Learning and Revitalization”. Access the presentation here. (A closed symposium for Native American educators took place in Fall 2013 and was followed by a workshop on the Fort Mohave reservation on the CA/AZ border in February, 2014, while CERCLL’s June 7th, 2014, workshop also covered some of the topics of this project; there was a presentation in American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI)’s summer series in both 2014 and 2015 as well.)
Summer Workshop Series and the LATeS Symposium
CERCLL hosts professional development workshops each summer, as well as an annual language teacher symposium (LATeS).
Fall 2013 Workshops
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The first of two workshops presented with the Arabic Flagship program at the University of Arizona took place on December 14, 2013: Innovative Technology in the Language Classroom
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CERCLL began a relationship with the Confucius Institute at the University of Arizona that will bring professional development opportunities to Chinese teachers. The first workshop took place on December 7, 2013: Training Chinese Teachers in Communicative Language Teaching, presented by University of Arizona Assistant Professor Wenhao Diao. See CERCLL’s blog entry about this workshop.
Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and Digital Literacies
In July 2013, CERCLL was awarded funding from the National Science Foundation through its Cyberlearning: Transforming Education program. The symposium and workshops were conceived as an extension to CERCLL’s Games to Teach Project, bringing digital gaming to a new audience for CERCLL–the Native American community. It is co-led by one of the Games to Teach project directors, Dr. Jonathon Reinhardt, and by Dr. Susan Penfield, who was previously CERCLL’s Research Coordinator. CERCLL is partnering with the University of Arizona’s American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) for the first time, and bringing CERCLL’s activities to underserved communities through this program. See CERCLL’s blog entry on the symposium.
U.S. Department of Education Annual Bus Tour
CERCLL was included in the U.S. Department of Education’s 2013 bus tour which was intended to highlight early learning and “teachers as leaders”, among other things. Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier, Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education and Acting Assistant Secretary of Education, and Dr. Sharon Lee Miller, Director of the Division of Academic and Technical Education, took part in a roundtable at the University of Arizona on September 11, 2013. See CERCLL’s blog entries on the topic.