Practiced Humanities: Pedagogies for Interdisciplinary Language Teaching and Learning
Proposal Description
The term “Humanities” derives from the Renaissance course of studia humanitatis, consisting of grammar, literature, rhetoric, history, and moral philosophy. Essentially, they are the language arts, the tools with which we tell our story. In short order, this course of study precipitated a world revolution, the Reformation, which showed that the Humanities are not just a matter of the mind that might be easily expanded with budgetary or other inconvenience: ideas, narratives, and communication create our worlds, they impact, shape, and have reality. Precisely here, in the interface between the real of the impact and the reflection of the instruction, pedagogies for teaching and learning world languages are also the most effective. My poster presentation highlights several strategies in which this pedagogy can be used not only to achieve superior learning results and create interest in world languages, but also to reach beyond academia into real-life contexts, where the stories we tell matter. These strategies include the creation of micro-courses that place emphasis on hands-on learning and community outreach; the creation of extra-curricular programs that invite the larger community to partake in the cultural and social discourse facilitated by academic learning; and finally, they comprise learning strategies with real-life community and career-building outcomes. In introducing these strategies, this presentation also outlines successful programs at Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma.
Practiced Humanities: Pedagogies for Interdisciplinary Language Teaching and Learning
The term “Humanities” derives from the Renaissance course of studia humanitatis, consisting of grammar, literature, rhetoric, history, and moral philosophy. Essentially, they are the language arts, the tools with which we tell our story. In short order, this course of study precipitated a world revolution, the Reformation, which showed that the Humanities are not just a matter of the mind that might be easily expanded with budgetary or other inconvenience: ideas, narratives, and communication create our worlds, they impact, shape, and have reality. Precisely here, in the interface between the real of the impact and the reflection of the instruction, pedagogies for teaching and learning world languages are also the most effective. My poster presentation highlights several strategies in which this pedagogy can be used not only to achieve superior learning results and create interest in world languages, but also to reach beyond academia into real-life contexts, where the stories we tell matter. These strategies include the creation of micro-courses that place emphasis on hands-on learning and community outreach; the creation of extra-curricular programs that invite the larger community to partake in the cultural and social discourse facilitated by academic learning; and finally, they comprise learning strategies with real-life community and career-building outcomes. In introducing these strategies, this presentation also outlines successful programs at Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma.