Welcome
The study of foreign languages and literatures makes communication possible among people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds and fosters intercultural understanding. This enables our students to engage the global community thoughtfully and creatively.
The Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics offers one of the widest selections of languages of any Canadian university: American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), German, Greek (both Classical and Modern), Hebrew, Hindi-Urdu, Italian, Jamaican Creole, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Swahili.
The department also offers courses in Linguistics, the discipline concerned with discovering the organizing principles of human language and applying these principles to the description of individual languages. Linguistics attempts to answer questions about the structure of languages, about how languages are alike and how they differ, about how children acquire language, about the relation between language and thought, language perception and production, as well as language and society. As a result, the study of linguistics can provide new perspectives on almost every aspect of the humanities and social sciences.
The department offers courses leading to Honours BA and BA degrees in German/German Studies, Italian Studies, Italian Culture, Linguistics, Portuguese Studies, and Spanish, as well as graduate MA and PhD degrees in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics.
The department also offers Certificates of Language Proficiency in Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Modern Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as an Advanced Certificate in Hebrew and Jewish Studies and a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
The department’s language programs, through their various courses and Language Proficiency Certificates, contribute to a variety of area studies and interdisciplinary programs: African Studies, Classical Studies, East Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, European Studies, Hellenic Studies, International Development Studies, Jewish Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, South Asian Studies, Religious Studies, and Women’s Studies. The department's language programs may also contribute to a variety of graduate programs, such as Development Studies.
Faculty and student representatives of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics welcomed visitors to Fall Campus Day 2011 and shared information about DLLL courses and programs. Check out photos of the event!... For more information about DLLL, please write to langlit@yorku.ca or lapsling@yorku.ca
March 31, 2012: York Spring Open House ::: Join us for the next university-wide open house to find out more about our courses and programs, and to gain insights into what life is like for students at York. For more information, please contact us by phone at 416-736-5016 or email at langlit@yorku.ca.
Events
- Thursday Feb 9 - 5pm ::: Linguistics Lecture Series
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Reflections on the Policy Impact of 40 Years of Applied Linguistics Research in Canada
The Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics invites you to attend a talk by Jim Cummins OISE, University of Toronto
Thursday, 9 February, 5:00 PM
Ross Building S562
York University, Keele CampusThe presentation will address the intersections between research, theory, ideology, and educational policies focusing on two major areas: (a) core and immersion programs for the teaching of French to Anglophone students, (b) policies concerning the learning of English and French to immigrant-background students.
With respect to the teaching of French, policy-makers at both federal and provincial levels have ignored the fact that core French programs (typically 30-40 minutes per day) produce very meagre results for the vast majority of students despite 5+ years of learning. French immersion and Intensive French (typically about 5-6 months teaching of French and through French starting in grade 6) have far greater research credibility but only a relatively small proportion of students across Canada are enrolled in these courses (<10%). Policy-makers and some researchers are also subject to ideological blind-spots in the area of French immersion, specifically their adherence to the "two solitudes" assumption that French and English should be kept rigidly separate, an assumption for which there is no empirical evidence.
In the area of immigrant-background students (including students born in Canada to immigrant parents), researchers and ESL educators are well-aware of the different trajectories typically required for students to acquire L2 conversational skills (c. 1-2 years) compared to catching up academically to their native English or French peers (c. 5-7 years). However, the implications of these research findings have not been taken into account in mainstream educational policies concerning instruction and assessment (e.g., EQAO assessment policies, pre-service and professional development policies focusing on mainstream content instruction, and psycho-educational assessment).
Similarly, there are large gaps in knowledge and awareness with respect to the positive relationships between students' L1 and L2. It is still common to hear accounts from parents that they have been advised by psychologists (e.g., in medical agencies or hospitals) to switch to English in the home if they want their children to succeed in school.
Another area of wilful blindness on the part of many policy-makers concerns the unwillingness to implement genuine bilingual (or trilingual) programs involving languages other than English or French. The evidence (e.g., from Alberta programs in place since the 1970s) is clear that such programs can succeed just as well as French-English programs and yet there are only a handful in operation across the country (with Alberta standing out as a notable exception).
Thus, the claim by federal and provincial agencies that they pursue evidence-based policies has limited credibility. Evidence-based policies are much more likely to be pursued when the evidence conforms to ideological presuppositions.
A reception will be held after the lecture in the DLLL Lounge. All are welcome.
- Friday Feb. 10 - 10am ::: 2012 Languages and Literatures Colloquium
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Date: Friday, February 10, 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Location: Founders College 303The Languages and Literatures Colloquia are designed to illustrate the diversity and richness of research in the Languages and Literatures Section of the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics at York University. The organizers (Professors Roberta Sinyor and Anne-Marie Lewis) gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Office of the Dean in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, Founders College, and DLLL.
Please join us — all welcome!
- Thursday Feb.16 - 4:00pm ::: Spanish Lecture Series
Please join us for the second installment of the 2011-12 Spanish Lecture Series, on Thursday, February 16 (4:00-5:30pm) in the Founders College Senior Common Room.
We are happy to welcome Dr. Goretti Ramírez from Concordia University for a talk titled: "Autobiography, Time and Exile in María Zambrano". Refreshments will be served.
This lecture will explore María Zambrano's challenge to the modern conceptualization of time. Drawing on theoretical approaches to exile writing and subjectivity by Mari Paz Balibrea and others, it will focus on how exile's time both highlights and dims the role of the Spanish Republic in our understanding of Spanish modernity, with some implications to the contemporary memoria histórica. Examples from Zambrano's autobiography Delirio y destino will be examined.
Biography
Goretti Ramírez is Associate Professor of Spanish at Concordia University (Montreal), where she teaches literary and cultural studies of modern Spain. Her research focuses on twentieth-century Spanish poetry and intellectual history, with particular emphasis on María Zambrano (1904-1991) and the Republican exile under Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975). She is the author of the book María Zambrano, crítica literaria (2004) and approximately forty publications in collective volumes and journals.
She is currently finishing two books: a monograph on the representation of space in the poetry of the Spanish Republican exile, and the edition of Zambrano's autobiographical writings, including her unpublished journals and Delirio y destino (forthcoming as a volume of her Complete Works in Galaxia Gutenberg-Círculo de Lectores). She is a member of the Advisory Board of Antígona. Revista de la Fundación María Zambrano.
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2012
Time: 4:00 to 5:30pm
Location: 305 Founders College (Senior Common Room)
Sponsors: LA&PS, Founders College, DLLL- Wednesday March 7 - 5:30pm ::: Entre Voc/zes Magazine Launch
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Join us for the the extravaganza launch party of Entre Voc/zes student literary magazine's 5th edition, on March 7th 2012 at 5:30 in Founders Assembly Hall, Founders College. All are welcome to attend to enjoy art, music and literature created by students of York University, and to receive complimentary copies of the magazine featuring a focus on the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds (in English translation). Refreshments will also be served.
The theme for this year's edition is "Raíces al cielo/Raízes ao Céu": a call to embrace our roots, challenge ourselves to break free from all limits while ultimately inspiring others to reach for the sky to pursue their hopes and dreams. Please circulate the information to all who may be interested.
For more information, flyer.
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