Modern Languages Best of Papers

In the Department of Modern Languages, students work hard to become proficient users of a second language. Achieving this goal is difficult in and of itself, but even more challenging when considering that most students have a second major, work between classes and on weekends, and are active in campus organizations. We’d like to congratulate all of our students for being able to balance these demands. In spite of them, students regularly produce outstanding results. Faculty were asked to select student work that highlights student excellence. 

These works demonstrate that students aren’t learning the language for its own sake, but rather to understand cultures, solve problems, and build careers. To learn more about Modern Languages, please visit us at https://www.wku.edu/modernlanguages/index.php.

 

Chinese 450: Miriam Dawson

Miriam Dawson explored shame in the context of COVID in her paper “The Use of Shaming Language on The Topic Of COVID-19 in the Sino-American Relationship.” 

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Spanish 372: Lauren Varner

Lauren Varner produced a final exam essay focused on the contributions of Hispanics in the United States in three areas: science, arts, and literature.  It also highlights the new perspectives and diversity these contributions offer to the fields themselves and the people living in the United States.

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Spanish 371: Carli Street and Ashley Austin

Carli Street wrote about the challenges of standardized testing in “La Nocividad de las Pruebas Estandarizadas.”

Ashley Austin examined reducing gun deaths in “En Control: Cómo Menos Armas en los Hogares Pueden Salvar Vidas.”

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Spanish 101: Cassandra Davies

Cassandra Davies explored Mafalda, a Latin American comic strip character in "Las ocurrencias de Mafalda."

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Spanish 102: Abigail Yarborough and Gwendolyn

Abigail Yarborough and Gwendolyn Lamb, created a class newsletter.

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Arabic 200: Emily Arnold

Emily Arnold examined modernity within her paper “Informal Modernization of the Arabic Language: A Catalyst of Nationalist and Globalization-Focused Ideological Change.”

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