Keynote Address 

Culturally Speaking: Intercultural Competence and Attaining Advanced L2 Proficiency

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Preparing learners for careers that require professional proficiency in a given language demands a reexamination of curricula and materials used in our classrooms. For students of LCTLs, intercultural communication plays an increasingly critical role in move from ACTFL Intermediate to Advanced levels of proficiency. The interrelation between language and culture becomes central in the development and use of materials and the creation of level-appropriate tasks. This talk examines the use of authentic materials and realia in the attainment of intercultural competence and, ultimately, Advanced L2 proficiency.

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Biography

 

Thomas Jesús Garza is the UT Regents and University Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Director of the Texas Language Center, and Interim Director of the Arabic Flagship Program. He teaches Russian language and literature, foreign language pedagogy, and contemporary Russian culture.  He has been traveling to and researching in Russia since 1979 and has lived in Moscow for over six years.  A native Texan, Dr. Garza received his doctorate in foreign language education from Harvard University in 1987. He is currently President and a Board of Directors member of the American Council of Teachers of Russian, has served on the Delegates Assembly of the Modern Language Association, and has held positions on the board or editorial board of ACTFL, AAUSC, AATSEEL, and ASEEES.

 

During his twenty-seven-year tenure at the University of Texas, he has received numerous prizes for undergraduate and graduate teaching, including the Texas Excellence Award, the President's Associates Award, the Harry Ransom Award, was inducted into the University Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2003, and selected for a Regents Outstanding Teaching Award in 2009. He has written or contributed to several Russian language textbooks, including Russian Stage One: Live from Russia!, and has published numerous articles on contemporary Russian culture, including youth movements, changes in Russian lexicon, attitudes of Russian consumers towards Asia, and the vampire in Slavic culture.

 

He is currently teaching Russian in an intensive format, using a hybrid model of instruction that incorporates extensive use of Internet material and portfolio assessment. Dr. Garza also organizes and directs summer intensive courses in Moscow at the International University. In addition to studying the proficiency gains and benefits of intensive instruction, Dr. Garza’s current research concerns the attitudes of Russian youth toward the political opposition, and filmic portraits of machismo in contemporary Russian and Latino culture.

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Keynote Address 

Challenges and Potential in the Field of Southeast Asian Language Teaching:

Reflections from SEASSI

 

This talk will offer an overview of the history and current state of SE Asian language teaching in the U.S. with a reflection on the role of the Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute (SEASSI).   Before addressing the specific challenges of SE Asian language teaching, I will place the field in the broader context of foreign language teaching in the U.S. by commenting on some of the MLA recommendations for foreign language teaching that were made in 2007.  The challenges and potential for strengthening the field of SE Asian language teaching will be discussed with respect to the professional needs of instructors, the updating of teaching materials, the support of SE Asian programs, and outreach to student populations.  All of the above objectives require building connections and fostering collaborative ventures among a wide array of stakeholders including instructors, professors, administrators, colleges and universities that do (and do not) teach SE Asian languages, as well as government agencies that support SE Asian studies.  The talk will close with a number of specific suggestions for concrete collaborate projects that SE Asian language instructors may be interested in pursuing.

 

Biography

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Ellen Rafferty is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Language Director of the Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute (SEASSI). Ellen Rafferty taught courses and conducted research on Indonesian language, literature, and culture and sociolinguistics of Southeast Asia.  At UW Madison she served as the Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and the Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. At the national level, she served as President of the Consortium for the Teaching of Indonesian (COTI), Director of the Advanced Indonesian Abroad Program, and Vice President of the Council for the Teaching of Southeast Asian Languages (COTSEAL).

 

With funding support from the U.S. Department of Education grants, Ellen has been active in the field of Indonesian language teaching materials development since the early 1990s when she led a collaborative project with Erlin Barnard, David Hiple, and James Collins to develop the authentic Indonesian reader, Nah! Baca: Authentic Indonesian Readings, volumes 1 and 2 (https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/10580).  She is the lead author of the two textbooks, Let’s Speak Indonesian: Ayo Berbahasa Indonesia and Indonesian Grammar in Context: Asyik Berbahasa, Indonesia published by the University of Hawaii Press in 2014 (http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/books.aspx). She has also received grants to conduct collaborative projects to develop online, multimedia materials to teach Indonesian listening and reading skills. The listening modules, Warung Sinema, which are based on clips from popular Indonesian films, teach listening skills and cultural knowledge and are available at http://warungsinema.wisc.edu.   The reading lessons, Ayo Membaca: Indonesian Reading Lessons, which are based on texts from the mass media, teach reading skills and cultural knowledge and are available at http://ayomembaca.wisc.edu. 

 

Finally, with funding from the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UW Madison and other Southeast Asian National Resource Centers, Ellen collaborated with Dr. Erlin Barnard to coordinate two national projects to develop Oral Proficiency Guidelines for Indonesian and Filipino while working with the national organizations of Indonesian and Filipino teachers.  These two projects developed language specific descriptors for the ACTFL proficiency levels from Novice through Superior for Indonesian and Filipino based on data from oral proficiency interviews.    

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