Teaching Of Portuguese Research Articles

Why the hell are cuss words not included in teaching Portuguese as foreign language?!

This brief study of Brazilian swear words is an attempt to understand the non-inclusion of swear words in the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language as they are considered as taboo lexicon from the point of view of the institutionalized normative standard language supervised periodically by the Academies. I argue that, since the swear words form a part of the repertoire of popular colloquial vocabulary, they represent the popular culture through their intensity of emotional expression and contextual use. I use the Theory of Lexiculture, proposed by Galisson (1987), and Functional Grammar, by Halliday (2004), to argue that swear words should be introduced through figures of speech such as euphemism and dysphemism, as well as comparisons between swear words of native language of the learner and that of the target language to give the learner a better understanding of the emotional aspect of the language and to foster better pragma-linguistic, socio-pragmatic competence and intercultural competence for the learner of Portuguese as a Foreign Language.

Quadrinhos em aulas de português para estrangeiros

Addresses the use of comics as didactic material for the teaching of Brazilian Portuguese for foreigners. The conception of comics as a window display of a target-culture (VERGUEIRO; RAMOS, 2009) is the starting point to discuss the possibilities of using them as facilitators to the development of linguistic-communicative and intercultural competences, required to foreign students by the current society. The article selects the “apologies” as Speech Acts (AUSTIN, 1967; GOMES, 2010) as example and suggests didactic strategies for the use of comics, taken as pedagogic tools to teach linguisticinteractional and communicative patterns in classes of Portuguese for foreign students. Partial results indicate students’ improvement in terms of making linguistic choices during interactional situations.

Literacy and Reading for the 21st Century

Each textual genre requires a specific approach by the reader. She needs to understand the composition of the texts, the languages that are articulated in it, in order to notice the singularities of literary texts and the symbolic systems they involve. The ‘Redigir’ Project develops and makes available, free of charge, activities to be used by teachers of Portuguese. The project deals, among others, with literary texts, exploring their comprehension from a perspective of literary and digital literacy, multimodality, and multiliteracy studies. Our goal is the development of students’ reading skills and the training of teachers who will help the students improve their reading skills of diverse textual genres on printed and digital media. Our proposals include activities about contemporary poetry, whose authors are interviewed by our team. There are also proposals involving the creation of picture books exploring augmented reality. We aim to contribute to the teachers’ training and help them put into practice recent literary and linguistic theories, working in a meaningful, critical and transformative way.

Research: an insight on how it is valued by Portuguese and English teacher educators

ABSTRACTThe quality of how teachers are being prepared is seen as a priority in the twenty-first century and engagement with research is often considered a crucial element of initial teacher education programmes. Institutional and national contexts have an impact in the way research is valued. This paper investigates the perspectives of Portuguese and English teacher educators towards the value given to research in initial teacher education. Interviews were completed with teacher educators working within different kinds of higher education institutions—university, polytechnic and teaching-led university. Results suggest that research has a significant presence and relevance in all cases but is valued differently

Students’ Characteristics and Teachers’ Estimates about Their Academic Achievement

Abstract The relation between teachers’ expectations and students’ academic achievement has received considerable interest in the education and psychology domains. In this study, we analyze the extent to which the information about students influences the formulation of teachers’ estimates about their achievement. The sample consisted of 491 Portuguese teachers, aged between 26 and 82 years old (M age = 43 years). To assess the teachers’ estimates, we created excerpts containing information about hypothetical students, in relation to whom an estimate of academic success was required. Each excerpt had two versions (A and B), according to the more or less favorable information regarding students’ intellectual, family, self-regulation, and previous performance variables. The results show moderate differences between the estimates of the participants that received version A and those that received version B. The results are discussed considering the importance of a set of student characteristics for the way teachers develop estimates about student performance.

Portuguese as a Welcoming Language for forcibly displaced immigrants in Brazil: some principles for teaching in light of Interculturality

ABSTRACT This paper presents some results obtained from a Master’s research study whose objective was to suggest principles for the teaching of Portuguese as a Welcoming Language - PWLg - (AMADO, 2013; LOPEZ, 2016; LOPEZ & DINIZ, in press; among others) for forcibly displaced immigrants in Brazil. Supported by Indisciplinary Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006), the present work analyzes the discourse of coordinators, teachers, and students in order to highlight their perspectives on the process of teaching and learning Portuguese in this context. Based on the results, I suggest the teaching of PWLg to be based on some principles of Interculturality (MAHER, 2007), established through two main dimensions of action: the immigrants’ political strengthening and the surrounding education.

A precarização do trabalho docente em Portugal

The aim of this article is to analyze the educational reforms carried out in Portugal since the 1990s and its operationalization in order to increase the precariousness of teaching work. Since the end of the 1980s, when Portugal joined the European Economic Community, under the guidelines of the agreements signed with the International Monetary Fund and, consequently, the privatizations, the implementation of a series of political-economic and labor reforms led to the expansion of work precarious. For the purpose of this analysis, we privilege two elements that constitute the precarious work of the teaching category: the flexible forms of contracting and the salary tightening. In this study, we used bibliographical research, documental and semi-structured interviews. We noted that in the last 27 years the application of several laws contributed to the expansion of the precarious work of Portuguese teachers, especially in relation to temporary contracts and wage cuts. Keywords: precarious teacher work, flexibleness, wage squeeze.

A precarização do trabalho docente em Portugal

The aim of this article is to analyze the educational reforms carried out in Portugal since the 1990s and its operationalization in order to increase the precariousness of teaching work. Since the end of the 1980s, when Portugal joined the European Economic Community, under the guidelines of the agreements signed with the International Monetary Fund and, consequently, the privatizations, the implementation of a series of political-economic and labor reforms led to the expansion of work precarious. For the purpose of this analysis, we privilege two elements that constitute the precarious work of the teaching category: the flexible forms of contracting and the salary tightening. In this study, we used bibliographical research, documental and semi-structured interviews. We noted that in the last 27 years the application of several laws contributed to the expansion of the precarious work of Portuguese teachers, especially in relation to temporary contracts and wage cuts. Keywords: precarious teacher work, flexibleness, wage squeeze.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) for Teaching Portuguese for Foreigners: A Case Study

Education is experiencing a period of change and the traditional models of education adopted by universities need to go through innovative processes to democratize knowledge, attract new learners and optimize resources. The use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) can contribute to such changes. However, studies on the reuse of OERs and language courses in the MOOC format are still scarce. To this end, the aims of this study are (a) to verify whether the OER production cycle proposed by Zancanaro (2015) in his framework could be used in part for the production and supply of MOOCs and (b) to present the production and to offer a process of the Portuguese Teaching MOOC for Foreigners (MOOC-PFL), developed at the Regional University of Blumenau. This is a case study that shows a production and offers cycle comprising the phases of analysis and design, coding, evaluation, dissemination and offering. Considering it was the first experience of the University with a MOOC course, it exceeded expectations, provided an increase in the institution’s and city’s visibility, contributed to the demystification of the OER use by the production and offer team and generated incentives for the production of new levels.

A variação pronominal de segunda pessoa: contribuições da sociolinguística para o ensino de língua portuguesa

A tradição gramatical registra tu e vós como pronomes pessoais do caso reto. No português brasileiro falado, contudo, há a variação tu/você e a substituição de vós por vocês. Neste artigo, sabendo do distanciamento existente entre o funcionamento da língua em uso e o ensino escolar de Língua Portuguesa, apresentaremos a visão de gramáticos tradicionais e livros didáticos para, em seguida, refletir, com base na perspectiva teórica da Sociolinguística Variacionista (LABOV, 2008), como esse fenômeno variável pode ser abordado na educação básica, de modo que contemple as diversas variedades linguísticas.

Constituência sintática, ambiguidade estrutural e aula de português: o lugar da teoria gramatical no ensino e na formação do professor

O artigo elege um tópico de teoria sintática – a constituência sintática –, tal qual abordada, por exemplo, em manuais introdutórios de Gramática Gerativa, para justificar a importância do ensino de gramática na educação básica bem como na formação do professor de português. Para tanto, parte de uma revisão de cinco testes de constituência sintática, utilizados no âmbito da teoria Gerativa, para identificar constituintes sujeitos a determinadas operações. Sugere-se que tais testes podem ser utilizados na desambiguação de sentenças estruturalmente ambíguas, o que se revela como importante recurso na construção de textos, servindo, por isso mesmo, à construção de diferentes sentidos. O corolário das reflexões aqui propostas é o reconhecimento do lugar e da importância do ensino de gramática – com contribuições advindas da démarche própria da Gramática Gerativa.

On the Future of Hispania: Reflections on Disciplinary Specialization

On the Future of Hispania:Reflections on Disciplinary Specialization Benjamin Fraser It is with great enthusiasm that I join Hispania's esteemed editorial team of Managing Editor Jennifer Brady, Assistant Managing Editor Conxita Domènech, and Book/Media Review Editor Domnita Dumitrescu. This is an exciting time for the journal and for the AATSP in general. I confirmed this when I attended the "Celebrating One Hundred Years of Hispania" session at the 2018 MLA Convention in New York. With Shannon M. Polchow presiding, Frank Nuessel as respondent, and presentations by Brady, Dumitrescu, and Luis Álvarez Castro, this AATSP-allied session showcased the value that comes from continually rethinking our past and present as a way of engaging the future of our flagship journal. As is clear from the content of the ambitious and inspiring Centenary Issue of Hispania (100.5, note that this issue is available to members and non-members alike as a free download at www.hispaniajournal.com), teachers of Spanish and Portuguese continue to respond to the challenges of our time with innovative solutions. The visionary essays and responses included in that issue, edited by Sheri Spaine Long with Guest Editor Frank Nuessel, have sparked important conversations about the future directions of research and education by members of the AATSP. In this brief message, I would like to address some of the concerns implicit in our collective discussion of these future directions. I offer the following brief remarks as a way of identifying topics that members of the association are likely thinking through at this cultural moment. Yet I also want to reaffirm the commitment of Hispania to the mission and primary strength of the AATSP. As the child of parents who taught at the K-12 and college levels, I believe that the intellectual diversity of the membership of the AATSP is its primary strength. As indicated in the mission statement approved by the Executive Council on October 6, 2010, the AATSP is dedicated to promoting the teaching of languages, literatures, and cultures "at all levels of education" and to encouraging "the exchange of pedagogical and scholarly information" (available at www.aatsp.org). I believe that this diversity sets us apart from other professional associations or organizations that might be perceived as having a similar focus. In addition to our capacious approach, our collective insistence on the significance of Spanish and Portuguese in the twenty-first century is unique. By this I mean the recognition that specialized scholarship of all kinds—whether it is packaged and labeled as pertaining to pedagogy, heritage learners, second/third language acquisition, linguistics, sociolinguistics, language for professions/specific purposes, literature, film, cultural studies, or any other (sub-)disciplinary formation, for example—contributes to our mission and our broader sense of community. What unites us all is our understanding that these specialized areas of inquiry are interdependent. It is instructive to view Spanish and Portuguese with a lens borrowed from Jane Jacobs, who saw the modern city as a problem in organized complexity. Similar to the heterogeneity that characterizes the city, Hispania is a meeting ground for specialized discourse, just as it is a gathering space for the intellectual diversity of the AATSP. It is neither a specialized journal nor a general journal, at least in the way these terms are commonly used; but rather, it is both at once. Its primary strength stems from an implicit assumption about our readership that could [End Page 347] be phrased as an interdisciplinary optimism. If one accepts this premise, Hispania's readers are interested in the movement from the specialized paper to the general concern, and back again. Our readers are likely grounded in one area, but interested in at least one other, or perhaps two or three others. We understand that our broader community is forged through specific contexts, but predicated on the balance between depth and breadth. It may be evident that I do not ascribe much weight to the binaries that tend to be implicit when we talk about the needs of K-16 teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. To continue with terms from the AATSP mission statement: pedagogical information informs scholarly information, and scholarly information informs pedagogical information; nor do...

