The University of the West Indies Faculty of Humanities and Education Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics RESEARCH NOTES Showcasing Research News from the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at the St Augustine Campus Issue 6 September 2019 ISSN 2519-5123 Contents 1 Words from the Head 3 Living among Strangers 8 Staff Publications 11 Dr Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier 13 Computing and Linguistcs 14 Schools of Education Biennial Conference 18 Mixed Methods Conference 22 The Many Facets of Mervyn C. Alleyne 24 Governing the Unruly 25 Recent PhD Graduates 27 MA Graduates 28 Visiting Lecturer 29 Research tips 30 Jounen Kwéyòl 2018 31 Undergraduate Research 38 Foreign Language Theatre Festival 42 Consciência Negra in Brazil 43 LusoFesta, Festa Junina Style DMLL Vision The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics of The University of the West Indies, St Augustine is a nationally and regionally renowned department engaged in teaching and research in academic writing, linguistics, modern languages and their literatures. We seek to develop in students the ability to analyse and interrogate languages and literatures for a multiplicity of purposes while facilitating cognitive and affective student learning that may be applied nationally, regionally and internationally. Research Notes is published by the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Editorial Office Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Faculty of Humanities and Education The University of the West Indies St Augustine Campus Trinidad & Tobago Phone: +1-868-662-2002 Ext. 83280 / 83027 / 84235 Fax: +1-868-663-5059 Email: mll.fhe@sta.uwi.edu Website: http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/index.asp Advisory Committee Dr Nicole Roberts - Editor Janique Dennis Adonis Díaz Fernández Dr Sandra Evans Dr Jo-Anne Ferreira Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Kellon Sankar Photography: Karisse Jackman (unless noted otherwise) Cover page: A section of the artwork titled Blissful Solace (Acrylic 36" x 30") by artist and UWI graduate, Dr Shalini Singh ISSN 2519-5123 Words from the Head Our Words and Our Work The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL)—a veritable clearinghouse for all language matters providing services for language needs and solutions to language issues in Trinidad and Tobago, the wider Caribbean and beyond. Our Department is one of Linguistics (Theoretical and Applied) and Romance Literatures and Cultures, focusing on six languages and their literary, cultural and social and relevance. We serve the entire Campus undergraduate and postgraduate population through our Foundation English academic writing courses and The Writing Centre (TWC); we host the Caribbean Interpreting and Translation Bureau (CITB) serving national needs, especially relevant in the current national refugee crisis; we offer the diagnostic and therapeutic services of our UWI Speech-Language Clinic for those needing remediation of communicative impairments and improvement in their quality of life; and we train students in theoretical and documentary linguistics research into myriad dimensions of the living and dying languages of the Caribbean. In this last year, 2018–2019, it has been my privilege to serve this Department, one of true excellence, as its Head. Once again, in DMLL’s Research Notes, we are delighted to showcase another year of achievements, focusing on our staff and students’ research and publications, and outreach to the wider community in a number of exciting, tangible and innovative ways. We started off the academic year with a bang, with our smallest Discipline/Section showcasing our Portuguese language and culture teaching and learning skills in our second edition of A Alma Brasileira— The Brazilian Soul. This is a soulful public outreach concert of Brazilian samba and bossa nova, celebrating Brazilian Independence. The month of Consciência Negra—Black Consciousness was later in focus, joining with Brazil in highlighting pressing issues affecting the African community of Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 1— Research Notes - Issue 6 Ph ot o: C ou rt es y Re yn ol d Ke vi n H ac ks h aw mailto:mll.fhe%40sta.uwi.edu?subject=Research%20Notes%20-%20Comments http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/index.asp Brazil and beyond (see page 42). The Section further organised a Postgraduate Opportunities Information Seminar on Study in Brazil, with the Embassy of Brazil. The undergraduates were not to be left behind, garnering all creative forces to put on the biggest and best LusoFesta (pronounced Loozofesta) ever (formerly Braspo), with a Festa Junina (June Fair) theme, a time for sharpened linguistic and cultural awareness (see page 43). Portuguese and Brazilian Studies ended the academic year the best way possible, by a two-week trip to Brazil. In Linguistics, students assisted in producing a brilliant newspaper supplement for International Day of Sign Languages (23 September). In October, the Month of both Creole and Calypso, staff and students of the DMLL (Linguistics and French) and the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA) came together to present our UWI Creole Day under the theme of Annou Alé Ansam (Triple AAA): Moving Forward Together! (see page 30). We highlighted the role of the Caribbean’s second language, French Creole/ Kwéyòl/Patois. Linguistics organised a field trip to Brazil Secondary School for the annual Sé Yon Bagay Patwa (It's a Patois Thing) concert by Women Working for Social Progress. The concert focused on the preservation and propagation of the Patois language and traditional cultural forms. Dr Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier hosted an introductory workshop on PRAAT (Dutch for ‘talk’), a freeware programme for the acoustic phonetic analysis of spoken language data, with many practical applications. In December 2018, in the year of 70 years of UWI (1948–2018), linguist Dr Robertha Sandra Evans was selected as one of The University of the West Indies’ 70+ Outstanding UWI Women over the years. In the celebration of graduates of the UWI across three of the campuses, one person represented each graduating class since 1948 to the present. Dr Evans represented the year 2013, and she was honoured for her outstanding work in Forensic Linguistics. That month, students virtually attended a Mona Abstract Writing Workshop, in preparation for the cross-campus “The Many Facets of Mervyn C. Alleyne Commemorative Conference” (see page 22). Mona also hosted the annual Cross- Campus Linguistics Disciplinary Cluster meetings. The academic year ended with the teaching practicum of our Postgraduate Diploma in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), once again working with refugees and asylum seekers. Both French and English Language underwent vigorous, intense and inspiring Quality Assurance Reviews, and both Disciplines led the way in student and campus outreach. French organised a brilliant Departmental Career Day, inviting past students to share Dr Jo-Anne S. Ferreira Senior Lecturer in Linguistics & Head of Department Issue 6 - Research Notes —2 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics their success stories, including a Francophone Poet, a Linguistics Researcher and Lecturer, Interpreters in Bangladesh, Chile and Trinidad & Tobago, a Multilingual Public Relations expert in France, a Translator in Brussels, a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) fluent in Spanish, a Project Manager, an Instructional Designer, a Researcher, with more vignettes of graduates in a large variety of fields, representing our Department, Faculty, Campus and University wherever they go. Our French students continue to study and work abroad in France. English Language organised its first Public Lecture, given by Professor Emeritus Christopher Thaiss (University of California, Davis) on “Writing Science: New Audiences, New Technologies, New Rhetorics.” It was the first in a planned series entitled “Academic Literacies and the 21st Century Tertiary-Level Student” (see page 28). Academic literacy is best taught by incorporating academic writing as discipline-specific literacy instruction. The importance and impact of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) continue to be highlighted. Our colleagues in Spanish took the lead in coordinating our 20th Foreign Language Theatre Festival, on Campus, with special events in Port-of- Spain, and it was a resounding success (see page 38). The Festival is now undergirded by the co-curricular course COCR 1045 Foreign Language Theatre in Performance. As the course outline notes, “Students have the opportunity to develop foreign language skills that are not easily acquired in the classroom… Students are prepared through the implementation and practice of various performing strategies, verbal and nonverbal expression techniques, as well as the understanding of both the characters and sociocultural context of a foreign language play.” Spanish continues to send students to Colombia and Spain. The Department says a heartfelt thanks and bids farewell to Dr Drayton Heitmeier (see page 11) and Gale Barbour-Pierre, after decades of service to the Department in their capacities as Lecturer in SLP and Secretary to the Head, respectively. We thank all of our dedicated temporary members of staff upon whom we so greatly depend. We give God thanks for an exciting and enriching year, with more graduates at all levels—BA, PG Dip, MA, MPhil, PhD, for being able to publish our work for various publics, our increasingly and always relevant and timely interdisciplinary research projects, and for making a difference, AAA-style, UWI-style. 3— Research Notes - Issue 6 Living among Strangers: Ben Braithwaite Discusses the Deaf Community in Trinidad and Tobago NR: Ben, tell us, how does a Linguistics Lecturer move from research on the Nuu-chah-nulth language spoken on the west coast of Canada to researching the Deaf community in Trinidad and Tobago? BB: When I was working on my PhD on Nuu-chah- nulth, I was living in the north of England, and studying a language spoken thousands of miles away in Canada. I was totally disconnected from the community of people who used the language. As I went on, that way of working became more and more problematic for me. I had no contact with the community. My work had no relevance to the community, only potentially to other theoretical linguists. When the opportunity to work at The UWI, St Augustine appeared for me, I saw it as an opportunity to do research in a more engaged and meaningful way. After I arrived in Trinidad, in 2007, I spent a year or two working out what I was going to do. I had a personal reason for being interested in sign languages. I had lived in Japan, in a previous life, and my best friend there was deaf. We became good friends and I learnt Japanese Sign Language from him, mostly through chatting in bars and playing in darts teams together. That was a life-changing experience. I had never learnt a language in that way before. In a fairly short time, my Japanese Sign Language was not only better than my Japanese, but it was better than the French which I’d taken for over 10 years at school. I thought of that experience when I came to Trinidad. Initially, I came into contact with hearing people, interpreters, teachers and researchers, and they had different opinions about what language deaf people used in Trinidad and Tobago. Some people said they used a kind of American Sign Language; some people said they had their own language. That also made me curious. So, I spent a lot of time making friends, joining organisations, going to deaf events, liming, and kind of replicating the model that I had established in the bars in Japan, though there were fewer bars involved in Trinidad and more churches! I wanted to make lasting, meaningful connections, and over time, that’s what has happened. NR: When we connected with you initially about this interview, you indicated that you felt that “members of the deaf community face social and economic exclusion.” Can you give us a sense of what you mean by that? BB: Yes. You can see this exclusion here at the University. Dr. Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier and I organised a conference at The UWI, St Augustine in 2010. We invited a lot of deaf people to come to the conference and to be presenters. Lots of people came, Dr Ben Braithwaite is a Lecturer in Linguistics in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. On return from a recent year-long sabbatical, he sat in conversation with Rómulo Guédez-Fernández and Dr Nicole Roberts to talk about his current research. Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Issue 6 - Research Notes —4 and for almost all of them, it was the first time they had ever been on campus. Almost no-one had had any reason to come to The UWI, St Augustine before. No-one was employed here. Almost no-one had any chance of getting admitted here. It was just not a place where deaf people were. Education has been a big part of the problem as far back as the 1940s, when the first deaf school was opened in Trinidad. Back then, the children were made to wear headphones. The teachers would have a microphone and they would blast sound into the kids’ ears and try to teach them to speak. For some people with a little bit of hearing and a lot of drilling, you can have a certain amount of success doing that. But for most, it was a disaster. The children were deprived of an accessible first language. They had limited access to English, and signing was banned. That can be catastrophic for an individual, to grow up without having full access to any language at all. In fact, these children made up a sign language among themselves, completely without the knowledge of and against the wishes of the teachers; they got beaten if they were caught signing to each other. But they did it anyway because they had to. Nonetheless, most left school with no qualifications, and while things have improved in some ways since then, this remains a big problem. We’ve done some research on the experiences of deaf people trying to access health care, interviewing people from around the county. There are many horror stories. People talk about things like being prescribed medication, but not knowing what it is for, how often they are supposed to take it. We have not done research on life-expectancy as a deaf person in Trinidad and Tobago, but I have no doubt at all that it would be drastically lower than that of the general population. This applies to the legal system too. During a curfew, a few years ago, several deaf people were detained for being out late. There was no sign language announcement, and many people were not aware of what was happening. When they came into contact with police, the police could not communicate with them either. That kind of thing is normal. How can deaf citizens participate in democracy if information is simply not available? This is changing gradually. Our colleague Ian Dhanoolal (part-time lecturer and tutor in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics) is deaf, a researcher and a community leader. For a couple of years now, he has been working on the National Budget broadcast alongside hearing interpreters to provide live interpreting on the TV. Deaf people are starting to get degrees (though none yet at The UWI, St Augustine), they’re working as teachers, leading organisations. Gradually, through the hard work of various groups and individuals, things are changing. But problems remain in just about every area of life, from the early disadvantages conferred by the failings of the education system, to the ways in which the system is rigged against non-English speakers. And the poverty, which is often a consequence, of course brings added layers of disadvantage and discrimination. These are social and economic issues, but for me as a linguist, they also have a root in language. I think that the solutions have to be informed by linguistic skills, knowledge and training. The solution is not as simple as get interpreters and put them on TV. Sometimes the interpreters are not good enough, or they are not very well trained. We need more research, documentation, materials relating to Trinidad and Tobago Sign Language. NR: What you have described is so much more than simply your research work. Is there an element of awareness work or advocacy that you engage with or find that you have to do? BB: Signing in public seems to be sufficiently mysterious to many people that it attracts attention and curiosity, so most signers, hearing and deaf, find So, all of the time, there is a certain amount of awareness raising that just happens. However, given all of the social issues that we’ve been discussing, it is necessary to think about how to raise awareness in more systematic and effective ways. This is something that we work into our teaching at The UWI, St Augustine, in the various deaf and sign language courses we teach in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. We build community involvement into those courses. We try to get out of the classroom as much as possible. and take the students out into deaf spaces, so that the students can interact more naturally, and start to build their own relationships. I think that building relationships and partnerships is vital in both the research and advocacy work. On an individual basis, that makes a big difference, as it has in my life. But you can only address systemic problems with systemic responses. Hearing people like me need to support deaf leadership. The problem in education has always been that hearing people have had their ideas about what would be best for deaf people, and those ideas have always failed. Deaf people would never have come up with headphones and a microphone as the answer to deaf education. What they came up with was their own language. Advocacy and awareness raising are very important. But I am always aware that as a hearing person and also as a person not from Trinidad and Tobago, it’s not my role to be at the front of that. I can spend 10 years or more trying to understand the Deaf community and their language but at the end of that, my understanding of those things will be a tiny fraction of the understanding of someone who has grown up as a deaf person in Trinidad and Tobago, and lives those realities. They are always in a better position to do that advocacy and that representation themselves. For me, the most important challenge in advocacy is not how do I represent other people’s situations, but how do we support the deaf leadership and address the barriers that stand in the way of that. RG: Over the past 20 years, there have undoubtedly been a few things put in place for the Deaf community, but in terms of English, can you tell us how do the Deaf learn to write? BB: Dr Paulson Skerrit at the School of Education here at the UWI is doing a lot of work focusing on literacy development especially in deaf children, and Patrice Clarke is currently a research student in the Department, looking at literacy in deaf Jamaican school students. It is a completely achievable goal. There is no reason why deaf Trinbagonians can’t acquire English literacy as a second or third language. But I also think we need to look into alternative routes which do not depend on English literacy. There are many talented deaf adults who are already doing important work, but not being properly rewarded for it. Ian Dhanoolal won an international award from Gallaudet University in the US for his work on sign languages around the region, and was the first Deaf person from the Caribbean to present on the stage at the World Federation of the Deaf Congress this year. These are significant achievements. How do we allow people like Ian to be professional researchers here? There’s a huge resource that we are missing out on. The answer is not necessarily in forcing people to become proficient users of Academic English. American Sign Language is used all over the world in academic contexts. Why not allow PhD theses to be composed in signed languages? NR: How large is the Deaf community in Trinidad and Tobago? BB: There are lots of people who cannot hear very well; the majority of them older people, pan players among them, but those people, on the whole, don’t learn a sign language. They didn’t grow up with it. They are a different constituency whose needs are important as well, but the things that I’ve been talking about don’t really affect them. Then there are people who are born deaf but never go to a deaf school. They might go to a mainstream school and not get much out of it or they may go to no school at all. It is depressingly common across the Caribbean for children with disabilities to be kept at home, to be seen as shameful in some way. For these kinds of reasons, it can be hard to estimate the size of the signing community. The usual estimate is around 2,000 people. But it’s also important that the signing community does not only consist of people who cannot hear. There are a lot of people who have deaf parents, who grew up with a sign language as their first language or who have a deaf brother or sister. There are hearing parents who have deaf children. Although those people might not face the same challenges, they are very much involved. At the moment, there are many deaf people in their 30s, because of a Rubella epidemic in the 1980s. Many of these people now have kids. Most of those kids are hearing. And the latter are really important in a number of ways, I think. For example, they could become the best sign language interpreters. They have deep personal investments in the issues we’ve been talking about. They might also face particular challenges. For example, if your deaf mother needs to go to the doctor and does not have access to an interpreter, does not have the money to pay for an interpreter, or the doctor does not provide an interpreter, children may be asked to fill the gap. Imagine a six year-old having to interpret a cancer diagnosis to their mother, or something like that. So the signing community includes lots of different types of people. NR: What are some of your suggestions for things that could be done on the campus that we are currently not doing? BB: The UWI has taken some important steps. Dr Keren Cumberbatch, at Mona, introduced the Diploma in Caribbean Sign Language Interpreting over 10 years ago, which we now also offer here. Around the same time, Professor Ian Robertson (former FHE Dean and Professor of Linguistics) and Professor Valerie Youssef at St Augustine were advocating for the UWI to make all of the public information that we put out accessible via sign language interpretation and translation. As we produce new research, we all have to think about how we make our research accessible to the public, and how we specifically make it accessible to the deaf population. This is obviously a big issue for someone like me, working directly with deaf communities, but it is relevant to other researchers too, since work on the environment, the economy, everything is of Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 5— Research Notes - Issue 6 potential interest to deaf people in the region. But of course, it can’t be done without financial investment as interpreters need to be paid. And there is a lot more to do beyond that. The Campus and University needs to see the deaf community not as potential passive recipients of information, but as people who should be involved in every aspect of what the University does. We can make panels and discussions accessible to deaf people but we can also invite deaf people to be on the panels, and to be the invited speakers, to be the experts. Researchers, in all areas, should think about how the issues they’re considering affect deaf, and other marginalized populations. If you’re doing research in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, have you looked at how medical communication affects deaf people? What is happening at the moment? How does it need to change? If you’re in Cultural Studies, you might be interested in the indigenous artistic forms of the deaf communities in the Caribbean. How are deaf people managing in the economy? How do people deal with economic exclusion? In my experience there are many creative responses: deaf people with their own businesses, in agriculture, producing art and crafts, teaching sign language. My first susu (sou-sou) experience was as part of a deaf group. Understanding the kinds of economic strategies that deaf people are using could tell us not just about the issues they face, but also enrich our understanding of how the economies in Trinidad and Tobago really work. We could be looking at immigration laws which at the moment specifically prohibit the entry of people who are “dumb” into the country, or at the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Most importantly, deaf people should be involved actively in all this. We need to work to bring in and train deaf students, to empower deaf researchers, to recognise the knowledge within deaf communities. As a University on the whole, we should be thinking about the Deaf communities that exist all around the Caribbean, in terms of our research, in terms of the involvement of Deaf people in what we do, and especially because there is so much variation going on around the Caribbean in terms of Sign Languages. I have worked with 6 or 7 completely different Sign Languages around the Caribbean, and there are many more that have never been worked on by anyone. No one knows they exist except the people who use them. And then there is access to our programmes. Why are Deaf people not studying at the UWI, St Augustine at the moment? We need to think about how to make our programmes accessible, about matriculation requirements, the provision of interpreters and who pays for those, the methods that we use for assessing students, whether these are fair or linguistically discriminatory and what can be done about that. Also, I think a big issue is employment. The University is a big employer in Trinidad and Tobago. We started this conversation by talking about economic issues that Deaf people face. Well, the Campus, at the moment, is not doing a great deal to address that. And there are things, in terms of what it is we are doing, that we can think about more. So, for example, sometimes different Units across the University might want to have a Sign Language course, because there are people interested, or you want to make the University a more accessible place, so we have to think about who we are employing to do this. Who is the teacher? Is this a hearing person? Or a Deaf person? What are the conditions of the contract under which we’re employing that person? Are the conditions equitable? Personally speaking, as someone who makes their living talking about, researching and writing about Deaf people, I’m very aware that in the Caribbean, all of this could be done better by a Deaf Caribbean person. So, how do we make that a possibility, as soon as we can? This is an economic issue in that I have a job which is well-paid and has benefits, medical insurance and stability and almost no one that I work with has any of those things. So how do we as an employer, and as an Institution that obtains income from the country and the region and distributes to people through employment, how do we do that in a way that does not disadvantage some people? The process of research is an invaluable tool in addressing these kinds of inequalities. I’ve been involved in three projects this year for which I’ve received some funding; one of them in the Bay islands of Honduras, one in Providence Island, Colombia and one in Guyana. I’ve always worked within a team basis, not as an individual following the traditional model, which is disempowering but rather in projects where we have Deaf people intrinsically involved in the team, ideally leading the team that is, the person deciding the budget and getting employment from it, and having input into every stage of the project. In addition, the people being researched need to be empowered; economically and also in the transfer of knowledge and skills. Basically recognising that research can be a tool for oppression and being careful to think about the ways in which we design everything that we do. RG: What about the role of technology in all of this? BB: The use of technology is illustrative of some of the themes of which we have been talking about. Sometimes on social media you see stuff about tech projects aimed at ‘helping’ deaf people. A recurrent Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Issue 6 - Research Notes —6 7— Research Notes - Issue 6 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Selected Publications Braithwaite, Ben. “Vínculos entre comunidades sordas caribeñas y oportunidades para colaboración”. Trinidad y Tobago / Cuba: Historia, Lengua y Literatura, edited by Nicole Roberts, Armando García de la Torre, and Mauricio Núñez Rodríguez, Aduana Vieja, 2018, pp. 176-196. Braithwaite, Ben. “The Child and the Structure of Creoles, Pidgins and Signed Languages”. The Child and the Caribbean Imagination, edited by Giselle Rampaul, UWI Press, 2013, pp. 117-135. Braithwaite, Ben, Kathy-Ann Drayton and Alicia Lamb. “The History of Deaf Language and Education in Trinidad and Tobago since 1943”. History in Action 2.1 (March 2011): 12-17. Braithwaite, Ben. “Evidence for the dislocation of arguments in Nuuchahnulth”. In CamLing 2004 Proceedings. Ed. Katsos, Napoleon, 2004, pp. 100-107. Braithwaite, Ben. “Syntactic approaches to possessive construction in Nuuchahnulth”. The 38th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, UBC Working Papers in Linguistics, edited by J.C. Brown and Michele Kalmar, Vol. 11, 2003, pp. 7-22. one is a glove that you can put on and it translates from some sign language to English. Anyone remotely involved in deaf communities around the world, is absolutely fed up with these things because they are completely useless. First, they place the burden on the deaf person to wear a pair of ridiculous gloves wherever they go. And then all that it really does is if you make an A sign with your hand, then it will turn it into an A on your phone. But the deaf person could just type an A on the phone themselves! The glove achieves nothing at all. What that shows is what research is like when it is done by hearing people for deaf people: useless. Money for such projects should be going somewhere else. This kind of thing does more harm than good. However, recent technological developments have been transformative. Until not long ago, it was difficult for a Deaf person to contact another Deaf person in Trinidad and Tobago. If one lived in Mayaro and another in Port of Spain, they could not call each other on the phone, so that was it. Their only choice was that they would have to go meet each other. Now, that is not the only choice. They can connect through Facebook. Most Deaf people I know in Trinidad are on Facebook and they use it all of the time. It connects people but it also allows you to connect using your own language with the video aspect. You don’t have to write in English; you can post Sign Language videos, do live video chats and in terms of community organisation, spreading information or awareness, that is a huge thing. I was in contact with a guy called William Washiball who did work on Sign Language in Providence in the 1970s and he has a load of films that he made back then, about 8 films, in the process of documenting the language, but that was expensive and difficult. You need equipment and it breaks and it’s expensive, etc. Now something I’m working on is making those materials accessible to people. But today, just about everyone has the ability to record and collect Sign Language data, everyone has a camera and that means that you can record things so much more easily than you ever could before. That is one of the reasons why Sign Language research is really taking off internationally, because the technology makes that possible. For things like language materials for our Sign Language courses, we can put online a lot of videos of all of the signs that we’ve just taught in class, examples of Sign Language conversations, etc. and until recently we would not have been able to do that. So it makes a difference in teaching and in learning. We just don’t have enough materials of Trinidad and Tobago Sign Language so I’m working with a Deaf friend, a colleague who is an artist and she has been drawing a series of pictures for a children’s book and we are using an App (developed by another Trinidadian) whereby you can point your phone at the picture and a sign will pop up describing the picture and what that does is provide bilingual reading materials for example with English on the page and Sign Language pop up on the screen. Hearing parents with a Deaf child will be able to sit and read with them in two languages. Both the child and the parent can start to develop signing abilities. For me, most importantly, Deaf people can be involved in producing those materials and in selling those materials. There is a huge amount of possibility using the technology. The key take away from it all is put a Deaf person in charge, don’t decide on what they need, because you will waste everyone’s time and possibly make the situation worse. Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Issue 6 - Research Notes —8 The CITB offers translation services in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Dutch, English, French, French-lexicon Creole/Patois (St Lucian Kwéyòl and Haitian Kreyòl), German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. We use the services of highly qualified and experienced freelance professionals to ensure that the information you entrust to us reaches the target audience with the message you want. Send us your documents by e-mail in soft copy (Word, PDF, scanned, etc.) or bring them in to us in hard copy and we will get them back to you as quickly as possible, at a cost that is competitive. The turn-over time depends on the length, nature and format of the document. 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We work with our clients to adapt our services to the needs of their meetings as follows: Consecutive interpreting: the format of the meeting does not require specialised equipment Simultaneous interpreting: large and/or formal meetings that require interpreters’ booth(s) and professional equipment Whispering interpreting: very small group(s) of foreign language speakers within a meeting (no more than two persons ideally) The following Conference Equipment is available for rental: Five interpreting cabins, Wireless receivers, Interpreting consoles, Transmitters, and Table-top microphones. For the Caribbean Interpreting and Translation Bureau (CITB), contact the Bureau by e-mail to citb@sta.uwi.edu or call +1 868 662 2002, Ext. 83040 We are located on the third (top) floor of the Humanities building (east of the Alma Jordan Main Library): FHE Room 327, DMLL, School of Humanities Faculty of Humanities & Education The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Trinidad & Tobago Arrival of the Portuguese Jo-Anne S. Ferreira Portuguese groups came to both Tobago and Trinidad from the 17th century onwards. A group arrived in Trinidad in the 1630s. Those who went to Tobago included Sephardic Jews in the 1660s. Other Portuguese were in Trinidad in 1811. Steady Portuguese immigration to Trinidad took place over 140 years, from 1834 up to 1975. They initially came from the Azores, but ultimately most came from Madeira, and also Cape Verde and from mainland Portugal, and were Catholic, Jewish and Protestant (Presbyterian). No doubt descendants of Jewish marranos (those Jews who had been forced to officially convert to Christianity centuries before) would have been among the Azoreans and Madeirans. Ferreira, Jo-Anne S. 8. “Arrival of the Portuguese”. Foundation Readings on the History of Trinidad and Tobago, edited by Theodore Lewis. Ministry of Education, 2019, pp. 129–135. The History of Trinidad and Tobago's Languages Jo-Anne S. Ferreira In the Caribbean region today (the Caribbean islands and in continental CARICOM and French Guiana), some 75 languages have survived, contrary to the general view that there are only four to six languages in the region. Those four to six are the official languages of countries of the region, namely, Dutch, English, French, Haitian, Papiamento/u and Spanish, but there are many more languages that are spoken or signed in the Caribbean and that are in daily use. The focus in this chapter is on the language history of Trinidad and Tobago. Ferreira, Jo-Anne S. 10. “The History of Trinidad and Tobago's Languages”. Foundation Readings on the History of Trinidad and Tobago, edited by Theodore Lewis. Ministry of Education, 2019. pp. 155–163. Staff Publications: Book Chapters 9— Research Notes - Issue 6 Staff Publications: Journal ArticlesDepartment of Modern Languages and Linguistics ‘Around Us, History Never Stops’: Interrogating Post-quake Haiti in Évelyne Trouillot’s Absences sans Frontières Carla Bascombe Immediately following the 2010 earthquake, Évelyne Trouillot imbued her corpus with what Rachel Douglas refers to as ‘archival impulses’ (Douglas, 2016: 389), in the form of op-eds, poetry, essays and short fiction. These ‘impulses’ were then further documented with the publication of Absences sans frontières (Trouillot, 2013), a novel about post-quake Haiti. This article interrogates how Évelyne Trouillot uses Absences sans frontières to interpret both the aesthetics of humanitarianism and the global political responses that emerged in the wake of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Informed by elements such as the evasive language of Trouillot’s narrator when reflecting upon the earthquake and the narrator’s father’s observations of Haiti-related media coverage in the United States, this article adopts a dual approach to examining Absences sans frontières. In so doing, it identifies the narrative strategies employed by Trouillot that are used to invert the subjectivity of the earthquake victims/humanitarian workers paradigm. The novel is, in essence, a series of snapshots that provide alternative perspectives that humanise the victims of the tremor and challenge the motives of the humanitarian workers. To a lesser extent, the article equally considers the intrinsic relationship between humanitarianism and politics. It consequently analyses Absences sans frontières’ nuanced perspective on the United States’ political reactions, which affected both Haitians within Haiti and the diaspora. Bascombe, C., 2018. ‘Around Us, History Never Stops’: Interrogating Post-quake Haiti in Évelyne Trouillot’s Absences sans Frontières. Karib – Nordic Journal for Caribbean Studies, 4(1), p.4. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/karib.44 The Search for El Dorado is the Search for Masculinity: Critiquing Afro- Caribbean Male Sexuality in Samuel Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners Tyrone Ali Male sexuality is openly privileged and its many tenets socially endorsed, as depicted in The Lonely Londoners male characters’ adherence to the phallus as a symbol of power over women (Brittan 1989). Androcentrism and sexism seemingly characterise the resultant social and cultural constructs of masculinities, and multiple sexual conquests and the notion of reputation become a collective marker of Caribbean male immigrants across nationalities, binding West Indian men to overcome differences in geography, language and politics. The pattern of Caribbean migration from the 1950s to 1970s saw Caribbean men flocking to the motherland of the plantation owner, emblematic of an affected psyche whereby the Afro-Caribbean man became a victim of West Indian colonial sensibility, characterised by the perception that local is inferior and foreign is superior. Selvon’s trilogy of Immigrant novels - The Lonely Londoners (1956), Moses Ascending (1975) and Moses Migrating (1983) - depicts the Afro-Caribbean man’s emigration to London as an inverse search for El Dorado. Here, the black ‘conquerors’ go in search of an elusive golden lifestyle at the centre of the empire, generating a romanticized discourse of Empire. The novels are a literary presentation of the West Indian psyche whipped by the rod of colonialism that establishes the need to leave one’s birth-land in hope of leading a fulfilling life in the land of the white conquistador. But the African man encounters a vacuum in his adventure, forcing him to assert his masculinity in a manner that will not reflect his failure in finding the mythical El Dorado. And the most practical manner that Selvon’s characters adopt is one underpinned by intense polygamous heterosexual relations, particularly with white women. Using dimensions of feminism, reader-response, contemporary social constructionism, and post-colonial theory, this paper’s focus is a two- pronged textual analysis of Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners. First, it interrogates the construction of male Afro-Caribbean sex and gender identities in the metropole within a specific temporal frame. And, second, it critiques these masculinities’ new-found agenda to sexually exploit and overpower white female flesh, as a subconscious retribution for European slavery and emasculation of African men during Imperialism. Ali, Tyrone. 2018. The Search for El Dorado is the Search for Masculinity: Critiquing Afro-Caribbean Male Sexuality in Samuel Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners. Tout Moun:Caribbean Journal of Cultural Studies. Intersections: Caribbean and British Literary Imaginaries. 