Christian Association of World Languages
26th Annual Conference, April 14-16, 2016
The Arts: The Intersection of Aesthetic Expression,
Christianity, and World Languages
Hougton College
Hougton, New York
Keynote Speakers
CAWL 2016 – PROGRAM OVERVIEW
THURSDAY APRIL 14
David Hooker (Wheaton College) and
Kelsey Haskett (Trinity Western University)
(More to follow…)
6:00 – 8:00
Registration, welcome reception
FRIDAY APRIL 15
8:30 – 9:00
Worship
9:00 – 9:15
Break
9:15 – 10:45
Keynote Speakers
10:45 – 11:00
Break
11:00 – 12:45
SESSION I
1:00 – 2:00
Lunch
2:15 – 3:45
SESSION II
4:00 – 5:45
Afternoon activities
6:00 – 7:00
Dinner
7:00
Evening activity
SATURDAY APRIL 16
9:00 – 9:45
Worship
9:45 – 10:00
Break
10:00 – 11:30
SESSION III
11:45 – 2:00
Business Meeting, lunch, final worship
Session I A
stranger to demonstrate how hospitality might
meaningfully integrated into the photographic image.
be
Friday 11:00-12:45
Itzel Reyes, Biola University
World Culture Through the Arts
Scott M. Bennett, Point Loma Nazarene University
Essential Latin America: Culture through Documentary
Photography
My presentation explores contemporary documentary
photography to highlight key themes from Latin America,
focusing on some of the most impactful visual storytelling
from the region, while reflecting both intellectually and
philosophically about the issues covered. My main emphasis
will be social concerns and marginalized people groups and
how they relate to the themes explored.
Sarah-Ann Wijngaarden, Redeemer University Student
Drawing with the Light of Christ: Hospitality through
Photography
Christians are to reflect the love of our Saviour who embraced
strangers and outcasts. In addition to examining works of
several well-known French photographers, I will draw upon
my own photography and experiences as both a host and a
Developing Intercultural Competence Within a Christian
Perspective Through the Use of Films (in Spanish)
This presentation explores the use of films in the language
classroom as a means of developing intercultural competency
through a Christian lens. I will present examples of Hispanic
films utilized in my own Spanish classrooms along with
reflection pieces written by students in order to argue that
films constitute an important resource in the development of
intercultural competence within a Christian perspective.
Session I B
Friday 11:00-12:45
Spanish Pedagogy: Enhancing Communication Skills and
Building Empathy
These pre-service teacher candidates developed projects for
future students with the goal of teaching the importance of
listening to and learning from cultural strangers and, in turn,
developing an empathy and compassion for them. Two
projects utilize the Ethnocentrism Scale and the Cultural
Intelligence Scale to measure the students’ incoming and
outgoing attitudes. Further, two of the projects deconstruct
negative stereotypes in Hispanic culture, specifically Mexican
and immigrant and also Gitano or Roma. The third project
focuses on preparing students to be the foreigner themselves
when in Spain by learning appropriate idioms, gestures, and
etiquette in order to assimilate to the target culture.
Patricia A. Tinkey, Grove City College, Faculty Mentor
Bethany Easom, Grove City College Undergraduate Student
Crossing the US/Mexican Border: Why are they coming to the
US?
After deconstructing stereotypes, examining reasons for
immigration to the US, and understanding the challenges
immigrants face, students work with similar cultural strangers
in an ESL classroom.
Lizi King, Grove City College Undergraduate Student
Gestures, Expressions, and Etiquette: How to Acculturate in
Spain
After learning idioms, etiquette, and gestures used in Spain,
students demonstrate this learning in a culminating project
options through recreating a genuine scenario they might
encounter by making a Dubsmash video.
Session I C
Friday 11:00-12:45
Spanish Literature
Jacob Rapp, Whitworth University
Divergent Christianities in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexican
Fiction
Angela Rajm, Grove City College Undergraduate Student
The Gitano: A Misunderstood and Marginalized Roma People
After studying the history and struggles of “gitanos” and their
contribution of flamenco dance and song to the Spanish
culture, students examine the modern day stereotypes that
still permeate Spain and how to battle such prejudice.
The debate between Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera and Victoriano
Agüeros concerning the role of Christian imagery and morality
shaped literary production and criticism in Mexico at the end
of the nineteenth century and also contains parallels to
contemporary conversations about the relationship between
aesthetics and spirituality.
