NEWS

Spanish assistant professor publishes paper in journal

Oct 4, 2012 | General News, Liberal Arts

Dr. Anne Reynolds-Case, an assistant professor of Spanish at Louisiana Tech, has had an article published in the journal “Hispania.”
The article, “Exploring How Non-native Teachers Can Use Commonalities with Students to Teach the Target Language,” discusses the findings of a qualitative study which demonstrates how teachers who are non-native speakers of the target language can apply their past learning experiences in their classes.
“When I was trying to get assistantship as a Spanish teacher, the overall tone was that it was easier for native speakers to teach over non-native speakers, and I just didn’t agree,” Reynolds-Case said. “I decided to do this research to show the positives for both sides.”
Reynolds-Case said the results of the study help dismiss the belief that teachers who are not native to the language they are teaching are just as pedagogically prepared as a native speaker, and each classification has unique attributes that can be applied in classes.
“Hispania” is a quarterly national academic journal published by Johns Hopkins University Press and focuses on various aspects of language studies including linguistics, literature, culture studies, and pedagogy having to do with Spanish and Portuguese.
Written by Rebecca Alvarez