4 no. 2. https://journals.sta.uwi.edu/toutmoun/ http://doi.org/10.16993/karib.44 https://journals.sta.uwi.edu/toutmoun/ Issue 6 - Research Notes —10 Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsStaff Publications Online Journal article Representations of Trinidad and Tobago's FLE teachers on the grammar of French Mathilde Dallier Learning a foreign language entails holding various sociolinguistic beliefs. This study took place in Trinidad and Tobago and aims at investigating how teachers influence their own teaching in the classroom and by extension influence the learner. They were asked to answer a questionnaire about their general beliefs about teaching and learning grammar in French as a foreign language (FLE), showing their current practices in grammar, the type of teaching used, their own opinion about their class practice and the role of metalanguage in their teaching. This study suggests ways to work on these beliefs, in order to get them to evolve and to optimise the grammatical experience of the foreign language learner. Dallier, Mathilde. (2018) Les représentations des professeurs de FLE de Trinité-et-Tobago sur la grammaire du français." In Les Langues Modernes « Grammaire? Vous avez dit grammaire Représentations et pratiques enseignantes. », n°3. (Representations among teachers of French as a Foreign Language from Trinidad and Tobago about French grammar) https://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article6592 Creative Writing (Short- Fiction) Walcott-Hackshaw, Elizabeth. “Here”, Anthology, The Peepal Tree Press Book of Contemporary Caribbean Short Stories, Peepal Tree Press, 2019, 443-453 Walcott-Hackshaw, Elizabeth. “Ashes”, New Daughters of Africa, An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent: Edited by Margaret Busby, Myriad Editions, 2019, 430-432 Reviews Bazán, Oscar. “Review of Diana Chaviano, Extraños Testimonios.” In Revista Narrativas, No. 50 (2018): 66-69 Professional Development Training and Workshops for Foreign/Second Language Teachers The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL) provides professional development courses for teachers of foreign language (French, Portuguese and Spanish) as well as for teachers of English as a second/foreign language. These courses are designed for teachers who are new to the profession, or have some experience but no formal training in second/foreign language teaching. The DMLL also offers courses for teachers who are seeking practical and innovative ideas for their language and culture classroom practice, as well as updating their knowledge of resources. Groups of participants may request specific content. Contact us by e-mail to mll.fhe@sta.uwi.edu or call +1 868 662 2002, Ext. 83036/83027/83280/83868 We are located on the third (top) floor of the Humanities building Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Faculty of Humanities & Education The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Trinidad & Tobago https://www.aplv-languesmodernes.org/spip.php?article6592 11— Research Notes - Issue 6 Dr Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier Speech-Language Pathologist and Pioneer at The UWI, St Augustine Dr Kathy-Ann Drayton, now Heitmeier, is The UWI, St Augustine’s first Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP), with a BA in History and Linguistics (double major) from The UWI, St Augustine (1996), an MSc in Speech-Language Pathology (Northeastern) and a PhD in Linguistics (“The Prosodic Structure of Trinidadian English Creole”) from The UWI, St Augustine, 2013 (supervisied by Dr Otelemate Harry of The UWI, Mona). Join with us as we trace a little of Dr Heitmeier’s exciting trajectory, and as we wholeheartedly thank her for her years of dedicated service to Linguistics at The UWI, St Augustine. After winning a National Scholarship (Modern Studies) in 1992, and after a year of teaching at the Primary School level, Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier had planned to go to CARIMAC at The UWI, Mona to do a degree in Mass Communications, having SLP Outreach: Dr Drayton Heitmeier with students Meera Kalloo and Bertha Marcano Sun Kow dreamed of becoming a Sports Journalist. In late July 1993, after she was already set up with a room on Mary Seacole Hall and only had to book her ticket, she had a change of heart and applied to The UWI, St Augustine, then with no clear idea of what she wanted to do. She applied for a degree in History with no defined career plans, was accepted, and so came to The UWI, STA. At the Orientation/Academic Advising session, she Issue 6 - Research Notes —12 said that “there was a very nice Jamaican lady with a sign "LINGUISTICS" and encouraging people to do it.” And so she thought maybe she should sign up for whatever that was. She read L101 Introduction to the Analysis of Language, and fell in love with Linguistics. She did all her Level 2 electives in Linguistics, including the Level 2 theoretical courses, where she was the only non-major at the time. Interestingly, her least favourite Linguistics course as a student was Language Acquisition!1 By now a double major, she needed to do Special Project in Linguistics instead of Caribbean Studies (her topic combining history and linguistics would have been the same for either), and one extra Level 3 Linguistics course that she had not been not planning to read. That course in Semester 2 of Level 3 was L31A Applied Linguistics, taught by Ross Graham. He included modules on literacy and translation, and one special module on language disorders and speech-language pathology! She was hooked and finally after almost three years at The UWI, she was now certain of what she wanted to do. In 1998, she received a Fulbright and went to the USA to study for an MSc in SLP at Northeastern University. She completed her MSc in two years, although she’d had to complete undergraduate prerequisite courses and her entire Master’s coursework, including clinical practica. She then completed a Clinical Fellowship with an Early Intervention Company in New York City, and received her American SLP licence (Certificate of Clinical Competence: CCC-SLP). Returning home to Trinidad, she wanted to practise and provide services for patients that were so easily available to schools and hospitals in the US but were still largely unknown in Trinidad & Tobago with its small number of SLPs. At the time she returned there were only about 4 or 5 SLPs. In the years after her return, she was frequently in touch with Prof Valerie Youssef and Prof Ian Robertson, and they talked about the need for training and awareness among teachers and other professionals and the need for more SLPs in the country and the Caribbean region. This led to a series of professional workshops in Trinidad and Tobago, the design and offering of LING 2105 Language Development and Language Learning Disabilities in the Mid-Year session, and the Certificate and Minor in SLP, the UWI Speech-Language Clinic, and ultimately, the creation of the MA in SLP, which is one of the qualifications for professional licencing and practice with the Occupational Therapy Speech Language Pathology (OTSLP) Board under the Council of Professions Related to Medicine (CPRM) of Trinidad and Tobago. With a Master’s in SLP and a PhD in Linguistics, Dr Heitmeier’s areas of interest include Clinical Linguistics, Language Acquisition and Literacy, especially in children who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH). In her own SLP practice, her area of specialisation was in aural (re)habilitation of children with cochlear implants or hearing aids. On the Theoretical and Descriptive Linguistics side, her most recent research has been on the pragmatics of Trinidadian English Creole (TrinEC), especially as used in social media and online communities. In the list of licensed SLPs in Trinidad and Tobago published in June 2019, there are now 28 SLPs, including Dr Drayton Heitmeier. Eleven of them have studied at The UWI at some point, and she has taught 10 of them. And that does not include the students who moved away/are working outside of Trinidad and Tobago, including an SLP in the Bahamas, and three in the USA. This is very rewarding to her as she moves on. We certainly wish Dr Heitmeier all the very best in her new endeavours, including starting an MSc in Computational Linguistics in Germany this year! 1 SLP deals with the process of normal speech and language acquisition, and communication sciences and disorders, and more. The UWI, St Augustine MA in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) graduates of 2016 with their lecturer and coordinator: Left to Right: Mary Marcia Akan, Mona Gardner, Nadia Goodman, Trudy-Ann Marquis (the late), Dr Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier (lecturer and programme coordinator), Usha-Marie Andrews-Baptiste, Renee Weekes-Chin, Valerie Youssef and Marsha Alexander Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 13— Research Notes - Issue 6 Staff: Current ResearchDepartment of Modern Languages and Linguistics Computing and Linguistics Partnering Together: Computational Linguistics Ontological Engineering of the Dictionary of English/Creole of Trinidad and Tobago (Winer 2009) English-lexicon Creoles are among many under-resourced languages that are ill-defined computationally. This is largely due to the lack of documented resources and corpora, the need for multidisciplinary approaches, and complex sociolinguistic contexts. A common challenge faced by under-resourced languages is the lack of electronic resources and software tools for speech and language processing such as parsers and taggers, pronunciation dictionaries, lexicons and vocabulary lists, and digital corpora. This project is significant because it aims to produce an ontological framework that formalises the conceptual, phonological, and lexical semantics common to English-lexicon Creoles, at least those in the Caribbean. The ontological framework will be used to convert the data contained in the Dictionary of the English/ Creole of Trinidad & Tobago (DE/CTT) edited by Lise Winer (2009)1 into a searchable, intelligent knowledge graph. This knowledge graph is a novel aspect of the project since it can be used to query existing knowledge on words from Trinidad & Tobago English (TTE), Trinidadian English Creole (TrinEC) and Tobagonian English Creole (TobEC). Such knowledge is encoded in the Dictionary such as pronunciation (phonology), meaning (semantics), spelling (orthography), origin (etymology), and related words. The computational models that will be developed in this project are intended to be applied to other areas of study such as forensic linguistics, intelligent tutoring systems, virtual software agents, and emotive computing. The project will provide empirical evidence for a largely undocumented target base (Caribbean cultural context) and will facilitate first steps towards software tools for underrepresented languages.The project is being conducted jointly by Dr Phaedra Mohammed from the Department of Computing and Information Technology (DCIT) and Dr Jo-Anne Ferreira from the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Undergraduate students from the DCIT, Jimmel Greer and Tevin Achong, are involved as part-time research assistants. We look forward to continuing this partnership in research and eventually teaching. 1 Lise Winer graduated from UWI, St Augustine with a PhD in Linguistics (“An Analysis of Errors in the Written English Compositions of Trinidadian English Creole Speakers”) in 1982. Her supervisor was Donald C. Winford. Prof Winer, now retired from McGill, was selected as one of UWI, St Augustine’s Distinguished Alumni in April 2011. DCIT Research team: Tevin Achong (left), Dr. Phaedra Mohammed (centre), Jimmel Greer (right). Missing: Dr Jo-Anne S. Ferreira The UWI Schools of Education Biennial Conference 2019 was held at the School of Education, St. Augustine campus of The University of the West Indies from 19 to 21 February 2019. Under the theme “Education Beyond Borders. Breaking Barriers: Building Bridges” the conference proposed that participants “envisage education beyond conventional borders of space, time, discipline and thinking. Imagining what education can and should be, requires that we invite diverse voices and multiple perspectives to engage in dialogue.” The conference theme also highlighted that learning not only happens in formal classroom settings but also in other diverse learning spaces. The UWI Biennial Schools of Education Conference provided "a space for interrogating how we can revision education - an education that prepares learners for global citizenship in the 21st century and beyond. The DMLL showcased current research carried out by academic staff and undergraduate and postgraduate students through Symposium, Paper and Poster presentations. Dr Nicole Roberts and Paola Palma took part in the Symposium entitled Culture, Language and Identity in 21st Century Foreign Language Learning and Teaching in the Caribbean. Eric Maitrejean shared his research on linguistic and cultural competency of The UWI's immersion programmes for French language students. The following postgraduate students and members of academic staff also showcased their research: Shelly-Ann Charles (Postgraduate MA TESOL candidate) and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández (PhD Linguistics candidate) examined the Assistant Language Teachers’ interpretation and implementation of the communicative language teaching approach, and Susan Otway-Charles (PhD Education candidate) and Arifa Satnarine (Postgraduate Diploma in Interpretation Techniques candidate) on the experiential learning outside the traditional classroom. Ronald Francis (PhD Linguistics candidate) presented his research on a corpus-based analysis of academic performance by St Lucian Primary School students in expressive writing, while Arifa Satnarine shared her research on an experiment with gamification and games among a group of adult Spanish learners. Among the undergraduate students and academic staff members who presented their research, Asiah Joseph and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández, examined the factors that influence the development of listening comprehension skills among undergraduate foreign language students, Kelsey Joyeau explored issues of non-verbal communication in paired speaking tests. Poster presentations included Dr Sharon Jaggernauth and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández who presented on the challenges of First-Year students' transition to higher education, and Dr Amina Ibrahim-Ali and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández on the cultural barriers encountered by Hispanophone learners of English in Trinidad. Also undergraduate students Teresa Atwaroo showcased her research on learner agency and developing speaking performance in Spanish, while Sanjay de Gannes delivered on the affective and cognitive factors that influence performance in tests of speaking in Spanish. The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Schools of Education Biennial Conference 2019 St. Augustine Campus Issue 6 - Research Notes —14 Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsConferences 15— Research Notes - Issue 6 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Conferences Over ten years ago, Carter (2006) argued that there was "…no current research that documents whether the shift in curricular goals or … environmental factors …have in fact given rise to a new kind of language student." More than a decade later, this statement still holds true. Recognising that Foreign Language (FL) learning in the Caribbean is dynamic and complex, this symposium brought together academics who work in FL teaching in Trinidad and Tobago and it attempted to address contemporary concerns in both FL teaching and learning. In the presentations, we told our stories of teaching and learning French and Spanish in differing tertiary contexts and discussed how this local, socioculturally situated knowledge could contribute to a re-visioning of the field in Trinidad and Tobago. The papers presented centred on language, culture and identity and the complex factors which affect relationships between them and society. Thus, the symposium was directly linked to the conference sub-theme on culture, language and identity in 21st century education. Through this symposium, the panelists sought to engage in a dialogue connecting varied issues in FL teaching and learning. In the paper titled “Teaching Foreign Language Writing Online: A Caribbean Case Study,” Nicole Roberts argues that student motivation in the contemporary online FL writing class may be linked to digital literacy. She surveys good practice in the field using e-learning in FL teaching as well as its success in FL learning in the final year Spanish reading and writing module. Paola Palma’s paper “Beliefs and Attitudes towards Linguistic Variation Symposium Theme: “Culture, Language and Identity in 21st Century Foreign Language Learning and Teaching in the Caribbean.” Chair and Presenter: Dr Nicole Roberts Discussant: Dr Beverly-Anne Carter Moderator: Dr Jennifer Yamin-Ali Presenters: Paola Palma Rojas, Dr Diego Mideros, and Dr Sandra Hobbs in Spanish as a Foreign Language in the Caribbean” explores different varieties of Spanish language and describes the beliefs and attitudes held by learners toward linguistic variation. In “Approaches to Studying Spanish as an L2 among University Students in Trinidad and their Implications for L2 Learner Autonomy and Learner Identity,” Diego Mideros discusses identity in language learning. The Spanish students surveyed reflected on how their lived experiences as students of Spanish have shaped their self- image and identity as FL learners. Finally, in the paper “Between Two Worlds: Francophone Cultural Content and Introductory French in Trinidad and Tobago,” Sandra Hobbs addresses the teaching of culture in a Beginner's French class at The UWI. Specifically, the paper analyses the teaching of French and Francophone culture in the English official Caribbean and centres on the lack of Caribbean Francophone cultural content in the programming. Overall, all panellists suggested pedagogical implications as the larger purpose of the panel is to bring some coherence to the discussion on the state of culture, language and identity in 21st century FL education in the Caribbean while at the same time affording some food for thought on practical initiatives and solutions for FL teaching and learning. ____________________ Carter, Beverly-Anne. Teacher/Student Responsibility in Foreign Language Learning. New York: Peter Lang. 2006, p. 1. Paola Palma, Dr Nicole Roberts, Dr Jennifer Yamin-Ali, Dr Diego Mideros, Dr Sandra Hobbs, and Dr Beverly-Anne Carter (l-r) Issue 6 - Research Notes —16 Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsConferences Interpretation and Implementation of the Communicative Language Teaching Approach. Paper presentation Shelly-Ann Charles and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández “Eigo Wakarani” is a Japanese expression which holds the literal translation of “I don’t understand English”. This phrase is popular among overwhelmed Japanese students who struggle and shy away from learning and speaking English but, little do they know, most of their Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) who participate in the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Programme share this sentiment with them. Many ALTs lack tangible qualifications in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) or teacher training. This shared sentiment of “not understanding English” from the ALTs’ perspective relates to the ALTs lack of ESL teacher training. The JET programme eligibility criteria do not require teacher training, only a first degree in any subject area and very little to no knowledge of Japanese. This research investigates the role ALT epistemology plays within the context of ESL communicative pedagogy when there is an absence of ESL/teacher training. The Added Value to the Linguistic and Cultural Competency of the UWI’s immersion programmes for French Language students throughout the years. Paper presentation Eric Maitrejean The University of the West Indies, St Augustine has, since the late 1960s, provided various avenues for French language students to get exposure to practise the language in real-life situations, be it through MOUs signed with regional or international universities for the exchange of students or under the auspices of schemes established by the French Ministry of Education to allow our students to teach English in French primary or secondary schools. The UWI also developed direct partnerships with civil society organisations in Martinique and Guadeloupe to encourage short-term stays for students who could not afford to travel further or for longer stays.This paper will attempt not only to present the different programmes offered in the past 50 years but also to show quantitatively what were the benefits derived by the students from such initiatives. Data have been collected over the past 15 years and the paper will use the UWI St Augustine’s list of students having done either the Assistantship or the exchange programmes and the mark sheets before and after their participation in immersion programmes to show their overall improvement. The results will show that these programmes will need to be encouraged and maybe made compulsory for all foreign language students. Even though there has been a conscious effort by the UWI, St Augustine to promote such types of student exchange through the establishment of the International Office which monitors the institutional cooperation aspect of same, more needs to be done to convince all stakeholders of the validity of these immersion programmes, both for specialists and non-specialists, undergraduate and even postgraduate programmes students. A Corpus-Based Analysis of Academic Performance by St. Lucian Primary School Students in Expressive Writing Paper presentation Ronald Francis This paper is part of a larger corpus-based examination of Common Entrance composition scripts that explores non-standard English forms in students’ writing in order to determine whether these forms may be attributable to the transfer of Kwéyòl forms or other factors such as the innate complexity of English. The paper will show that, for many students and schools, there is a strong statistical correlation between a high incidence of Kwéyòl structures in their writing and a failing academic grade in English composition at the Common Entrance examinations. It also demonstrates the usefulness of learner corpora as insightful tools for informing pedagogy and improving academic performance in English. Eric Maitrejean, Dr Marsha Pearce, Shelly-Ann Charles and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández (l-r) Experiential learning outside the traditional classroom: How is this perceived by 2 student-teachers and a student of modern foreign languages? Paper presentation Susan Otway-Charles and Arifa Satnarine The purpose of this research was to examine the perceptions of 3 former students of the impact of these non-traditional experiences and to what extent these students believe these experiences were transformatory, and could be transferred to their further teaching and learning experiences. The 3 participants included 2 former student-teachers who had completed teacher education programmes and one secondary school student. Online semi-structured individual interviews and an open-ended questionnaire were employed to collect data. Coding and thematic analysis will be used to analyse these data to determine to what extent the participants viewed these non-traditional experiences as effective in the learning process, and how they might apply such experiences in the learning and teaching experiences. Examining the factors that influence the development of listening comprehension skills among undergraduate foreign language students. Paper presentation Asiah Joseph and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Listening comprehension acts as a foundation for learning and adopting a foreign language as well as developing cognitive skills. Listening also plays an active role in the learning and interactional processes for effective communication between individuals or groups. This study reports on the different factors that influenced listening comprehension of Level 1 and 2 Spanish learners at The UWI, St Augustine campus. This research paper focuses on how these learners coped with their challenges in relation to the development of their listening comprehension skills. Data were collected via a focus group and semi-structured individual interviews. The focus group was conducted with ten Level 1 students (n=10, female=8, male=2). Five Level 1 students (n=5, female=4, male=1) and five Level 2 students (n=5, female=3, male=2) were interviewed. Participants reported on the different factors that influenced their listening comprehension and their use of listening strategies to cope with their challenges. Findings revealed that the main factors that affected participants’ listening comprehension were rate of speech, sound quality, accent, background knowledge and lack of vocabulary. On the other hand, Level Two students stated that their lack of background knowledge negatively affected their listening skills. Differences between the Level One and Two students’ perceptions on factors were minimal and differences for the use of learning strategies were less minimal. The use of metacognitive, cognitive and socio-affective strategies appeared to distinguish the more successful from the lesser successful listeners. This investigation highlighted the integral role of different learning strategies in the development of listening comprehension skills. Learner Agency: Developing Speaking Performance in Spanish as a Foreign Language Poster presentation Teresa Atwaroo and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Research has shown that many foreign language students encounter difficulties in expressing themselves orally in the target language. The sociocultural perspective examines how interpersonal interactions aid learners to self-regulate their learning within a social context and how the challenges they encounter influence their self- regulated learning (Lantolf and Pavlenko, 2001). The focus of this ethnographic study is (a) to examine the interplay of learner agency, autonomy, learning strategies and motivation towards the development of undergraduate foreign language students’ conversational skills and, (b) how learners cope with the challenges while learning and using the target language. Participants were undergraduate level II and level III Spanish language students (n=24) with proficiency in Spanish ranging from the CEFR levels B2 to C1. The research instruments used were focus groups (n=16, male=5, female=11) and semi-structured interviews (n=8, male=2, female=6). The qualitative data gathered were coded according to themes that emerged from the students’ responses. Findings revealed that learners who were more motivated to learn Spanish as a foreign language exercised a greater level of agency and autonomy by employing more learning strategies in order to overcome their difficulties and improve their conversation skills. These reported learning strategies were also carried out on a regular basis. These learners maintained a high proficiency level in Spanish language. In contrast, the learners with a low proficiency level were less motivated and rarely carried out learning strategies to improve their speaking performance skills, thereby, demonstrating a lack of learner agency. This study concludes by presenting limitations and recommendations. Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Conferences 17— Research Notes - Issue 6 Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsConferences First-Year Students’ Transition to Higher Education: Challenges and Recommendations Poster presentation Sharon Jaggernauth and Rómulo Guédez- Fernández The unprecedented growth in access to higher education, particularly in developing countries, reflects cognisance of its critical role in social and economic development. However, research suggests that many first-year students are unprepared for higher education; their transition to higher education institutions (HEIs) can be frightening and stressful and can affect their personal development, and academic and social adjustment. In this study conducted at an HEI in Trinidad and Tobago in 2016, a principal factor emerging regarding student under-achievement in Mathematics-related courses was their transition to higher education. This qualitative design study utilised a multi-method approach to collect data through self-report questionnaires (n=749), focus groups and interviews with undergraduates (n=83), followed by thematic qualitative analysis. Findings described the transition challenges of first-year students and supports that might readily facilitate the transition. Students were unprepared for (a) the new learning environment and experiences; (b) teaching that required them to be autonomous learners; and (c) the absence of structure that secondary school provided regarding study schedules, coursework and examination preparation, and which easily facilitated distractions study. The study found evidence that students during their transition year not only need support from an on-going induction programme that clarifies their expectations and guides them on developing learning autonomy, but that faculty should provide students with timely and quality feedback on their progress. While these findings are specific to this HEI, they are consistent with those of other research contexts and have implications for students’ long-term success there. Nonverbal communication: A case of undergraduate second language students in paired speaking assessments Paper presentation Kelsey Joyeau and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández In response to a more communicative approach in second language (L2) teaching, learning and assessment paired oral tasks have been increasingly incorporated into the classroom assessment of the speaking component as an alternative to the traditional interviewer-candidate test format. The presence of nonverbal communication during paired oral assessments in L2 classroom contexts has yet to be fully explored. The purpose of this investigation is to examine nonverbal behaviours that reflect interactional competence during paired speaking tests. In particular, these nonverbal micro-features were chosen: appearance, gaze, gestures, hands, and movement. The focus of this study is to investigate how students’ and raters’ nonverbal behaviours potentially influence paired task performances during the test event, and what is the effect of students’ nonverbal behaviours on raters’ judgements of these paired performances Transforming the FL learning space for adults in Trinidad: an experiment with gamification and games among a group of adult basic A1 level Spanish learners in Tortuga, Trinidad Paper presentation Arifa Satnarine The study investigates the impact of the use of games and gamification to teach A1 level Spanish among adult learners in Tortuga, Trinidad. It is of interest and pertinence due to the lack of diversification in the adult Caribbean FL learning space. The research intends to act as a springboard for future research on adult learning and game approaches. Data were collected from evaluations, questionnaires, audios and texts through a comparative experiment over the course of 12 weeks with a control group using traditional FL approaches and methodologies and an experimental group using games and gamification. It explores performance, motivation and enhancement of the learning process through games. The data presented demonstrated that games and gamification significantly produced better results than traditional methods even among adults. These findings add to the newly established field of gamification in education and can debunk the myth that games are exclusively for kids and that language learning is characterised by a series of drills and repetitions. Cultural Barriers and Learning: A Snapshot of Hispanophone Learners in Trinidad Poster presentation Amina Ibrahim-Ali and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Venezuelans currently fleeing from the political and economic hardship in their homeland often seek refuge in other Latin American countries and the Caribbean although a great majority head to the United States, some coming to Trinidad in-transit to other destinations as an opportunity to learn English as a Second Language (ESL). The conceptualisation of Trinidad for English-language Issue 6 - Research Notes —18 http://uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/dspace/handle/2139/46866 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Conferences learning corresponds with its strategic location. While it is acknowledged as a hub of economic activity across the two hemispheres, Trinidad has, interestingly, also earned its reputation as a site for illegal immigrants, a convenient location between the production and consumption of drugs, as well as a human trafficking destination. This study was conducted at The University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine campus and examines the extent to which ESL learners, primarily in-transit learners, negotiated their learning experience. A socio-cultural theoretical framework was adopted to investigate this phenomenon, and the collection, analysis and interpretation of data were guided by principles of a grounded-theory ethnographic approach. Affective and Cognitive Factors: A Case Study of Undergraduate Students’ Performance in Spanish-Speaking Tests Poster presentation Sanjay De Gannes and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández The factors that influence learners’ performance in speaking tests raise issues of test validity as learners may fail to display their true proficiency in these tests. This ethnographic study aims at discovering and analysing the various affective and cognitive factors that may debilitate or facilitate students’ performance in their 19— Research Notes - Issue 6 Spanish oral examinations at The UWI, St Augustine campus. Data were collected from fifteen learners (n=15) eight students were from Level 1 and seven from Level 3. Learners voluntarily agreed to participate in stimulated verbal recalls. Participants listened to their respective audio-recorded speaking test and were encouraged to explain their thoughts regarding specific situations in which they encountered any difficulties during the test. Stimulated verbal recalls were audio recorded and the data transcribed. The method of data coding used was open coding, and then the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed affective factors such as anxiety, motivation; these influenced students both positively and negatively in the speaking test. Finding also revealed cognitive factors (for instance, lack of topical knowledge, lack of vocabulary, grammatical competence, and listening comprehension ability) that likewise influenced learners’ performance in the speaking test. Effects of feedback, different educational experiences, and personality factors also played an important role in moderating students’ speaking performance. All the aforementioned factors influenced on a student’s performance in various ways. These factors may become a hindrance to their fluidity or may contribute to their anxiety. Similarly, some of these factors may be positive determinants which may foster spoken production in oral tests. UWI Speech-Language Clinic This facility provides speech and language services to students and staff at The UWI, St Augustine, and to the wider community. These services are aimed at the remediation of communicative impairments and improvement in quality of life for all our clients. The Clinic serves both children and adults, providing diagnostic and therapeutic services. Therapy is provided by licensed Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), or Graduate students under clinical supervision. All therapists are licensed by the Council for Professionals Related to Medicine (CPRM). Speech and Language Services Therapy and consultation services are provided for children and adults with various communication problems including the following areas: Apraxia Aphasia Articulation/Phonology Cleft Palate Cognitive-Linguistic impairment Dysarthria Expressive Language Receptive Language Stuttering Traumatic Brain Injury Voice Disorders Scheduling Any person who is suspected of having a speech or language difficulty can be seen at the Speech- Language Clinic. No referral is necessary. Preference will be given to UWI students, and staff and their families. Sessions are by appointment only. Contact Information UWI Speech-Language Clinic E-mail: slpclinic@sta.uwi.edu Phone: 1 (868) 662-2002, Ext. 83037 Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsConferences Mixed Methods Conference Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches: Tensions, Challenges and Possibilities This conference took place from 26 to 28 March at the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business (ALJGSB). Presentations from postgraduate students with academic staff of the department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL) showcased mixed methods research that has been carried out in the DMLL. The conference included presentations from keynote speakers Professors John Creswell, Cheryl Poth and Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie. Presenters benefitted from valuable feedback from members of the mixed methods international and local community. The first DMLL presentation entitled “Factors influencing interactional competence: A case study of Spanish language undergraduate students at The UWI, St Augustine” featured research carried out by Donnar Hassanali (Postgraduate Diploma in TESOL candidate), Shelly-Ann Natalie Charles (MA TESOL candidate) presented her research entitled “Eigo Wakarani”- The Epistemologies of non-trained ESL ALTs in the Japanese high school; a look at their Interpretation and Implementation of the Communicative Language Teaching approach in the classroom. Then, Dr Amina Ibrahim-Ali from the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández presented research entitled “Appraising peer performance in pre-service teacher teams: A mixed method approach.” All the presenters showed that mixing qualitative and qualitative approaches can help to deepen and broaden understandings of the phenomenon being studied. Factors influencing interactional competence: A case study of Spanish language undergraduate students at The UWI, St Augustine Donnar Hassanali (Postgraduate Diploma TESOL candidate) and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Interactional competence within the context of the communicative approach to foreign language teaching, learning and assessment involves the dynamic and co-constructed flow of ideas between two or more interlocutors. Spoken interaction in classroom context appears to be influenced by a variety of personality and contextual factors. This study employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods design aimed to (a) examine the factors which influence interactional competence and, (b) explore to what extent these factors affect interactional competence of undergraduate students pursuing the Spanish Major or Minor. Initially, data collected from classroom observations assisted in the preparation of six focus groups which involved forty-nine students. Subsequently, thematic analysis of the qualitative data collected was Issue 6 - Research Notes —20 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Conferences were analysed through descriptive statistics to assess ALTs’ beliefs, while the qualitative elements of the questionnaire and verbal self-reports were analysed using thematic coding procedures to examine ALTs’ beliefs to a greater detail. The analysis and interpretation phase included an integration of quantitative and qualitative data. The findings suggest it is possible to incorporate Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the classroom to some degree, depending on several contextual factors. Appraising peer performance in pre-service teacher teams: A mixed method approach Dr Amina Ibrahim-Ali and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández In teaching practicum contexts, trainees are customarily tasked with lesson planning and lesson delivery, both significant processes in their professionalisation. Instructional planning is critical to instructional effectiveness; the lesson plan, which integrates theory and practice, and provides evidence of teacher competence for the field, is a major source of assessment. In cases where instructional planning occurs in teams, shared responsibility for teamwork is often gauged through peer assessment, and team scores are awarded for the creation and delivery of lessons. Yet, the validity of peer assessment remains a concern, particularly for small cohesive groups whose team scores may not reflect individual input and team collaboration. The need to address this problem of shared responsibility in pre-service teacher teams became apparent following a TESOL practicum when teacher-educators noted that there was a discrepancy between the scores awarded for the individual and the team. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design guided this investigation. In phase one, quantitative data comprise of 172 lesson plans and 158 supporting documents posted on an online forum were examined. Basic metadata were used to extract patterns reflecting individual input and team collaboration. Former pre- service teachers were invited to validate the patterns identified in phase one, and comment on group dynamics. These strands of data were integrated in the analysis of findings following a convergent parallel mixed-methods design to ensure the extent of shared instructional planning. Teams evaluated their own performance by validating preliminary quantitative findings and providing qualitative feedback. carried out, and emerging findings guided the design of a questionnaire. This questionnaire was administered in classroom settings to (n=30) Level 1 (CEFR-B1) learners, and (n=29) Level 2 (CEFR-B2) learners. The collected qualitative and quantitative datasets were combined in the analysis and interpretation of the results. Thematic coding and numerical analysis were utilised for the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. In the context of classroom examination, findings indicated that individual participant’s interactional competence is moderated by interlocutors’ shared topical, linguistic and personal knowledge as well as other social-contextual factors. The results of this investigation have implications for foreign language teaching contexts, in particular, in gauging students’ development of interactional competence, identifying key hindrances and seeking measures to improve their communication skills. “Eigo Wakarani”- The Epistemologies of non-trained ESL ALTs in the Japanese High School; a look at their Interpretation and Implementation of the Communicative Language Teaching approach in the classroom Shelly-Ann Natalie Charles (MA TESOL candidate) and Rómulo Guédez-Fernández “Eigo Wakarani” is a Japanese expression which holds the literal translation of “I don’t understand English”. This phrase is popular among overwhelmed Japanese students who struggle and shy away from learning and speaking English but, little do they know most of their Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) who participate in the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) programme share this sentiment with them. Many ALTs lack tangible qualifications in teaching English as a second language (ESL) or lack teacher training. This shared sentiment of “not understanding English” from the ALTs’ perspective relates to the ALTs lack of ESL teacher training and has generated the reason for this study. The JET programme’s eligibility criteria does not require teacher training but, only a first degree in any subject area and minimum knowledge of Japanese. This research investigates the role ALT epistemology plays within the context of ESL communicative pedagogy when there is an absence of ESL teacher training. An ethnographic mixed methods approach was suitable for investigating the epistemologies of JET Senior high school ALTs. A total of thirty-three ALTs participated. Using a one-phase concurrent triangulation design, data were collected via online questionnaires (n=33) and verbal self-reports (n=5). The quantitative elements of the questionnaire 21— Research Notes - Issue 6 Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsConferences Issue 6 - Research Notes —22 Having spent decades working and researching outside of his native Trinidad and Tobago, on his return to Trinidad in the early 2000s, Mervyn Alleyne began to record his thoughts and observations on aspects of This conference was designed to commemorate the life and work of linguist xtProfessor Mervyn Coleridge Alleyne, a distinguished scholar who died on 23 November 2016, aged 83. He is one of the earliest scholars of Caribbean origin to engage in the discipline of Linguistics and made original and valuable contributions to the discipline as well as to a range of others associated with the study of the Caribbean, such as Historical Linguistics, Creole Linguistics, Linguistics in Education, Discourse in Medical Contexts, Race and Colour, Folklore Studies, Ethno-Botany, and Technology and Communication The conference took place at the Mona campus of The University of the West Indies, the institution with which he had been associated practically all of his adult life, later spending three years at the St Augustine campus, and at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Dr Ferreira represented the Department and Campus at the conference, giving a paper and chairing the two sessions on Tributes to Mervyn. Prof Lawrence Carrington gave a plenary on “The scholarship of Mervyn Alleyne - a retrospective”, which was extremely well received. the phonetics and phonology of Trinidadian speech in the 21st century, as well as elements of morphosyntax, including Kortmann’s ‘vernacular angloversals’. In personal correspondence and classroom and other Vowel Mergers in Contemporary Trinidadian Speech: Phonological Awareness as seen through Sensational and Other Spellings Dr Jo-Anne S. Ferreira The Many Facets of Mervyn C. Alleyne: A Commemorative Conference 7-8 June 2019 The UWI, Cave Hill, Mona and St Augustine in conjunction with the Society for Caribbean Linguistics Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Conferences discussions, Alleyne often noted that it is entirely possible to hear discourse that incorporates the grammar of International Standard English (ISE) but the phonology of non-standard Trinidadian English (TrE) and Trinidadian English Creole (TrEC) varieties. It is the phonetics and phonology of the latter two (overlapping) systems he wished to interrogate. He stimulated exchanges on the yet undescribed phonology of non- standard TrE, including the phonotactics of syllable codas, palatalisation, the schwa, and vowel mergers. Alleyne was particularly interested in comparisons of vowel systems across Caribbean varieties and others in the hemisphere. One very specific area of great interest to him was that of vowel mergers in contemporary Trinidadian speech. Using J.C. Wells’ lexical sets as a standardised reference and starting point, we can observe four vowel mergers in both standard and non-standard TrE, much like TrinEC. All varieties may include the following four vowel mergers, with examples: a) TRAP and BATH/ START/PALM (the latter all merging to TRAP), b) LOT and STRUT (with homophones for golf and gulf, box and bucks, and body and buddy; on the other hand, hugs may be hypercorrected to hogs, and commerce sounding like commercial), c) CLOTH and NORTH/ FORCE (with boss and horse rhyming), and d) NURSE and STRUT (nurse and nuss as per Early Modern English). Standard(ising?) TrinE, on the other hand, has lost any distinction between NEAR and SQUARE, whereas TrinEC preserves the separation of these two vowel phonemes. This paper seeks to interrogate some of those aspects of the phonetics and phonology of Trinidadian speech of interest to Alleyne and to forge the way forward for ongoing research, documentation and analysis. 23— Research Notes - Issue 6 Nine Presidents of the SCL present at the conference in honour of Mervyn. Mervyn was a former President. L to R: Prof Silvia Kouwenberg, Prof Ian Robertson, Dr Jo-Anne Ferreira, Prof Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Prof Salikoko Mufwene, Prof Hubert Devonish, Prof Jeannette Allsopp, Prof John Rickford and Prof Lawrence Carrington Issue 6 - Research Notes —24 Conferences Shane Prince, MPhil candidate from the DMLL, FHE, UWI, St Augustine, and conference organisers Carlos Pérez Ricart and Carlos Solar (Photo: Horizontes - Latin American Centre) University of Oxford Latin American Centre activities during his tenure as Venezuelan head of state, as juxtaposed with the Venezuelan Constitution of 1999. The study is further organised under three (3) distinct subheadings that provide background information and context on the Maduro administration, and assess key articles within the current constitution and the potential infractions of such by the current government. Finally, it advances a comparison of the hitherto established roles of the FANB with their more recent actions during the Maduro presidency in an effort to identify certain characteristics of criminal activity in high political office. On 3 and 4 June 2019, the Latin American Centre of St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford hosted its Annual Conference 'Governing the Unruly'. This conference brought together scholars and academics from across the globe for two days of intense discussion about criminality and security in the Latin American region. Participants presented scholarly research on a gamut of topical issues ranging from militarisation of security and politicisation of armed forces in select Latin American states to the wave of criminal violence in Central America and the state of policing and public security policies within the region. The DMLL’s Shane Prince, a MPhil in Spanish candidate made his presentation in the Pavilion room at St. Antony’s College on 4 June 2019 under the panel heading ‘The Military and Militarised Responses’. His panel discussion was chaired by Professor David Mares, Distinguished Chair and Director of the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Studies at the University of California, USA. The Far Reaching State: Criminal Use of the Venezuelan Military as an Apparatus of Repression and Subterfuge Shane Solomon Prince MPhil Candidate in Spanish Latin America has long been viewed as fertile ground for criminal activity. Regional governments have struggled with the development of sufficiently effective policies to combat a level of criminality that today, forms part of the socio- cultural framework of many Latin American states. However, with several of these countries figuring high on many international corruption indices, the core characteristics of criminal activities within national governments themselves must be identified if cogent crime fighting strategies are to be devised and eventually implemented. This article therefore takes as a case study, contemporary Venezuela during the period 2013 to 2018. In it, we discuss the dynamics of the distribution of power from a Foucauldian perspective as well as investigate Nicolás Maduro's use of Venezuela's Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) as an agent of repression and other perceived criminal Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Governing the Unruly International Academic Conference on Security and Criminality in the Americas Shane Prince (second row, third from right) among the participants to the conference on security and crime in the Americas (Photo: Horizontes - Latin American Centre) The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics congratulates Dr Adonis Diaz Fernandez, Dr Samantha Jackson and Dr Byron Jones on their academic success. El propósito de este estudio es explorar la obra de autores que han aplicado la teoría de la transculturación de Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969) a la literatura afrocubana contemporánea. La teoría de transculturación en términos generales representa la mezcla de lo africano y cultura europea, y esta teoría, en comparación con otras, como creolización ha estado presente en el Caribe. Lo que impulsa esta investigación es la manera en que la teoría de la transculturación se manifiesta en la literatura afrocubana contemporánea. Para llevar a cabo una búsqueda y análisis de textos literarios, de autores cubanos que escriben sobre los orishas serán recogidos y algunos de estos autores serán entrevistados. Los textos literarios y entrevistas se analizarán mediante cuatro elementos o indicadores que se utilizarán para examinar la presencia de la continuidad del proceso de transculturación, dando lugar a un nuevo fenómeno de reafirmación de índole sociológico y cultural. The purpose of this study is to explore the work of authors who have applied the transculturation theory by Fernando Ortiz (1881–1969) to contemporary Afro-Cuban literature. The theory of transculturation in general terms represents the mixture of African and European culture, and this theory, in comparison with others, such as creolisation has been present in the Caribbean. What drives this research is the way in which the theory of transculturation manifests itself in contemporary Afro-Cuban literature. To carry out a search and analysis of literary texts, by Cuban authors who write about the orishas, works were compiled and some of these authors were interviewed. The literary texts and interviews are analysed using four elements or indicators that are used to examine the presence of the continuity of the transculturation process, leading to a new phenomenon of reaffirmation of a sociological and cultural nature. Key words: Furé; orisha; Cuba; Orishaism; literature; identity; orality and culture Supervisor: Dr Nicole Roberts Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Recent PhD Graduates 25— Research Notes - Issue 6 Orishaismo: Nombrar y Clasificar la Literatura Sagrada Cubana con Referencia a los Orishas Orishaism: Naming and Classifying Sacred Cuban Literature with Reference to the Orishas Adonis Díaz Fernández, PhD Spanish Do you need help with Grammar, Academic Writing, Vocabulary or Documentation? Visit the Writing Centre The Writing Centre - A Place To Write! Just need a quiet space to write? Try our state-of-the-art computer lab! Bring your headphones! Access our helpful links to online resources, games, quizzes and articles on: Research, documentation, grammar and more. No appointment necessary! Students: Log on to myeLearning to access 'Useful links: The Writing Centre' Staff: Send an email to thewritingcentre@sta.uwi.edu For more information, call 662-2002 ext. 82522 Visit us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/twcuwi mailto:thewritingcentre@sta.uwi.edu http://www.facebook.com/twcuwi Recent PhD Graduaates Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics The study presents a comprehensive examination of the socially diagnostic factors that impact the use of Jamaican Creole versus English in Jamaican popular music over the first fifty years after independence, with the aim being to provide a description of language use patterns within the domain. The study takes a corpus-based approach where the data analyzed is housed in the Corpus of Popular Jamaican Music (COPJAM), which is furnished by fifty years of annual top 20 music charts. COPJAM therefore comprises transcribed song lyrics for the period 1962–2012. A multivariate analysis is performed on the data, producing frequency distributions for the linguistic variables and the socially diagnostic factors identified in the study. This multivariate analysis examines the impact of individual as well as combinations of socially diagnostic factors on the use of Jamaican Creole and English variants. Examination of the statistical output of this analysis indicates a .540 and .460 relative frequency of use respectively for English and Jamaican Creole within song lyrics. Additionally, it reveals a systematic and hierarchical relationship existing among social factors, which correlate with language use. The thesis discusses the change from a dominance of English in song lyrics to one of Jamaican Creole, attributing collaborations and singjaying as the critical mechanisms that contribute to this change in language use since independence. This discussion is accompanied by a comparison of the status of 11th century English and Jamaican Creole. Beyond di Riddim - A Quantitative & Qualitative Approach to the Evolution of Language Use in Jamaican Popular Music, 1962–2012 Byron M. Jones, PhD Linguistics Supervisor: Professor Ian Robertson While much has been said about Caribbean English Creole structure, less has been studied about its acquisition. Such research is important for accurate language assessment and literacy planning, and for evaluating linguistic theories’ robustness. This study fills a gap in research about phonological acquisition in the Trinidadian context, where the adult input frequently exhibits code-mixing of Trinidadian English Creole (TrinEC) and Trinidad and Tobago English (TTE). It reports on three areas: (i) ages of acquisition and mastery of consonant singletons and clusters, (ii) phonological processes which affect acquisition and mastery, and (iii) the extent to which children produce TrinEC/TTE variants. 147 Trinidadian preschoolers aged 3;0 to 5;2 from Trinidad’s 7 educational districts participated in a word elicitation task, while a subset of 30 engaged in 30-minute play sessions to elicit natural language. Data were transcribed using CLAN and coded for linguistic and extralinguistic variables such as word position, neighbouring phones, age, sex and district. The research employed a new, less-ambiguous methodology to determine ages of acquisition and mastery via conditional inference trees in R. Mixed-effects binary logistic regressions were conducted in Rbrul to answer the other research questions. Trinidadian acquisition was comparable to that of other studies. Some singletons/clusters were acquired earlier but English-only singletons/clusters were not acquired within the ages studied. Except for gliding, phonological processes were similar to those previously reported. Age, sex, district, number of syllables, word position, phonological class and/or some distinctive features were found to influence process appearance but not in a consistent pattern. Children chose TrinEC variants the majority of the time; however, there were significant factors influencing TTE variant selection. Findings indicate that Trinidadian children are English Creole-dominant speakers who code- mix before they enter primary school. Children likely need guided support to acquire English-only features. It is anticipated that morphosyntactic investigations will yield similar results. Keywords: Caribbean; children; code-mixing; conditional inference trees; phonological processes; statistics; Trinidad. Wee Talk Trini: Acquisition of Phonology in Trinidadian Preschoolers Samantha S. Jackson, PhD Linguistics Supervisor: Dr Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier Issue 6 - Research Notes —26 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 27— Research Notes - Issue 6 Recent MA Graduates “Eigo Wakarani” is a Japanese expression, literally translates to “I don’t understand English”. This phrase is popular among overwhelmed Japanese students who struggle and shy away from learning and speaking English. Little do they know most of their Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) who participate in the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Programme share this sentiment with them. Many ALTs lack tangible qualifications in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) or teacher training. This sentiment of not understanding English from the ALTs’ perspective relates to the ALTs lack of ESL teacher training. The JET Programme eligibility criteria does not require teacher training but only a first degree in any subject area and little to no knowledge of Japanese. This research investigates the role ALT epistemology plays within the context of ESL communicative pedagogy when there is an absence of ESL teacher training. An ethnographic mixed methods approach is used to investigate the epistemologies of the ALTs, and a total of thirty-three ALTs participated. Using a one-phase concurrent triangulation design, data were collected via online questionnaires (n=33) and verbal self-reports (n=5). The quantitative elements of the questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics, while the qualitative elements and verbal self-reports were analysed using thematic coding procedures. The findings suggest it is possible to incorporate Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the classroom to some degree, depending on several contextual factors. These findings also suggest that the ALTs’ interpretation and implementation of CLT are influenced by internal, external, and social factors. “Eigo Wakarani”- The Epistemologies of non-trained ESL ALTs in the Japanese High School; a look at their Interpretation and Implementation of the CLT approach in the classroom Supervisor: Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Shelly-Ann Natalie Charles, MA TESOL The population of refugees and asylum seekers is rapidly increasing in many countries of the world. In the Trinidadian context, many of them need to learn the English variety of the receiving country, but they lack access to language learning in a classroom setting. Scholars who have studied informal learning note that people learn a great deal outside of educational contexts and typically learn a language without having to make any special effort. This study focuses on evaluating how L2 learners (refugees and migrants) demonstrate agency in an informal context of second language acquisition. Data were gathered through four phases- (1) a pilot phase to observe language use and existing language knowledge, (2) a task analysis phase of their most frequent or routinised activities and higher order tasks, (3) a psycholinguistic testing phase of task performance and determination of metastrategies for learning English using interviews, audio-recorded conversations and written observation notes. (4) a post-observation psycholinguistic testing phase, repeated at the end of two (2) months, to determine shifts in individual levels of agency and learning in Trinidadian English. The results suggest that L2 learners are not tabula rasa; rather, each is unique and complex in the way one approaches learning a language. Moreover, the emergent strategies and tasks of their experience provide future recommendations about the pursuit of knowledge of English and learning strategies that refugees and asylum seekers apply as L2 learners, in specific real world contexts, where survival and self- translation are foremost. How are L2 learners (refugees/migrants) demonstrating agency in an informal context of SLA? Supervisor: Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Jeleana Veronica Griffith , MA TESOL http://scl-online.net/ http://scl-online.net/ http://scl-online.net/ Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Issue 6 - Research Notes —28 Professor Christopher Thaiss, Professor Emeritus of Writing Studies, University of California, Davis, delivered a public lecture on the topic Writing Science in the 21st Century: New Audiences, New Technologies, New Rhetorics on Friday 5 April 2019 at the Institute of Critical Thinking, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine. Professor Thaiss’ lecture was the first in a series on the theme Academic Literacies and the 21st Century Tertiary-Level Student, organised by the English Language Foundation Unit. It targeted those interested in writing for the professions, writing across the curriculum, undergraduate and postgraduate students in all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) degree programmes, practising scientists, those writing for peer-reviewed research journals, those creating blogs, posters and infographics, and instructors of any STEM course who assign writing to students or advise/mentor STEM thesis writers. Professor Thaiss’ presentation drew on his vast experience teaching writing-for-professions courses to students and working with instructors from many disciplines, including those of the STEM fields, in the United States. He identified specific rhetorical trends in the 21st Century brought on by new technologies, including increased access to information and more opportunities for interacting digitally. His presentation looked at the implications of this new environment for STEM writers in particular and provided a 6-part system for rhetorical analysis and design by STEM writers and readers. His presentation sought to emphasise that a systematic approach—assessing purpose, audience, order of information, tone, evidence, and graphics—gives readers a clear road map to becoming accurate, persuasive, and rhetorically savvy writers. To learn more about Prof Thaiss, visit his webpage: https://writing.ucdavis.edu/people/ cthaiss Prof Thaiss' new book, Writing Science in the Twenty-First Century (Broadview Press, 2019), may be found at https://broadviewpress.com/ product/writing-science-in-the-twenty-first- century/ Visiting Lecturer Professor Chris Thaiss Writing Science: New Audiences, New Technologies, New Rhetorics Academic Literacies and the 21st Century Tertiary-Level Student Visiting Lecturers https://writing.ucdavis.edu/people/cthaiss https://writing.ucdavis.edu/people/cthaiss https://broadviewpress.com/product/writing-science-in-the-twenty-first-century/ https://broadviewpress.com/product/writing-science-in-the-twenty-first-century/ https://broadviewpress.com/product/writing-science-in-the-twenty-first-century/ Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 29— Research Notes - Issue 6 Research Tips Research tips: Insight corner for new researchers by Janique Dennis EndNote X9© Researchers who have developed their skills in the 21st Century would be aware of the many shortcomings of ‘citation machines’, especially in the Humanities where the Modern Languages Association of America (MLA) has produced three updates since 2000. Often, online citation gurus proffer perfection in MLA citation, but deliver visibly flawed, highly problematic results. The precision of EndNote X9© is its most obvious benefit for those researching and publishing in modern languages and literatures, and related fields within the Humanities, but there are quite a few additional features the X9 affords that ease the arduousness of academic researching and documentation. Mobility: Via its online site (endnote.com) and its downloadable application (available at endnote.com/downloads/), X9 is able to update the collection of references known as a library in ‘home’ computers while providing constant access through the internet. For scholars at The UWI, St Augustine, EndNote© is downloadable through my.uwi.edu. The ‘My Documents’ tab features EndNote X9© as a downloadable option. This download gives full access and thereby enables web syncs. Thus, scholars can have their full bibliographies or works cited at hand, always. Flexibility: Although in-house the dominant styles may be MLA (UG and PG) and Turabian (PG) for DMLL, often publishers may require an alternative formatting style. This software designs the Bibliography or Works Cited list in accordance with any of over 6000 formatting styles and can present it in plain text, RTF or HTML. It uses the elements in each source item and arranges them according to the guiding style, and it is dependable. Integration: The ultimate scholars’ assistance EndNote X9© delivers is its integration with Microsoft Word© through the Cite While You Write™ Plug-In. This is exciting, for this integration allows for insertion of in-text citations, footnotes, EndNote© and Work Cited lists derived from the EndNote© programme into any article, thesis or dissertation being written in Word©, in the desired style format for both in-text and text final citations. It even formats papers. Word 2016© and later versions, include an “EndNote©” tab. This tab, in tandem with the downloaded application, allows for a fluid interaction between resources saved in EndNote© and current papers being written. It affords the insertion of citations, editing of references in EndNote©, changing of citation styles throughout the text with one click, and exporting new citations from within the text to EndNote©. Once a text is inserted as an in-text citation, the relevant entry is made automatically in the Works Cited list. Additionally, any updates made to the source information, be they in Word© or in EndNote©, are also updated in all connecting documents and in EndNote©, on the computer and online, thus reducing revising across multiple texts and software. Furthermore, it connects with UWIlinC. Sources from UWIlinC can be sent directly to a researcher’s EndNote© online library via the ‘Actions’ tab, by clicking the EndNote option. To save a UWIlinC source to the downloaded app, however, it can only be saved from the e-Shelf. Once the item is saved in the e-shelf and selected in the ‘Basket’, the top right option in the ‘Basket’ is a dropdown menu, and although the temptation may be there to choose ‘Push to EndNote©’, the one that functions best is ‘Push to Export RIS’. The source and all its relevant bibliographical information is immediately added to the scholar’s desktop Endnote© library and available online at the next sync. Bonus Features: There are several additional dimensions worth mentioning. Multiple libraries can be created within EndNote© or numerous subgroups, so that sources can be organised based on themes, eras or other significant characteristics. Once full texts are available in PDF, these can be added to the sources, and ‘marked up’ within EndNote©, highlighting pages or quotations, making notes, underlining or striking out texts within the PDF. They can also be linked to URLs. Scholars can also search databases from the opening page, import references from completed documents, and there’s the latest feature which applies a scholar’s abstract and title to seek the most relevant journals for publication. Luckily, Mrs Mariella Pilgrim, Head of User Services at the Alma Jordan Library, held a thrilling EndNote© workshop, which triggered this article, and she is available to UWI staff and students at Mariella.Pilgrim@sta.uwi.edu. Many thanks go out to Ms Pilgrim and the FHE Librarian Dr Karen Eccles for the workshop and their continuing devoted support of scholars on The UWI St Augustine campus, specifically for their support of DMLL scholars. https://endnote.com/ https://endnote.com/downloads/ mailto:Mariella.Pilgrim%40sta.uwi.edu?subject= Issue 6 - Research Notes —30 DMLL and DCFA Annou Alé Ansanm (AAA)! Moving Forward Together ! Jounen Kwéyòl 2018 Creole Day 2018 International Creole Day is celebrated annually on 28 October, having started in St Lucia as Jounen Kwéyòl in 1983. The month of October itself was later designated as Creole Month (coinciding now with Calypso History Month. In the Caribbean, French Creole/Kwéyòl/Patois/Patwa in the Caribbean has the greatest number of speakers in all of CARICOM, and is the second most spoken language after Spanish, with over 13 million speakers in 10 countries in the region and throughout the diaspora. (English and English Creole follow in third place.) In France, French Creole is the most widely spoken of the 10+ regional languages of France, with almost 3 million speakers. Some famous Caribbean French Creole speakers include Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Sylvester Devenish, Léon de Gannes, three Caribbean Nobel Prize winners (Sir Arthur Lewis, Saint-John Perse and Derek Walcott), Aimé Césaire, Phyllis Shand Allfrey, Jean Rhys, the Mighty Sparrow, Holly Betaudier, Dame Pearlette Louisy, Baroness Scotland, Thierry Henry, Marie-José Pérec, Wyclef Jean, and many more, in all walks of life, across the Caribbean Sea. Antillean French Creole (spoken in Dominica, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, St Lucia, Trinidad, and Venezuela, and in the diaspora), has been a heritage language and culture of Trinidad since 1783. Trinidad and Tobago is the home of the first grammar of any French Creole anywhere in the world was produced by Trinidadian John Jacob Thomas in 1869, almost 150 years ago, even before Tobago and Trinidad were united. This event foreshadowed the 150th anniversary of that milestone in 2019, and Patois/Patwa was included in the lineup of languages in the 20th anniversary celebration of the UWI Inter-Campus Theatre Festival in 2019. In honour of International Creole Month (Mwa Kwéyòl Toupatou Asou Latè-a), the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL - Linguistics and French) and the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA - Theatre) co-hosted the UWI Creole/Kwéyòl/Patois Day (Annou Alé Ansam (AAA): Moving Forward Together). The feature speaker was Wendy Dyemma, Director of the Alliance Française Trinidad and Tobago talking to us about "A Créolophone Journey: From Guadeloupe to Trinidad & Tobago". The Ambassador of France, His Excellency Serge Lavroff, brought greetings and a powerful reminder of our intra-Caribbean connections, especially through French and French Creole. Unfortunately, technology failed us as we could not connect with Raphaël Confiant, famous Martiniquan Writer and Professor (Université des Antilles, Schoelcher), who had prepared a talk on “Creole Language and Caribbean Identity in the 21st Century", to have been live via Skype. The commemoration highlighted renditions of Sparrow’s and Shorty’s Patois calypsoes, one of which was sung by our own Heather Mac Intosh. We were treated to the recital of “Iona” (a Derek Walcott poem), performed by Louis Mc Williams, Head of the DCFA, the poem “En Route/Anwout” written and performed by Dr Travis Weekes (DCFA). Students of our BA French programme performed “La pli bèl anba labay”, directed by Mathilde Dallier and Youri Velasques (DMLL), and students from the DCFA performed an excerpt from “The Fight for Belle Vue” written and directed by Dr Travis Weekes. We look forward to continuing the tradition of Creole Day at UWI, Augustine, started by Prof Ian Robertson, and to playing our part in researching, understanding and connecting the Caribbean. Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics This section highlights the outstanding work of our DMLL undergraduate students for the courses LING 3099 Special Project in Linguistics and HUMN 3099 Caribbean Studies Project. They have produced excellent pieces of research. We encourage them to continue to make a difference. El idioma of Beauty: What are some of the features of code-switching among Latin American speakers in Trinidad? Supervisor: Dr Renée Figuera Code switching analysis has been conducted in the classroom and formal business contexts, but not in the context of salons, regarding the interaction between Spanish speaking cosmetologists and their clients. Linguists and researchers alike who have conducted research on code switching among bilingual speakers have concluded that the functions of bilingual code switching are numerous, and may oftentimes overlap. The researcher selected three Latin American cosmetologists from two separate salons in south, Trinidad and took a microethnographic approach to observing these professionals in their professional setting. The participants represent three types of beauty services that are provided by cosmetologists in Trinidad saloons. Based on the framework of a community of practice and a task-based approach, the findings represent what may happen in all saloons where there are Latin American cosmetologists learning English informally by performing their beauty tasks. The findings showed that code-switching functions on the lexical level through the processing of cognates. The second most observed function of code-switching 31— Research Notes - Issue 6 Undergraduate Research: LING 3099Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Faith Popan BA Linguistics with a Minor in Literatures in English happens where the speakers make explicit reference to Spanish, while speaking English/English Creole. Results also infer that while there are no explicit occurrences of morphological code switching, the morphological make up of the Spanish language influences the native speakers’ use of morphemes in English/TrinEC. The study fills a significant gap in linguistic research pertaining to code switching analysis among Latin American bilinguals in Trinidad and Tobago, and by extension the Caribbean region. They identify specific linguistic structures and functions of code switching practised by Latin American cosmetologists in their task-based interactions with clients that are critical to the success of their business. The acquisition of the two initial consonant cluster: A case study of language acquisition among pre-schoolers ages 3-5 at I Care Preschool, Ben Lomond Village, Williamsville Supervisor: Dr. Kathy-Ann Drayton Heitmeier Consonant clusters, in particular word initial, constitute one third of monosyllables represented in adult like speech. However, there is little research being done on the acquisition of the word initial consonant cluster (Locke 6). In Trinidad and Tobago and other English Creole speaking societies there is no research done on this topic but rather research focuses on the acquisition of Phonology among preschoolers. This instrumental case study of the acquisition of the two (2) word initial consonant cluster among pre-schoolers ages 3-5, takes a mixed methodological approach combining both qualitative and quantitative analysis to ascertain the phonological processes that Marlena Henry BA English Language and Literature with Education (ELLE) twenty one (21) pre-schoolers use in acquisition of this adult like speech. The aim of the study is to determine the phonological processes that pre-schoolers use in the acquisition of consonant clusters in an English Creole context and ascertain whether or not there is a difference in acquisition in comparison to the international standard. This study found that the pre-schoolers of I Care Preschool, Ben Lomond Village have fully acquired fifteen(15) out of twenty-six (26) word-initial two consonant clusters in the English Language. In doing so it was found that five (5) phonological processes inclusive of cluster reduction, deaffrication, gliding, epenthesis, substitution and coalescence were used in attempting to produce the target clusters. Undergraduate Research: LING 3099 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Issue 6 - Research Notes —32 Understanding the Petrotrin closure through language: An analysis of newspaper headlines Supervisor: Dr Renée Figuera Farah Salim BA English Language and Literature with Education (ELLE) Hannah Marquez BA English Language and Literature with Education (ELLE) Research on newspaper discourse has, for a long time, been limited to British and European contexts and thereby reveals a necessity for Caribbean contextualisation. This study, a critical discourse analysis of newspaper headlines from the three major newspaper houses in Trinidad and Tobago, thus aims to fill this research gap through the process of highlighting linguistic strategies used to emphasize newsworthiness as well as reveal any hidden ideologies, perspectives and themes within these headlines. This study combines a mixed methodology of interviews with experts in the field as well as both quantitative and qualitative textual analyses of a headline corpus comprising of headlines regarding the closure of the Petrotrin Oil Refinery which dominated local media during the period 22 August to 15 September 2018. Such a study directly impacts newspaper journalists and readers alike through the identification of strategies which promote reader attraction as well as highlighting biases present in newspaper headlines “Lucifer Yuh Cyah Touch Me”: A study of the language attitudes of churchgoers in Trinidad towards Creole in local gospel music Supervisor: Dr Byron Jones Latisha Griffith BA Literature in English and Linguistics Tehillah Moses BA Linguistics with a Minor in Spanish Having existed under a colonial regime of elitism, the Caribbean is a space where remnants of its history fuel controversy. Language attitudes within the region demonstrate signs of prestige, where English Creole is limited to domains in which it can be used; often making room for a European dialect. However, with the rise of education and cultural pride, many have started to associate Creoles as points of pride. The Church is known for traditionalism, holding steadfast to beliefs on controversial issues such as homosexuality. There have been indications of their linguistic preferences, illustrated by their reservations on issues such as Bible translation projects, which they often reference as sacrilegious; the attempt to translate the Lord’s word into an inferior language. Some religious cultures have relaxed their views on Creoles, as demonstrated in Jamaican gospel music, which totes Dancehall beats, complemented by the presence of Jamaican English Creole; exemplified in the music of DJ Nicholas. Nonetheless, it is unknown if other Caribbean territories have, or will, embrace such changes. This study bridges a sociocultural gap and can be used in other linguistic research, such as the analysis of a shift in language attitudes towards English Creole. Through interviews with 32 participants of 4 popular denominations, of both sexes and different ages, data were collected. Using the mentalist approach, this study aims to unearth language attitudes of churchgoers in Trinidad, factors affecting these attitudes relating to the involvement of English Creole in gospel music, and determine whether they consider appropriateness or authenticity as more important. Undergraduate Research: HUMN 3099Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 33— Research Notes - Issue 6 The Challenges non-native English speakers face integrating into society in Trinidad Supervisor: Paola Palma This study was conducted to identify the main challenges non- native English speakers face when integrating into society in Trinidad, and the ways in which they have overcome these challenges. The study was conducted on the basis of interviews with 20 participants made up of Venezuelan, Colombian, Dominican, and German nationals. The study was designed with 4 main groups of participants with 5 participants in each group. The groups were made up of students, professionals, refugees and persons who have emigrated for other reasons Olivia Jaggernauth BA French and Spanish including marriage and retirement. Defined by the Migration Policy Institute, “Integration is the process by which immigrants become accepted into society, both as individuals and as groups” (Penninx, Rinus). This study showed that the main challenges faced by non-native English speakers was the language barrier, and the socio-cultural barrier. The participants said that they were unable to communicate, make friends and find jobs because of the language barrier. They also shared that they were discriminated against on the basis of their race, ethnicity and nationality. The main ways in which they overcame the language barrier was by taking English classes, and by communicating with nationals to improve their English and to learn English Creole. Overcoming discrimination posed a problem because no solution was presented to surmount this issue. The participants expressed their concern that this was a major challenge that they could not overcome. Studies have shown anxiety to be a hindrance to success in a variety of fields. This study examines the contributing factors which lead to the presence of anxiety in Spanish language undergraduate students at The UWI, St Augustine campus and investigates the effects of anxiety on the speaking performance of these students. This study also identifies coping mechanisms which the students utilise in order to overcome the effect that anxiety has on their Spanish speaking performance. This Language anxiety in speaking performance: The case of Spanish language undergraduates at The UWI, St Augustine study utilised both quantitative and qualitative data in the form of questionnaires and focus groups respectively. A total of 39 students voluntarily participated in this study. Of the 39 participants, 16 responded to questionnaires, 14 both responded to the questionnaires and participated in focus groups, and 9 only participated in the focus groups. The findings from both the focus groups and questionnaires revealed that anxiety was a hindrance to these participants’ speaking performance. The findings also revealed that the Level Two students struggled more with anxiety than Level Three students did. Additionally, the study indicated that anxiety was an inevitable aspect of the language learning process and identified several coping mechanisms and activities that can be carried out to help the students overcome language anxiety. Supervisor: Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Wole Hislop BA Spanish with a Minor in Linguistics Varying degrees of task difficulty can affect how a student progresses in terms of fluency and spontaneity in Foreign Language (FL) and Second Language (L2) contexts. This study explored the relationship which task proficiency has with spoken fluency and unpremeditated speech as well as analysed the factors which affect conversational competency in both classroom and examination settings. In conducting research for this paper, qualitative data sets were collected through interviews (n=5) and classroom observations (n=10). A stimulated A student's perspective on the effects of task difficulty on conversational fluency and spontaneity: A case study of year 1 foreign language students of The UWI St Augustine recall protocol approach was also utilised in the interviews to enhance student’s reflection. The participants in this study were Level One Spanish language students from the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, The UWI, St Augustine. Upon completion of this project, the findings indicated that the factors which affected students’ conversational competency in terms of fluency and spontaneity were rarely a direct result of classroom and examination tasks being inherently difficult in nature but more so induced by the students’ own weaknesses and shortcomings which in turn created their own forms of task difficulty. This study is important as it highlighted the need for educators and students alike to recognise that more solutions need to be generated to counter-prevent the factors associated with slow fluency development. The inductions derived from this research are relevant to any language student or educator interested in understanding some of the aspects which can hinder oral competence in foreign language learning. Supervisor: Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Shanice Seuraj BA Spanish with a Minor in Linguistics Issue 6 - Research Notes —34 Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Motivation has been identified as one of the main factors affecting language learning. This study focused on motivation and second language learning of level I students pursuing Spanish as a second language at The University of the West Indies. It examined the sources of motivation, the type (instrumental or integrative) and level of motivation as well as the type of language learning strategies of 40 participants. Data collection for this study involved the use of a questionnaire that was distributed amongst 40 students. The findings show that the main sources of motivation in students were due to a love for Spanish cultures, a desire to have a career utilising the Spanish language, a goal of mastering the language, and for travelling purposes. The study revealed that majority A Case Study: Motivation and Language Learning of Level I Students Pursuing Spanish as a Second Language at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Supervisor: Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Jacy Santia BA Spanish with a Minor in Linguistics Undergraduate Research: HUMN 3099 of participants were highly motivated and were found to be more integrative motivated. Moreover, participants of this study employed multiple learning strategies such watching videos in Spanish, listening to Spanish music, watching Spanish shows, movies, documentaries and creating sentences with new words. The findings also indicate that most common type of language learning strategies used amongst students were cognitive strategies. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of foreign language teaching strategies among students at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, by seeking feedback from the perspective and personal experience Level 2 Spanish students enrolled in the course. Since the communicative approach is used by instructors within the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, the author of this project sought to investigate teaching strategies to determine why students of Spanish seem at ease in their learning environment. This study was conducted using an explanatory sequential design mixed methods approach which allowed for the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data which were collected between the months of March and April in 2019. Questionnaires were distributed to 21 of the 37 Level Two students of Spanish of whom five (5) agreed to be part of a follow-up WhatsApp© discussion. This researcher found that Determining the effectiveness of foreign language teaching strategies: the case of level 2 Undergraduate Spanish students of The UWI, St. Augustine Campus Supervisor: Dr. Amina Ibrahim-Ali Mellissa Lewis BA Spanish and French the guiding principles of the communicative classroom were evident in all components of the Spanish language course, though to various extents. Although meticulous attention was paid to the metalinguistic needs of students, a balance was found by the inclusion of strategies which also catered to their linguistic needs This qualitative case study is aimed at examining the process of how foreign language students attribute and adjust self- regulated learning to enhance their second language acquisition process and consequently, ensure success. Therefore, it focuses on the students’ application of strategies and metastrategies and its effectiveness in language learning within language and cultural immersion contexts, respectively. The data collection methods utilised consisted of a series of open interviews that were conducted amongst twenty foreign language students of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL) at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus. This research revealed that communicative strategies and metastrategies were used by foreign language students in both language and cultural immersion contexts even though participants might not have been well aware and informed of A comparative analysis of the communication strategies and metastrategies employed in language and cultural immersion contexts by Foreign Language students of The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine the role of these strategies in L2 acquisition. Findings suggest that these cognitive, affective and sociocultural-interactive strategies in addition to metastrategies did contribute to the L2 acquisition process. It was shown that students who purposely utilised metastrategies to control and regulate communication strategies achieved greater learning success than those who did not. The application of self-regulated learning, however, was more frequent within the cultural immersion context. Supervisor: Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Samantha Nanan BA Spanish and French 35— Research Notes - Issue 6 Since the first Spanish expedition to the Western Hemisphere in 1492, the Spanish language has been established as a prominent linguistic form of expression globally, namely in Latin America and the Caribbean. The purpose of this research was to investigate the presence and current usage of the Spanish language in the present-day society of Trinidad. Using semi-structured interviews, this study solicited the opinions of native Spanish-speakers, national students studying the Spanish Language at university level and other nationals who did not speak or study Spanish. The results were analysed based on the responses of the participants with reference to the existence and usage of Spanish, as well as the perceptions towards the Spanish language in Trinidad. It was concluded that Spanish exists as a foreign language in Trinidadian society, culture and education; however, its usage locally was limited to the native Spanish-speaking immigrants who reside on the island. It was found that certain negative perceptions of Trinidadians towards the Spanish language affected its usage among nationals. Further studies are required to examine the national population’s perceptions towards and competence in Spanish, especially taking into account the Government’s initiatives for the implementation of the Spanish language in Trinidadian society. Supervisor: Paola Palma Alexis Syne BA Spanish and French An exploratory study of the presence and current usage of the Spanish language in Trinidad “La mujer afroantillana”: Depictions of the afro antillean woman through the lens of Luis Palés Matos and Nancy Morejón Supervisor: Dr Anne-Marie Pouchet Tinisha Cooseelal BA Spanish My paper, posits that the highly sensualised and exoticised Afro- Antillean women present in the works of Luis Palés Matos offer an inaccurate depiction of Afro-Antillean reality that should be revisited and that Nancy Morejón’s Afro-conscious introspective females more accurately depict an Afro-Antillean reality. I examine the influence of both the Négritude and Negrismo movements in the construction of the female Afro-Antillean identity in the works of Nancy Morejón and the works of Luis Palés Matos. I focus only on depictions of the Afro-Antillean female, in order to examine the ways in which Palés Matos’ sensual and erotic Afro-Antillean females differ from Morejón’s Afro-conscious and contemporary females. I also consider the influence temporal location has on the poetry of both authors, as well as, the role gender and race play in the construction of their poetry. My research aims to determine the contemporary relevance of the works of Luis Palés Matos and Nancy Morejón to understanding of growth in Afro-Antillean woman’s identity over the centuries. Chapter 1 focuses on the poetry of Luis Palés Matos and analyses his poem Mulata Antilla as well as popular criticisms of the author. Chapter 2 focuses on Nancy Morejón and analyses her poem Persona as well as popular criticisms of the author. Chapter 3 is a comparison of the works of Nancy Morejón and Luis Palés Matos. The ability to be able to be competent in autonomous learning when studying a second foreign language is an attainable and desired goal in one's learning process. It involves the employment of self-directed instruction as opposed to being limited to the instructions given within the classroom by the lecturer. The student takes an active role and responsibility by utilising various language learning strategies on his/her own accord. This investigation seeks to provide scholarship on the area of learner autonomy and show its importance to language acquisition. The investigation found that the participants all recognised the importance of being an autonomous learner in their proficiency in the Spanish language. It was observed that the majority of the target group employed cognitive learning strategies the most, such as practice and note taking. Metacognitive strategies were also employed which consisted of planning, goal setting and self-evaluation. Affective learning strategies were accounted for because they include the student’s emotions towards learning that language which involves his/her level of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in second language acquisition. Supervisor: Laura Lopez Alexa Khan BA Spanish with a Minor in International Relations The strategies used for the improvement of learner autonomy in second language acquisition in Level 2 Spanish students in The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Undergraduate Research: HUMN 3099Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Issue 6 - Research Notes —36 This study investigated means by which foreign language students in the Caribbean can develop intercultural competence while studying abroad. The research involved a control group of four Spanish undergraduate students from The University of The West Indies, St Augustine. These students participated in an Erasmus exchange programme where they spent one semester in Spain at the University of Valladolid, between the period of September 2018 and February 2019. Interviews were used as the data collection method and the information was analysed and discussed. The study discovered that foreign language Caribbean students can effectively develop their level of intercultural competence through independent research about Kavita Amrita Hosein BA Spanish with a Minor in Linguistics Supervisors: Paola Palma and Natalia Cardona Villa the host country before arrival, developing specific personality traits through forced interactions and stepping outside one’s comfort zone, reflecting on daily interactions and ultimately, by participating in social events. Developing Intercultural Competence in an Immersion Context: The Case of Foreign Language Students at The University of The West Indies Participating in an Erasmus Exchange Programme Attitudes and motivation are two of the most determining factors in the process of second and foreign language learning. The aim of this research project is to assess the attitudes and factors of motivation of Spanish language students at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine and to analyse the role their attitudes and motivation play in the Spanish language acquisition process. The study took a qualitative approach and looked specifically at the types of motivation: integrative, This study sought to discover the attitudes of St Lucian students studying at The UWI, St Augustine campus towards St Lucian French Creole, known as Patwa, Creole or Kwéyòl. Previous studies on Patwa have indicated that St Lucians possess unfavourable attitudes towards the language. This study aimed to discover students’ attitude towards Patwa, examine the contexts in which the use of Patwa is deemed appropriate by instrumental, intrinsic and extrinsic; and attitudes towards the Spanish language and programme offered at The UWI as well as motivation change in students. The study showed high levels of intrinsic and integrative motivation and positive attitudes toward the Spanish language. Moreover, the study indicated that intrinsic motivation was the foremost determinant for students to study Spanish at The UWI, St Augustine and it played a fundamental role in the L2 acquisition process. students and to determine how students view Patwa in terms of class and education. In conducting research for this study, both primary and secondary sources were utilised in order to gather data and information. Quantitative data were accumulated via the use of questionnaires which were completed electronically (Google Forms©) by twenty-five St Lucian students. Secondary data such as books, articles and online journals were also used to inform this study. The results revealed that students regarded Patwa as being an important aspect of St Lucia’s culture. Similarly, based on the findings, respondents did not associate Patwa with low socioeconomic status and a lack of education as hitherto disclosed in earlier studies. However, some negative associations and stereotypes still prevail. Therefore, there is a need for greater promotion, acknowledgment and acceptance of the language in St Lucia. Supervisor: Paola Palma Supervisor: Dr Sandra Evans Adrian Murray BA Spanish with a Minor in Brazilian Studies Annia Julien BA French with a Minor in International Relations Attitudes, motivation and foreign language learning: The case of UWI undergraduate Spanish language students An investigation of the attitudes of St. Lucian students at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus towards French Creole (Patwa) Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsUndergraduate Research: HUMN 3099 Although previous studies have extensively examined the use of communication strategies by second language learners, there has not been any research on this topic conducted in the Caribbean. As such, this paper examines the use of communication strategies in conversation examinations by Level Two students pursuing a degree in Spanish at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus. The examinations of three pairs of Level Two students were video recorded, transcribed and analysed for the frequency of strategy use by each participant, and both participants and examiners alike were later interviewed by the researcher to gain retrospective data on their individual use of communication strategies. The results of the coded transcribed examinations were then compared to the results of the retrospective interviews which pointed to the conclusion that some of the most frequently used communication strategies by participants hinder their examination performance while other strategies contribute to the students’ positive performance in the examination. Supervisor: Rómulo Guédez-Fernández Saloni Kissoon BA Spanish with a Minor in Communication Studies An Analysis of Communication Strategies in the Context of Level Two Conversation Examinations Undergraduate Research: HUMN 3099Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 37— Research Notes - Issue 6 This project analyses and compares gender roles via the use of precise exemplification from the works Papeles de Pandora (1976) by Rosario Ferré and Happy Days, Uncle Sergio (1986) by Magali García Ramis. This research is a critical evaluation of how the above-mentioned authors use their literary creations to construct a discourse about Puerto Rico’s reality regarding gender roles by developing them around the characters’ experiences in their works. This project compares the ideology of separate spheres and gender archetype and analytically contrasts the roles of dependence and subservience to empowerment and domination in the literary works being investigated. Research for this project includes a feminist reading of the fundamental aforementioned literary sources and the employment of both literary analysis of characters and their roles and the assessment of critical material. Taking into consideration that no previous comparative research has been conducted between these particular novels, much of the research involved textual evidence and analysis. Critical material provided additional insight and comparative and contrasting points for analysis. Upon completion of this research project, it was found that these authors do present their works from a feminist point of view by highlighting the struggles faced by women in particular in Puerto Rican society due to the inequality of gender roles, as well as the possibility of a change of these roles in society in order to facilitate a changing status of women. These findings give way to highlighting