Connections
A Journal for Foreign Language Educators
Volume 11 – Fall 2023
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from the Editorial Board of Connections. A Journal for Foreign Language Educators - ISSN 1945-0478
We are delighted to share our most recent issue, Vol. 11, Fall 2023, available online. Please, follow the FLANC link below.
Call for Papers 2024
We also invite you to submit articles for the next issue to be published in Fall 2024. Though the journal accepts submissions year-round, those interested in submitting articles, reviews, and books to review for this fall should send their manuscripts by June 1st, 2024 to connections@flanc.pw Please, see details in the call for papers attached. Research articles undergo a double-blind review.
Please, circulate this call for papers among world language professionals!
Best regards,
Connections
Editorial Board
Please, send papers to or contact us at: connections@flanc.pw
About us
Connections is an online yearly peer-reviewed journal published by the Foreign Language Association of Northern California and directed to the world language professional in the classroom. From its origins with SWCOLT and its continuation with FLANC since 2008, the journal has aimed at sharing meaningful research and outcomes in the field of linguistics as well as current pedagogical trends, best practices on technology-mediated tasks, and activities to integrate the intercultural dimension in language teaching and learning.
ISSN Online: 1945-0478
ISSN Print: 1945-046X
For past issues, please, visit our website.
Submissions are welcome at any point. Please, visit our website to see the call for papers, authors’ guidelines, and deadline for our next issue: https://www.flanc.net/connections
Past issues:
2008 • VOLUME 2
2012 • VOLUME 6
Editors’ Note and Acknowledgements
Connections. A journal for Foreign Language Educators, volume 11, brings language educators nine articles and two book reviews. The articles cover a wide range of topics in relation to the teaching and learning of languages, whether in a virtual or a face-to-face format. A broad spectrum of research types is represented (qualitative and quantitative, established and innovative), including cross-disciplinary approaches.
In this volume, language educators can find relevant research on a diversity of topics from students’ preferences in language education resources to the use of peer observation as a tool to enhance quality of teaching and mentoring of pre-service teachers. Articles also focus on key topics in today’s language courses such as culturally relevant community-based learning for heritage speakers, social justice and poetic expression in the L2 language, and study abroad and intercultural reflection. While a diversity of languages is represented, new teaching approaches are explored through a philanthropy project in a Japanese drama course, the reading of Leo Tolstoy in Russian from a hybrid pedagogical perspective, and the incorporation of culture through Chinese character teaching and practice. The integration of digital innovations in the classroom is examined in the implementation of computer-assisted translation tools in translation courses and, focusing on professional development, an uplifting note reminds us of the importance of peer observation and feedback for instructors of world languages to encourage students’ and instructors’ success. Moreover, the book review section focuses on two very recent publications on second language acquisition and research-based teaching techniques.
We deeply thank our contributors for their commitment to the profession: Faculty from California, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and Massachusetts, have kindly shared their research, philosophies, and best practices, bringing fresh perspectives to our language classrooms. We look forward to Connections continuing to evolve as it provides meaningful research and outcomes as well as current pedagogical trends in teaching and learning to world language educators.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of our Editorial Board and reviewers for their contribution in the editorial process as they have been instrumental at maintaining high standards within our publication. Our special gratitude to Dr. Branka Sarac, FLANC Webmaster, who carefully revised the last version of each manuscript before publication. We deeply appreciate her support and dedication.
Editorial Team
Editors
Sandra García Sanborn, CSU, Stanislaus
Gaye Walton-Price, University of San Francisco
Book Review Editor
Frances Sweeney, Saint Mary’s College, Moraga
Editorial Board
Henri-Simon Blanc-Hoang, Jewish Community High School of the Bay
Liz Moreno Chuquen, Idaho State University
Brent James, Appalachian State University, Boone
Hanan Khaled, DLIFLC, Monterey, California
Zhiqiang Li, University of San Francisco
Ali Miano, Stanford University
Masahiko Minami, San Francisco State University
Miriam Hernández Rodríguez, University of California, Berkeley
Main Editors’ Biographical Notes
Gaye Walton-Price is a highly motivated and talented university professor, with extensive experience teaching Arabic and English as a Second Language, as well as an effective administrator and executive. Dr. Walton-Price earned her PhD in Arabic language and linguistics at Georgetown University; and she is currently the Arabic instructor at University of San Francisco. Since the pandemic, she has gained invaluable experience designing and conducting Arabic classes of various levels online via Zoom, including private tutoring sessions with advanced-level Arabic students. She has lived and worked in Tunis, Tunisia, and in Cairo, Egypt, for extended periods of time, and has conducted study tours for Californian undergraduate students to Egypt. After more than 20 years’ college and university-level teaching experience, she knows and demonstrates that her passion is the Arabic language, both teaching it, doing research with it and in it, conversing in Arabic, as well as enjoying the great variety of Arab cultures. Along the way, she has also gained experience and expertise in teaching university-level humanities and philosophy courses. Dr. Walton-Price has been an active member of the FLANC board for over eight years and is currently serving as the treasurer of FLANC’s board of advisors and co-editor of the FLANC Journal, Connections.
Sandra García Sanborn completed her graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley, attaining an M.A. and achieving PhD Candidacy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures. She is a lecturer in Spanish and Hispanic Literatures at California State University, Stanislaus, where she also presides the Latin American Studies Reading Group and is currently director of the LAS Minor. Her main areas of research are in literature of the South Cone and Central American literatures. She has presented papers in national and international conferences, such as the NWSA, CALACS, IAS, LICE, AATSP, FLEDS/SOWLE, plus multiple times in the Congreso Centroamericano de Estudios Culturales, and has published articles and book reviews in the field of literature as well as language acquisition, while also participating as reviewer for Hispania. Her latest publication, in 2021, has been in the ACTFL Learning Scenarios for the World Readiness Standards for Learning Spanish. She was FLANC president for 4 years during the 2016-2019 period and president of the AATSP Northern California Chapter for the 2018 and 2019 years. In the field of language acquisition, she is currently working on a COIL project with faculty from the TEC de Monterrey, México, which students find exciting as they approach the language through an online intercultural experience and a blending of disciplines. She has been business and associate editor of the UC Berkeley journal Lucero.
Connections. A journal for Foreign Language Educators
is a publication by the Foreign Language Association of Northern California