Artemiza Hernández, Biola University
Session II A
De cómo los Buendía fueron entregados a una mente
reprobada (in Spanish)
Friday 2:15-3:45
Cien años de soledad comprueba por medio de sus personajes
y la trama lo que la Biblia señala en Romanos 1:28, que el
hecho de no reconocer a Dios haciendo las cosas que no
convienen, Dios los entrega a una mente reprobada dejando
como consecuencia la soledad, la desilusión y el temor.
Jan Evans, Baylor University
Kierkegaard and Unamuno on Despair that Destroys and
Despair the Leads to Life
Unamuno read Kierkegaard’s Sickness Unto Death and
understood the nature of despair both in its negative,
debilitating effects and its ability to awaken a person to
positive change.
Using Unamuno’s characters Joaquín
Monegro and Fray Ricardo, the process by which despair can
be overcome will be the focus of this essay, shedding light on
Unamuno’s understanding of love as a life force, as a
foundational element of faith.
The Arts and the Catholic Church
Caitlin Samples, Baylor University Graduate Student
Using Christian Art in the Spanish Classroom to Illustrate
Hybridity in Latin American Catholicism
Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century paintings from Bolivia
and Peru reveal that Latin American Catholicism is a hybridity
between Christian culture and Native culture. I discuss several
religious paintings that illustrate the blending of Christian and
Native cultures and suggest methods of incorporating these
works into class discussions on Catholicism in Latin America.
Ana Llamazares Tejedor, Trinity Christian College - Semester
in Spain
The role of Catholicism in legitimizing the Franco dictatorship
(in Spanish)
This presentation will explore the history and relations
between the Catholic Church and the Franco regime
throughout the nearly forty- year duration of the Franco
dictatorship (1939-1975). We will consider how the Spanish
dictator used the images and symbols of Christianity and the
Catholic Church to justify his actions in Spanish society.
Ellen Scott, Baylor University Graduate Student
nineteenth century. In so doing, it will be shown that God’s
divine truth can be found in the most unlikely of art forms.
Theresa Varney Kennedy, Baylor University
Censorship and Repression in Sastre’s La mordaza
Alfonso Sastre’s drama La mordaza subtly reflects the social
turmoil that Spain faced at the hands of the repressive
dictator, Francisco Franco. Due to the stringent censorship
standards imposed, Spaniards could not openly speak about
the repression. The Church, however, remained closely
aligned to Franco which negatively impacts the Church’s
credibility today in Spain.
Theater and Religion: The Case of Madame de Maintenon’s
Dramatic Proverbs
The dramatic proverbs that Maintenon composed for female
pupils at Saint-Cyr played a primary role in the reform of the
theatrical curriculum after religious drama was banned at the
school. At first glance, the proverbs seem entirely secular in
nature. I contend, however, that they are rooted in Biblical
teachings.
Session II B
Friday 2:15-3:45
French Language, Literature and Culture
Allan Curnew, Redeemer University College
The Master’s Piece: God’s Place in (Seemingly) Ungodly Art
Drawing upon Calvin Seerveld’s work on Reformed Christian
aesthetics, this paper aims to articulate a Christian approach
to the study of the French Decadent novel of the late
Paul Sundman, Grove City College Undergraduate Student
Le Grand Dérangement: The Acadians’ Struggle, Reception,
and Identity during their Exile in the 1700s
This course of study acquaints students with an often
forgotten event in history, Le Grand Dérangement, the
expulsion of the Acadians from Canada in the 1700s. By
learning how to treat the cultural stranger with Christian love
and respect, students then apply this knowledge to exiled
people and refugees today.
Session II C
Friday 2:15-3:45
results were encouraging.
Cynthia Slagter and Marcie Pyper, Calvin College
Research on Language and Teaching
Patricia A. Tinkey, Grove City College
High School Language Teachers Ask: What Can We Do to
Better Prepare Students for College-Level Language Study?
Language professors were surveyed for the answers to this
question. Seeking to model Christ at a public high school inservice,
the
presenter
first
listened
to
the
successes/challenges of the language teachers and then
shared the professors’ feedback. Finally, all collaborated
together on strategies on how to teach today’s millennial
language student.
Diana Gonzalez, Northwestern College
Study Abroad Interrogations
Does our well-intentioned goal of building strong Christian
community during study abroad negatively affect our goals of
linguistic/cultural immersion? Our study explores students’
competing priorities and questions how negative peer
pressure might be transformed to provide supportive linguistic
communities in which speaking the target language is
embraced as the norm.
Session III A
Saturday 10:00- 11:30
Faith and Learning
The Art of Disbelieving Myths
Julianne Bryant, Biola University
God created humans with the capacity of acquiring more than
one language. Thus, several myths about bilingualism have
spread widely. With the intention of eliciting students’
reactions toward some of those myths, a survey was applied
to three distinct groups at Northwestern College. Collected
Local Homestays: A Practical Application of the Integration of
Faith and Learning
Current research demonstrates the greater increases that
students can achieve when studying abroad. This paper
reviews a program that has been implemented at Biola
University in which students have demonstrated growth
linguistically, culturally and spiritually due to a local immersion
experience within a Hispanic Christian home in Los Angeles
County.
integration that have been both fruitful and problematic are
discussed.
Dave Kinman, Houghton College
Saturday 10:00 – 11:30
Building and Maintaining a Christian Rationale for Learning a
Language in the Beginning and Intermediate Classroom
(English with examples in Spanish)
Language and Culture in Worship
In this presentation, we will explore ways to create an
environment based on a Biblical worldview that gives purpose
and meaning to learning an L2. Also, practical ideas and
techniques that permeate the classroom by integrating faith
and learning will be shared and experienced.
The Intersection of culture and language in worship
Scott Lamanna, Calvin College
Integration of Faith and Learning in Linguistics Classes:
Challenges and Best Practices
This presentation reports the results of an ongoing project to
integrate a Christian perspective into the teaching of Hispanic
linguistics classes. Examples are provided related to various
subfields of linguistics (including phonetics, language
acquisition, syntax, semantics, and sociolinguistics). Aspects of
Session III B
Marcus Dean, Houghton College
Worship reflecting the culture and language of the worshipper
is perceived as more relevant. In light of multicultural
churches and spreading contemporary worship style on a
global scale this paper looks at the impact of worshipping in a
language and using worship styles that are not of one’s own
culture.
Karol Hardin, Baylor University
Pragmatic Devices Used to Persuade: A Year of Sermons in a
Rural Latin American Town
This study analyzed sermons at a Latin American rural
protestant church over the course of a year to see which
pragma-linguistic strategies were most common and how they
effected persuasion. The research provides clues regarding
the impact of religious language on audiences, both for
Spanish and for English.
Lindy Scott, Whitworth University
Common Grace in Latin American Music
When the Apostle Paul was in Athens, he commented on
truths that “pagan” philosophers had stumbled upon. In a
similar way, popular music in Latin America reveals truths that
permeate the culture. This presentation looks at the song “No
soy de aquí ni de allᨠand explores Biblical teaching therein. It
forms part of a series that I use in my classes.
Session III C
Saturday 10:00 – 11:30
Pedagogical Insights
Julia Villaseñor, Hiram College
Empowering Student Research in the World Language
Classroom through Poster Presentations
As educators working within the “bubble” of our respective
Christian institutions of higher education, we are often
challenged by how to provide our students with valuable
research experience that integrates their faith with learning as
well as prepare them for graduate school and beyond. In this
session I will discuss the value of poster presentation projects
as a viable alternative.
Patricia A. Tinkey, Grove City College
Imago Dei: Caring for the Language Learner with AnxietyReducing Best Practices
Foreign language anxiety (FLA) literature reveals the extent of
student anxiety as well as anxiety-reducing best practices. By
embracing the idea of “imago dei” (image of God in everyone)
when implementing these strategies and tools, the teacher
creates an environment where students feel valued and
consequently choose to continue in language study.
Stephanie Blankenship and Alisha Castañeda, Liberty
University
Language Tutoring and Aesthetic Oral Expression
Languages
in
Within the context of a Christian worldview, this session will
address how the relationship between a campus Language
Tutoring Center and the introductory language classroom
curriculum can promote aesthetic oral expression in modern
languages by promoting correct pronunciation, grammar
syntax, and vocabulary usage. The presenters will provide
various practical examples and ideas for implementation and
encourage participant collaboration in brainstorming
activities.