commonalities and dissimilarities in Puerto Rican literature with regard to the presentation of gender roles which can be reflective of the society itself. Supervisor: Dr Anne-Marie Pouchet Marina Maxime BA Spanish and French A comparative analysis of the presentation of gender roles in Puerto Rican literature This research paper explores the coping strategies used by Cuban asylum-seekers and refugees in Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to investigating the historical and legal context, the life course perspective and theories of human motivation and resilience were examined in order to better understand the decision-making process of these migrants. Using a qualitative approach, several interviews were conducted with four different household and family types with the objective of understanding their feelings, opinions and experiences since fleeing Cuba. Despite living unfavourable lives, all of the interviewees did not regret their decision to leave Cuba because they feel safer and happier in their country of asylum. They believe that their quality of life can be improved if they are given the opportunity to become documented so that they can work and contribute to the economy. The findings of this research paper can be used to formulate sensitisation campaigns with the aim of refining the attitudes of the host population and its service providers, and accelerating the review of the existing draft refugee policy.. Supervisor: Dr Maria Gomes Jeron A Reid BA Spanish with a Minor in Linguistics Life on the move: The coping strategies of Cuban migrants in Trinidad and Tobago Department of Modern Languages and LinguisticsForeign language Theatre Festival The UWI Intercampus Foreign Language Theatre Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary in St Augustine The Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (DMLL) hosted the 20th UWI Intercampus foreign Language Theatre Festival from 21 to 23 May 2019. This is a unique celebration that every year brings together The UWI community, representatives of the diplomatic bodies, companies, schools, families and the general public to meet foreign languages and cultures. Students from the French, French Creole, Portuguese and Spanish programmes at the DMLL, students of English as a Foreign Language from the Centre for Language Learning (CLL), and representatives from the Department of Festival and Creative Arts (DCFA) performed theatrical pieces that depicted foreign and national cultures over three days On the evening of Tuesday 21 May, the doors of the Centre for Language Learning Auditorium opened to the general public for the opening gala. This session also included representatives from different embassies: Mrs Genith Fuentes Ortiz, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Colombia; Mr Oriol Solà Pardell, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Spain; H.E. José Antonio Gomes Piras, Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil; Mr Sebastián Anich J., Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Chile, and Mr Jean-Louis Robinson, Assistant to the Ambassador of France. The gala opened with a performance of music and by Paola Palma The first time the Foreign Language Theatre Festival was held in St Augustine (2000). From left to right: Anton Spring, Justin Jarrette, Rueanna Haynes, Dike Noel, Lee-Ann Beckles and Kavita Seepaul. In front: Eric Maitrejean. Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Foreign language Theatre Festival 39— Research Notes - Issue 6 poetry in French Creole (Kwéyòl/Patois), followed by plays in Portuguese, Spanish and French. It closed with a cocktail reception that served as an opportunity to foster relations amongst performers, organisers, sponsors and the audience. On Wednesday 22 May, a morning performance was held for students from five secondary schools invited. This morning session opened with a Tai-Chi Fan demonstration, followed by plays in Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. At the end of this session, all the students were invited by the Confucius Institute to a display of Chinese photography and a workshop in Chinese calligraphy. Two special performances were held off campus. In the evening of Wednesday 22 May. El método Grönholm, the Spanish play, was performed at the National Library in NALIS, Port of Spain. On Thursday 23 May, the Festival week closed with a special performance of the French play Mamma Mia at the Alliance Française in Port of Spain. This year we commemorated twenty years of art, of passion for foreign languages, and most importantly, of long lasting relationships built amongst staff and students from the different campuses, as well as other local institutions. The Foreign Language Theatre Festival began in the year 2000 in the Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, when the Department there decided to host a First Portuguese play (2004) O Jogador. From left to right: with Christopher Best, Kessa Pulchan, Alexia Richards, Hysus Felician, Katie Sadaphal, Ricardo Antonio Chacin, Natalie Branker and Gerard Felix Issue 6 - Research Notes —32Issue 6 - Research Notes —40 local theatre festival with plays in French and Spanish. One year later, the Department of Liberal Arts (DLA, precursor of DMLL) at the St Augustine Campus, wanting to participate in this initiative, decided to host it in Trinidad, with the participation of the Cave Hill and Mona campuses. It was in 2001 when this Festival officially became The UWI Inter-Campus Foreign Language Theatre Festival. Since 2001, every year, the Festival is held alternately by three of the UWI campuses: St. Augustine, Cave Hill and Mona, and it is aimed to expose primary and secondary school students, as well as university students and the general public, to an array of foreign languages and foreign cultures. The first three years, this Festival showcased plays only in French and Spanish. It was in its second edition at the St. Augustine Campus, in 2004, with the piece entitled O Jogador (written and performed by St Augustine’s participants under the direction of visiting lecturer, Dr Maria Jandyra Cavalcanti Cunha of the Universidade de Brasília), that Portuguese was included as one of the languages showcased at the Festival. Subsequent editions of this event, while hosted in St. Augustine, introduced new changes to the festival. In 2010, the 11th festival was also a first because the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) accepted the invitation of the Local Organising Committee to participate with two brilliantly directed plays especially designed for children. This was the first time that primary school children were invited as part of the audience. In 2013, the St Augustine Campus was pleased to host the 13th UWI Intercampus Foreign Language Theatre Festival, welcoming for the first time English as a Foreign Language, Chinese and Japanese, all contributions from the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) Six years later, in 2016, the 17th Theatre Festival featured the first theatre play in Patois (French Creole): Zafè Nòs-la (Wedding Business), directed by Nnamdi Hodge. Along these 20 years, The UWI Inter-campus 10th anniversary celebrated in Cave Hill, Barbados (2010) Department Modern Languages and LinguisticsForeign language Theatre Festival Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics Foreign language Theatre Festival Foreign Language Theatre Festival has showcased creative and exciting theatrical pieces in English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Patois (French Creole), Portuguese and Spanish. For the students performing, this has been an enjoyable learning experience that offers them the opportunity to develop skills that are not acquired in the classroom and to strengthen their communicative skills in the foreign language. The Festival has had tremendous success as it demonstrates both the importance and relevance of speaking foreign languages, but also that learning can be stimulating and interesting. I participated in the Theatre Festival throughout my time as an undergraduate student (2013–2016). El club de teatro really gave me confidence to express myself in Spanish and Portuguese, and this spilled over into my class participation. The transition from CAPE Spanish to University Spanish is a bit daunting, especially in terms of oral expression. Theatre helped me to get out of my head and just say what I wanted to say even if it wasn't always the right answer. The Festival also fostered a strong relationship between fellow language students across UWI campuses, where the festival was held interchangeably. I am very grateful to the club de teatro and UWI for allowing us to meet 41— Research Notes - Issue 6 all these different people and make something spectacular each year. Ansana Majarah. Over the years, we have seen more and more students become interested in learning a foreign language and take advantage of different opportunities that enable them to communicate in our diverse mix of cultures nationally and across the region which would otherwise not be possible. With the constant support from the UWI community, we hope to be able to continue offering this space to our foreign language students where they can grow and develop communicative, interpersonal and artistic skills. “Theatre practice can certainly be a motivational strategy in the process of language learning. Play production can also be a source of integrative motivation by fostering cultural proximity. A play allows language learners to participate in the new culture, helping them develop sensitivity as to how speakers of the target language interact with each other. It familiarises them with the cultural appropriateness of words and expressions to specific settings and social situations. Ideally, this integrative experience should motivate learners to want to achieve a higher degree of language proficiency." 1 1 Stern, S.L. “Drama in Second Language Learning: From A Psycholinguistic Perspective.”Language Learning, 30.1 (1980) 77–100. St. Augustine cast in Jamaica in March 2014. Back row, left to right: Mathilde Dallier (French Instructor), Carissa Martinez, Bertisha Pacheco, Tatjana Young, Jevon Bernard, Guillermo Molina (Spanish Instructor). Middle row: Anastasia Tomkin, Tamica C. Marcelle, Ria Thomas, Ansana Maharaj, Malini Maharaj, Alisha Brown. Front - centre: Dr Eliete Sampaio Farneda (Visiting Lecturer in Portuguese) Issue 6 - Research Notes —42 WHAT IS CONSCIÊNCIA NEGRA IN BRAZIL? Brazil marks the 'Dia da Consciência (Negra),' Black Consciousness Day on 20 November, to highlight some of the most pressing issues affecting Afro-Brazilian community. The day also marks the death anniversary of one of the most revered figures of Afro-Brazilian resistance in the country, Zumbi dos Palmares, the Brazilian warrior who fought for the freedom of the enslaved in Brazil, and died in 1695. Black Awareness Day has been celebrated since the 1960s and has amplified its events in the last few years. Originally, it was celebrated on 13 May (the date of abolition of slavery in Brazil). It was later moved to 20 November to honour Zumbi's death, and is sometimes called Zumbi Day. Zumbi was a leader of the Quilombo of Palmares located between the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco, known to be one of the first places in the Americas where the slaves gained freedom. According to statistics, every twenty-three minutes, a young Black man is killed in Brazil, accounting for 4,290 deaths per year. According to the 2017 report 'Atlas of Violence,' published by the Institute of Applied Economic Research, Ipea, and the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, for every 100 men killed in Brazil, a staggering 71 men are Black. Afro-Brazilians have a 23.5 percent higher chance of being killed compared to other races, irrespective of their age, sex, education, marital status and the neighbourhoods where they live. "Young and black males continue to be murdered each year as if they were in a war situation, the study noted. The economic disparity between Afro-Brazilians and other ethnic groups is also worth noting. According to the latest government statistics, 70 percent of the wealthiest 10 percent in the country are White, while Blacks account for 74 percent of the most impoverished 10 percent of the total population in Brazil. Vazante is a piercing portrait of the exploitation and suffering that mark slaveholding societies. The plot takes us to the early 19th century, on the eve of Brazil’s independence from Portugal. In the once-prosperous diamond-mining region deep in the state of Minas Gerais, we find a story of families undone, of domestic violence, and of an impossible love. Through the interplay of light, shadow, and the meticulously sculpted greys that lie between them, with a precise soundscape and carefully chosen cast, Daniela Thomas’ film goes to the root of a community built on patriarchal power. A wound is reopened. In the unequal relationships and clashes between White and Black, but also between Whites themselves, we are given to see the violence that still characterises the territories of the African diaspora. And yet, in Vazante, there may be something unique to the Brazilian experience. Vazante is a word pregnant with meaning in Portuguese: it is both that which leaks out and a plot of land which, once flooded, is now fertile. Dictionaries will tell you that it once meant the ebb tide. This broad array of senses seems to suggest that what we see onscreen is bound to return again and again, with the intractable force of the waters, but also carrying with it a question about whether the soil it leaves behind will truly be more fertile for all. Vazante also explores the great myth of the Brazilian patriarchal society: miscegenation. In deconstructing the fable of a racially mixed and peaceful society, it reveals that rape and violence are at the foundations of that ethnic mixture. Paradoxically, that very mixture is stubbornly celebrated and enshrined in the grand clichés of tropical societies, supposedly so warm and welcoming. Vazante is also a film about silence and the power it bears. That power is revealed at the moments when words take on greater force precisely because they have yet to be spoken —or, in some cases, even when they will never be uttered. Vazante Film Screening & Panel Discussion Chaired by Heather Mac Intosh-Simon and organised by Sean Samad Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics 43— Research Notes - Issue 6 The annual LusoFesta seeks to showcase various aspects of the Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) world. The festival is hosted by the staff and students of the Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Section of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics. This year’s theme was Festa Junina (June Fair). The celebration of the June Fair dates back to pagan Europe where the summer solstice was celebrated on or about 20 June (the longest day of the year). Later on, such festivals continued to be popular in the Roman Empire as Juno (wife of Jupiter and Queen of the Gods) had the month of June dedicated to her honour. In contemporary times, in the predominantly Roman Catholic Lusophone world, the month of June hosts the celebration of three saints, namely, St Anthony of Padua/Lisbon (13 June), St John (24 June) and St Peter (28 June). In Brazil, Festa Junina is most popular in the Northeastern states of Pernambuco and Paraíba, in the cities of Recife and Campina Grande, respectively. The winter season in Brazil commences in mid-June and so one of the main elements of the festival celebration is the presence of a bonfire (uma fogueira). Other integral elements include the pau-de-fita (similar to the Maypole dance), quadrilha (square-dance or quadrille), forró music, and the theatrical marriage of young couples. The time of year is synonymous with the harvest season, particularly that of the corn crop. Consequently, many of the foods served at Festa Junina are corn-based and include pamonha (similar to our paime), bolo de fubá and canjica. On 7 March on the LRC Greens, students demonstrated their research skills and creativity when they recreated a Festa Junina. Visitors to the booths were able to participate fully in the activities which lasted for a full three hours. This year, LusoFesta was also a fundraiser to assist in covering expenses for the first class trip ever to Bahia, and the first since the last trip to Belém in 2011. We congratulate the students of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies for their hard work and their success. Heather Mac Intosh-Simon is an Instructor in Brazilian Studies in the DMLL. The students of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics hosted LusoFesta 2019 as a fundraising event for their trip to Bahia, Brazil. There were game booths, Brazilian music and dance, food (corn specialties), and traditional Brazilian drinks - a real multisensory taste of Brazil with the theme of Festa Junina (June Fair). Academic Staff of the DMLL 2019 - 2020 Academic Literacies Programme Tyrone Ali, PhD candidate (UWI) Rhoda Bharath, PhD candidate (UWI) Janique Dennis, PhD candidate (UWI) Keisha Evans-Dixon, PhD (UWI) Jannine Horsford, MA (UWI) Claudette Jessop, IMBA (UWI) Avalon King, MA (UWI) Karen Sanderson-Cole, PhD (UWI) Lenore Greaves, MPhil (UWI) Linguistics Ben Braithwaite, PhD (Newcastle) Sandra Evans, PhD (UWI) on sabbatical Jo-Anne S. Ferreira, PhD (UWI) Renée Figuera, PhD (UWI) Samantha Jackson, PhD (UWI) Byron Jones, PhD (UWI) Kiara Matthews, SLPD candidate (Northwestern) French Savrina Chinien, PhD (Bordeaux 3) on sabbatical Dylan Sahabdool, MA (Bordeaux-Montaigne) Eric Maitrejean, MA (Lyon 2) Youri Velasques, MA candidate (Bordeaux-Montaigne) Prof Elizabeth Walcott-Hackshaw, PhD (Boston) Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Heather MacIntosh-Simon, MA (UNYLEYA) Spanish Oscar Bazán Rodríguez, PhD (Cincinnati) Adonis Díaz Fernández, PhD (UWI) Jaime Gordillo, Visiting Lecturer, MA (UIMP, Spain) Rómulo Guédez-Fernández, PhD candidate (UWI) Paola Palma Rojas, PhD candidate (UWI) Anne-Marie Pouchet, PhD (Ohio State) Nicole Roberts, PhD (Birmingham, UK) Contact information for all staff may be found on our departmental website: http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/ French Linguistics Spanish Minor in Brazilian Studies Minor in Caribbean Sign Language Minor in French Minor in Linguistics Minor in Spanish Minor in Speech-Language Pathology BA in English Language and Literature with Education (ELLE) BA in Latin American Studies BA in Speech and Language Science Postgraduate Programmes Diploma in Interpreting Techniques Diploma in TESOL MA in TESOL Undergraduate Diplomas and Certificates Undergraduate Programmes Minors Bachelor of Arts Programmes Cross-Departmental Bachelor of Arts Programmes MA in Spanish MA in Speech-Language Pathology MPhil and PhD degrees in French, Linguistics, Spanish Diploma in Caribbean Sign Language Interpreting Certificate in Speech-Language Pathology http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/FrenchMajor.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/LinguisticsMajor.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/SpanishMajor.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/FrenchMajor.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/CSL.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MinorFrench.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/LingMinors.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MinorSpanish.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/SLP.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/ELLE.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/LASMajor.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/SLS.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/PGInterpreting.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/DipTESOL.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MATESOL.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MASpanish.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MScSLP.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MPhilFrench.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MPhilLinguistics.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/MPhilSpanish.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/CSLI.asp http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/CertSLP.asp ON RECYCLING The DMLL supports the importance of recycling in the Faculty of Humanities and Education and across Campus. The little that you do matters! We urge everyone to use the recycling bins located in the Department and around the Campus The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/ http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dmll/ https://www.facebook.com/dmlluwista