Once Again 'On the Threshold': Innovative Scholarship in Hispania in the Twenty-First Century Invests in Pedagogy and Partnerships

Once Again 'On the Threshold':Innovative Scholarship in Hispania in the Twenty-First Century Invests in Pedagogy and Partnerships Jennifer Brady 1. Introduction In his 1917 essay "On the Threshold," published in the first issue of Hispania, Associate Editor Lawrence A. Wilkins states, "We stand at the threshold of new things in modern languages in the school and college world. Never before in the United States has there been in the field of modern languages such a breaking of the idols, such a groping for readjustment of ideas, such a need of new nation-wide orientation as that which we see at present" (4). In the year 2018, Hispania is once again on the threshold of innovation, mirroring what is happening in the specified fields of Luso-Brazilian and Hispanic Studies in higher education. University language and culture faculty in the United States are implementing new modalities of curriculum, student success, and scholarship. These educators are faced with balancing innovation and collaboration across fields, while maintaining specialties in classroom curriculum and in research projects, as national policy and university budget cuts threaten language and cultural higher education programs across the country.1 Once again, we are at a moment of reorientation of priorities, of "readjustment of ideas" like Editor Wilkins penned in 1917. Providing dynamic world language and culture programs at US universities offers a path to student success. In fact, one of the research questions of the 2017 report by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' (AAAS) Commission on Language Learning, America's Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century, emphasizes the central role of studying language as a way to reorient priorities in US education. The AAAS Commission sought to find solutions to the following question: "How does language learning influence economic growth, cultural diplomacy, the productivity of future generations, and the fulfillment of all Americans?" (v). Their inquiry accentuates language study not as a single disciplinary pursuit, but rather as an inherently inter-, trans-, and cross-disciplinary journey. As readers of this essay surely know firsthand, when US undergraduate university students study a language other than English, they learn more than just communicative proficiency.2 "The study of a second language has been linked to improved learning outcomes in other subjects, enhanced cognitive ability, and the development of empathy and effective interpretive skills," states one of the key findings of the AAAS report (viii), among other lifelong skills and habits. Offering more varied opportunities for US university students to pursue Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies opens doors for collaboration between specified fields and highlights the importance of dynamic pedagogies. University programs in Language for Specific Purposes (LSP), for example, recognize the success of cross- and interdisciplinary learning (see M. Long's recent anthology for more information about LSP programs). Undergraduate programs for majors and minors in Spanish and Portuguese are adjusting to accommodate cutting-edge curriculum (such as LSP courses, internships, experiential-based learning, and study abroad [End Page 489] programs) and to maintain established curriculum that is effective in reaching student success outcomes (such as literature and film studies). With pressures from policy makers and university administrators, Spanish and Portuguese language and culture educators must continue 1) to adjust to meet students' needs (e.g., to create career-focused curriculum, experiential learning opportunities, etc.), and 2) to offer dynamic programs that contribute to helping students become well-rounded, creative thinkers who do good in their communities and in the world. In its role as the academic flagship journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), Hispania monitors trends in the teaching and research of Spanish and Portuguese, such as the ones described above. The journal responds appropriately to this ever-changing landscape in articles, special issues, and features (see Hispania's Centenary Issue [Long and Nuessel], and guest articles penned by Carreira and Maddox for recent examples of the journal's commitment to shaping the future of the teaching and learning of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies). Hispania's wide scope offers textual space for many types of research. Since 1917, articles in Hispania have examined themes on the threshold in areas of applied linguistics, cultural studies, culture, film...

PreK–5 Foreign Language Programs: No Longer an Endangered Species?

PreK–5 Foreign Language Programs:No Longer an Endangered Species? Mary Jo Adams Keywords early language learning/aprendizaje de idiomas en escuela primaria, FLES, FLEX, immersion/imersión, teaching and learning/enseñaza y aprendizaje Challenges facing foreign language instruction in the United States are particularly acute in preK–5 programs. However, the rise of dual language immersion programs in this country represents a bright light in regard to elementary foreign language instruction. Dual language programs are being added and expanded across the country at a quick pace. Two years ago, the New York Times reported, "40 dual-language programs for elementary, middle, and high school levels would be created or expanded for the 2015–16 school year" (Harris 2015). In North Carolina, over the past ten years the number of dual-language and immersion programs has grown from programs at seven schools to over 100 programs, many of which start in Kindergarten (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction). Maryland's Howard County Public School System is leading the way in their state by significantly increasing their K–12 language offerings. The state of Utah boasts 138 schools offering dual language immersion programs, 106 of which are in elementary schools (Utah State Board of Education). Despite the growth of these programs, there are very few teacher-training programs that exist to prepare such teachers. With the rapid expansion of dual immersion programs, our profession may be faced with a teacher shortage. Dual immersion and elementary foreign language education require unique skills. Teacher training programs are critical to ensure sound, developmentally appropriate pedagogy. According to the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) report from 2009, "More than one quarter of all elementary school foreign language teachers are not certified at all. The percentage of elementary schools that reported having uncertified language teachers increased from 17% in 1997 to 31% in 2008" (Rhodes and Pufahl 2009: 4). More than ever, teacher training and certification programs will need to be accessible and affordable for new teachers entering the profession and for those that need additional training in order to be qualified to teach in dual immersion programs. A 2011 report on the effect of quality teachers on student achievement concluded, "The year-long and cumulative effects on student achievement of having a qualified teacher can be measured and have been found to be substantial" (Hightower et al. 2011). A Call for Research The need for strong elementary school foreign language programs must be made evident. However, these programs are expensive. To convince parents, school districts, and taxpayers of their value, strong evidence must be provided of their value. In a recent article by Kissau, Adams, and Algozzine (2015), [End Page 163] the researchers call for further research to support early language programs. Research on the motivational and proficiency related benefits of beginning language at an early age must be a priority. There is very little research conducted in the United States on the benefits of learning a language starting at a young age, yet there are plenty of excellent FLEX, FLES, and immersion programs that could offer valuable data and insight to proficiency outcomes in relation to early start programs. A Call for Excellence Public and private schools that offer early language programs (e.g., FLEX, FLES, immersion) need to be models and advocates for early language education. Many elementary school language teachers are responsible for developing curriculum and may not have the resources, training, or funding to guide their efforts in order to ensure program excellence. Therefore, teachers in early language programs must become professionally active in national and state foreign language associations such as the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), their respective language association, such as the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), and state organizations such as the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina (FLANC). If we desire a globally competent United States population, we must raise our students starting at a very young age to be so. We know that advocacy efforts have been in full force for decades, and are shown to be effective and therefore, must continue. Important advocacy events, such as Language...

Territorios, razas y etnias en la novela boliviana (1904–1952) by Willy Óscar Muñoz

Reviewed by: Territorios, razas y etnias en la novela boliviana (1904–1952) by Willy Óscar Muñoz Christine Beaule Muñoz, Willy Óscar. Territorios, razas y etnias en la novela boliviana (1904–1952). Cochabamba: Kipus, 2016. Pp. 297. ISBN 978-9-99745-901-5. Willy Óscar Muñoz has published widely about Latin American literature and theater, particularly on works produced by women in his native Bolivia. Territorios, razas y etnias en la novela boliviana forms part of a larger systematic study of classical Bolivian novels. This book offers a critical study of a number of major and less well-known novels, arranged chronologically, from Wata Wara (1904) by Alcides Arguedas to Yanakuna (1952) by Jesús Lara. During the first half of the twentieth century, Bolivia’s vast and varied regions were mostly traversed by mule or horseback. Bolivia’s ethnic and cultural variability is well represented in Muñoz’s selections. These two conditions—environmental and cultural variability—together form the warp and weft of the book’s theoretical fabric. The journey from one setting to another, from one landscape to another, and from one novel to another, is the central theme woven throughout each chapter, albeit more strongly in some chapters than in others. Bolivia’s cultural diversity is the first theme that Muñoz develops through his analyses of the racial struggles of the novels’ characters. Collectively, the chapters trace Bolivia’s national journey of becoming through this racial theme during those critical decades preceding the 1952 National Revolution. The relationships between the novels’ characters and those they encounter in their journeys are situated in those decades’ racial struggles in the Andes. In Wata Wara, the racial other is subjected to violence and exploitation, while the implied ownership over indigenous peoples is keenly realized in Yanakuna, published just before the 1952 revolution. The problems (or opportunities) associated with mestizaje during this period are explored in several selections, such as Antonio Díaz Villamil’s La niña de sus ojos (1946). Thus race, indigeneity, inclusion/exclusion, violence, and nationalism are intertwined in Muñoz’s analyses of selected literary works. Muñoz’s analyses highlight Bolivia’s vast and highly diverse natural environments, the book’s second thematic focus. This variability is especially evident in the contrasts presented by Jaime Mendoza’s (1911) En las tierras del Potosí (featuring a journey from Sucre to the southern altiplano mines), Diómedes de Pereyra’s (1928) El valle del sol (in the Amazonian lowlands), and Adolfo Costa Du Rel’s (1940) Tierras hechizadas (in the Chaco). These novels’ characters “marchan por territorios desconocidos por ellos . . . [creando] una conciencia de la heterogeneidad de los habitantes que existen en un territorio de profundos contrastes geográficos, territorialización que también pone de manifesto la fragmentación sociopolítica nacional” (16). For readers familiar with Bolivia’s diverse landscapes and cultures, the passages Muñoz quotes will evoke a strong sense of familiarity, despite the novels’ original publication over sixty years ago. For those who have not travelled there, the novels’ themes of race, the struggles to (re)create a nation in the collective consciousness, and the role of literature in larger sociopolitical contexts will resonate. This book will be of interest to scholars of race, nationalism, and the environment in Latin American literature. Coupled with selections from the eight novels highlighted, it would be a useful text (in whole or in part) in advanced undergraduate or graduate-level courses in Andean or indigenous literature. Muñoz’s introduction offers a useful exploration of the ideas illustrated in subsequent chapters, which need not be read in sequence to appreciate the author’s project. Although the book unfortunately does not have a concluding chapter to revisit and problematize its central themes, the larger project of offering one well-respected literary scholar’s views on an important period in Bolivia’s literary corpus is a worthy one indeed. [End Page 327] Christine Beaule University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Copyright © 2018 American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Inc

The AATSP: A Snapshot of the Present and a Vision for the Future

The AATSP:A Snapshot of the Present and a Vision for the Future Emily Spinelli On December 29, 1917 some 130 individuals gathered at the College of the City of New York for the first annual meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish. A terrible blizzard was underway in New York City that day and many attendees arrived late. The early founders of the organization had planned well and even with the difficult weather conditions, the meeting went on as scheduled and four papers were presented. In his history of the first seventy-five years of the AATSP, Richard B. Klein remarked, "It is worthwhile noting that the AATS was born at a difficult time of year, under egregious weather conditions, and at the height of World War I" (Klein 1992: 1037). Despite this difficult and inauspicious beginning, the AATS moved forward with its "devotion to things Hispanic" (Klein 1992: 1037) and its mission "to enhance the place of Spanish in the curriculum of the entire country" (Klein 1992: 1040). Membership began to increase, the size of the annual meeting expanded, and new member services were initiated. However, the next major development for the organization did not occur until December 1944 when Portuguese faculty members were admitted as members and the name of the organization became the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). These beginning years of the AATSP can be viewed as a metaphor for the hundred-year history of the organization as well as inspiration for the future. From its beginnings, through the middle years of the twentieth-century, and into the new millennium, the AATSP faced financial downturns, grim political situations, and challenging circumstances for the teaching of world languages. Because of the vision and determination of the membership and leadership, the AATSP expanded and became a model for other language-specific organizations. The present-day AATSP owes much of its success to the period of the late 1950s through the 1990s when the AATSP underwent tremendous growth and added programs and activities. After a financial downturn and decline in membership in the early years of the twenty-first century, the AATSP today is again financially stable, has a growing membership base topping 10,000, and has an increasing number of successful programs and publications. The following overview of the various programs and publications of the AATSP provides a snapshot of the organization in its centennial year and offers suggestions for continued progress. Membership and Member Benefits The demographic changes that occurred in the United States in the 1990s and early 2000s caused a major shift in the education system and society as a whole by replacing policies involving uniformity and "one size fits all" with policies reflecting individualization and "the customer is always right" (Spinelli 2004). Professional organizations that continued with a one-size-fits-all [End Page 9] approach to their programming began to face declining membership. This latter trend was well documented in Sarah L. Sladek's book The End of Membership as We Know It (2011) in which the author provided recommendations for organizations to maintain or improve membership numbers in a new reality. In order to attract new and retain current members, the AATSP has focused on increasing the number of member benefits without increasing dues and offering a greater variety of programs to appeal to more individuals. The AATSP currently offers a wide selection of professional development opportunities including the annual conference, webinars, scholarships and travel stipends for study abroad, as well as numerous events at the chapter level. Over the last decade the AATSP has created new publications in both print and digital format and improved the quality of the existing publications. The number of AATSP programs has increased and now includes National Portuguese Examinations, National Spanish Examinations, Online Classroom Resources, Phi Lambda Beta, Poster Contest, Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica, and the Sociedad Hispánica de Amistad. Notwithstanding the expansion in the number of programs and publications, the AATSP still faces two membership challenges: the need to continually attract new members and the need to establish a membership that is more or less equally divided between those at the K–12 level and those at...

Translation, Retextualization, and Didactic Sequence in the Teaching and Learning Process of Portuguese as a Foreign Language

Translation, Retextualization, and Didactic Sequence in the Teaching and Learning Process of Portuguese as a Foreign Language

The Future of K–12 Teacher Education: Spanish and Portuguese

US teacher education has been scrutinized for years. In this essay, the author discusses the four major questions that have driven educational reform. Afterward, a historical account of teacher education focusing on teacher certification, teacher testing, and the teaching of modern languages is presented. An international perspective is added by highlighting successful practices in Finland. The voices of several leaders in the field are also presented to offer readers insight into the future of language teacher education. The article concludes with proposals about future directions for language teacher education with particular attention given to the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese.

The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye Sheri Spaine Long (bio) Serving as Editor of Hispania for over eight years has been an unparalleled academic honor. As a teacher, researcher, and life-long learner, I have gained knowledge about countless matters in our fields because of the journal’s broad scope. Editing Hispania demands abundant reading and has provided a bird’s eye view of our changing discipline. This rich intellectual experience will serve me well as I begin my next professional challenge. It has been a privilege to serve as the gatekeeper of Hispania and to curate the work of the talented professionals who send their manuscripts to the journal for consideration for publication. There are, of course, many seasoned professionals who publish in the journal. Hispania is also a popular venue in which rising scholar-teachers compete for page space. For the latter group, I provided mentoring as part of my editorship through feedback and frequent interaction. Since 2010, I delivered more than 30 presentations, webinars, and workshops on the publication process in the United States and abroad. As I finish my tenure as Editor, one notes that Hispania’s content has evolved since 2010. When I took the helm from my esteemed predecessor, the late Janet Pérez, roughly 80% of the journal was focused on literature and literary criticism. Currently, articles related to literature occupy about 55% of the journal. The changing intellectual profile of the journal reflects a redefinition of the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese. The subject matter has broadened and more articles have been recently published in film and film studies, culture, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, languages for specific purposes, and the digital humanities. Hispania is now more interdisciplinary than in years past. The subheads that partition the articles have been slowly disappearing as disciplinary lines are blurred. Since 2010, there are two more notable changes: increased professionalization and internationalization. The journal has undergone considerable professionalization with the implementation of ScholarOne. The web-based submission and tracking system has improved the review process of submissions and shortened the time to decision. The journal receives approximately 300 manuscripts in various stages of development annually and boasts over 2,000 peer reviewers from all over the globe. While the majority of submissions still hail principally from the United States, the number of non-US submissions has doubled since 2010. Hispania’s acceptance rate has remained steady at 15–20%. The pace of a quarterly journal means that there is no down time between issues for the editorial staff. Therefore, the extra publication of the expanded fifth issue of Hispania (100.5, December 2017) was a significant accomplishment. I was fortunate to share the genesis, development, and several rounds of editorial work on the Centenary Issue with my distinguished colleague and Guest Editor Frank Nuessel of the University of Louisville. The issue’s unique structure and content kept us both occupied for more than two years of editorial bliss. I am especially pleased that the Centenary Issue is free to the public and can be downloaded at www.aatsp.org/page/Hispania. Throughout the years, I rarely worked alone. It truly takes a village to publish Hispania. First and foremost, I thank our Managing Editor Jennifer Brady (University of Minnesota Duluth) who has worked meticulously to produce many well-edited issues. I am also grateful for the [End Page 173] excellent skills of our Assistant Managing Editor Conxita Domènech (University of Wyoming) and our team of copyeditors and proof readers too numerous to name. I thank David Wiseman for his many contributions as Managing Editor in my early years and later as the AATSP’s Director of Publications. Also, it has been a privilege to collaborate with the incomparable Domnita Dumitrescu (California State University–Los Angeles), who is the Book/Media Review Editor. She has transformed and developed Hispania’s review section into a timely and relevant resource for educators and researchers in Spanish and Portuguese. I am grateful for the generous engagement of all members of Hispania’s Editorial Board. Among this elite group of Associate Editors, I owe a special thank you to María Carreira, Francisco Carriscondo Esquivel, David William Foster, Edward H. Friedman, Ethel Jorge, David...

Envisioning a Future of Re-examination of Foreign Language Teacher Education

Envisioning a Future of Re-examination of Foreign Language Teacher Education Comfort Pratt Keywords foreign languages/lenguas extranjeras, language proficiency/proficiencia de lengua, Portuguese/portugués, Spanish/español, teacher education/formación docente Response to "The Future of K–12 Teacher Education: Spanish and Portuguese" The precarious situation facing the foreign language community in the United States presages a future of re-examination of foreign language teacher education. However pervasive the shortage of foreign language teachers may be as evidenced by Swanson (2012, 2013), of equal concern are the target language proficiency levels and pedagogical skills of the teachers, as well as their knowledge about their students' motivations for studying the languages (Brooks and Darhower 2014; Pratt, Agnello, and Santos 2009; Rhodes and Pufahl 2008; Richards, Conway, Rosvist, and Harvey 2013), but I will limit my response to language proficiency. The Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers proposed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (ACTFL/CAEP) require preservice teachers of Portuguese and Spanish to have a minimum proficiency level of Advanced Low (ACTFL/CAEP 2013). This is also the widely accepted minimum requirement for certification. However, the literature indicates that students coming out of US foreign language undergraduate programs hardly ever achieve that level (Darhower 2014; Glisan 2013; Tedick 2013), and only 54% of teacher candidates attain Advanced Low oral proficiency (Glisan, Swender, and Surface 2013). Rhodes and Pufahl (2008) also report that more than one quarter of elementary school foreign language teachers are not certified, and the percentage of elementary schools that had uncertified language teachers increased from 17% in 1997 to 31% in 2008. VanPatten (2015) cautions about the dearth of experts in language acquisition and notes that the combined expertise (linguistics, language acquisition, language teaching) of tenure-line faculty members at PhD granting institutions in Spanish is about 20% and only 6% of them has expertise in second-language acquisition. That, to him, indicates a major lacuna in "language departments," and he questions: "Who is driving the bus of language development?" (2). He expresses the concern that since very few language experts are exiting doctoral programs, most of the people who will be at the helm of language departments and programs will not be language experts. He explains that "language acquisition is the place where the rubber meets the road" as language acquisitionists are the ones who have the best chance of informing language teaching(5). He adds that without a strong presence of language experts, there is a predominance of old myths such as the belief that language is a list of rules, which in my view explains the continued pervasive use of grammar-based curricula despite the abundant literature on the indispensability of communicative approaches for communicative competence. Therefore, school districts will increase the hiring of Spanish and Portuguese native speakers from other countries until there is a consistent flow of homegrown teachers who meet the [End Page 268] required language proficiency standards. The "Visiting Teachers from Spain in the USA and Canada" program of the Ministry of Education of Spain for example continues to gain popularity in school districts. Comfort Pratt Texas Tech University WORKS CITED ACTFL/CAEP. (2013). "ACTFL Program Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers." Web. 2 June 2016. PDF. Google Scholar Brooks, Frank B., and Mark Anthony Darhower. (2014). "It Takes a Department! A Study of the Culture of Proficiency in Three Successful Foreign Language Teacher Education Programs." Hispania 47.4: 592–613. Print. Google Scholar Darhower, Mark Anthony. (2014). "Literary Discussions and Advanced-Superior Speaking Functions in the Undergraduate Language Program." Hispania 97.3: 396–412. Print. Google Scholar Glisan, Eileen. (2013). "On Keeping the Target Language in Language Teaching: A Bottom-Up Effort to Protect the Public and Students." Modern Language Journal 97: 541–44. Print. Google Scholar Glisan, Eileen, Elvira Swender, and Eric Surface. (2013). "Oral Proficiency Standards and Foreign Language Teacher Candidates: Current Findings and Future Research Directions." Foreign Language Annals 46: 264–89. Print. Google Scholar Pratt, Comfort, Mary Frances Agnello, and Sheryl Santos. (2009). "Factors That Motivate High-School Students' Decisions to Study Spanish." Hispania 92.4: 800–13...