Emerging Practice (Asynchronous - Online Only)
New Directions, New Minors: Building an Interdisciplinary Media Minor Offering Experiential Opportunities in Spanish-language Curriculum View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kirstie Hettinga, Sheridan Wigginton, La Verne Seales
In this research, we explore the planning and implementation of an interdisciplinary Spanish media minor that relies on leveraging existing resources to create new student opportunities at a small, private liberal arts university. In light of the institution’s Hispanic-serving identity, the creation of this new program is intended to build upon recent student demand. This program yields new opportunities for experiential learning in the humanities through online media content creation and recognizes the growth of multilingual audiences in the United States. This new minor combines the social science field of communication and the humanities fields of Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. Through a case study approach, the authors discuss the creation and institutionalization of an interdisciplinary Spanish media minor as a framework for the development of other collaborative programs. The current program came to fruition through a process including developing curriculum, exploring financial feasibility, and situating the program in the university’s mission and identity. Following a piloting of relevant courses in spring 2021, the faculty approved and the university ratified the new program for formal launch in fall 2021. The authors share outcomes such as enrollment and completion rates as well as internship and job placement rates; further, we discuss how other institutions can develop similar interdisciplinary programs.
Global English Meets Greek à la Mode: Glocalization Practices in Greek Fashion and Lifestyle E-magazines and Websites View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sophia Zevgoli
This paper explores a domain-specific hybrid register under development characterized by creative integration of English words/phrases into Greek text. While in the tradition of research on the impact of English on local languages, the study investigates how global English “collaborates” with Greek towards a hybrid register produced for a particular effect and a particular audience. For this purpose, it discusses and categorizes language data from Greek fashion and lifestyle e-magazines and websites, where English words/phrases are extensively employed (e.g. Stay tuned για πολλές fun & celebrate ιδέες…) and even co-occur with archaic Greek elements (Αυτό το red flag μπορεί... Τούτου λεχθέντος,..,). The effects produced by these linguistic choices, which have not yet received much attention in the literature, and the reasons for them are discussed. This paper contributes to sociolinguistic discourse about the implications of the spread of English. Steering clear of viewing English as a threat to local languages, it considers whether this hybrid register under development may be viewed as resulting from the interplay between (i)the global spread of English, and (ii)the implementation of local linguistic practices. Seen through this prism of glocalization, fashion and lifestyle e-magazines and websites may be treated as a domain where global English and (formal/archaic) Greek enter a dialogic relationship as partners, which provides fertile ground for creativity and innovation inside the Greek language. Clearly, more quantitative data research is necessary before one is justified in speaking of an established hybrid register. This is the next step in this project.
Critical Incidents in Teaching Professional Editing: Perception, Practicum, Pivot View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Claudette Coote Thompson
This paper presents the outcomes of a practicum substitution that a lecturer of Professional Editing made during the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Through technology and networking the practicum was brought to graduate students. The medium through which instruction was provided also facilitated connection that resulted in simulation of a practicum placement and access to authentic academic manuscripts for practice. Another outcome that informed the design of this course emerged from the proactive planning with participants. Their willingness and initiative to identify feasible substitutes for the practicum, unearthed that their perception of academic texts was different from the emphasis of the course. Further their training, practice and grammarian orientation initially limited the scope for editing academic texts. Using content analysis of student reflection and two rounds of manuscripts editing practice by selected students, the writer identifies and discusses themes, describes the pivot, and graduate students’ evolution from essay markers to emerging copyeditors of academic texts. The outcome of this qualitative inquiry has implications for professional writing pedagogy. The findings show instructors of communication and academic writing, ways to build on the existing language arts competences of undergraduate and graduate students seeking to retool.
Transitioning from a Study Abroad Cultural Immersion Course to an On-Campus Culture Course: Lessons Learned from Online Language Teaching and Learning during the Pandemic View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Cathy Culot
This paper first shows how a study abroad language and culture course in Belgium was transformed into a regular in-person French language and culture course with the benefits of online teaching tools developed during the pandemic. Second, lessons learned from this transition of delivery methods for a culture course are discussed. Finally, suggestions for increasing the effectiveness of online and in-class pedagogical methods used to teach language and culture are offered.
