The COVID-19 pandemic has brought questions of empathy in the modern world to the forefront of daily life. Although a natural human response, empathy can be cultivated and even taught. Recent research on the links between reading and empathy present possibilities for world language educators to integrate the purposeful study of literature with the…

Requirements for the undergraduate major in Hispanic literature and offerings of Spanish peninsular and Latin American literature courses surveying the canon, masterpieces, major works, major authors, major trends, or representative works at fifty-six selected US colleges and universities were examined for academic years 1990-91, 2002-03, 2013-14,…

Inspired by the 2017 Big Ten Academic Alliance Library Conference's collective collection theme, the authors undertook a study to better understand the consortium's resource-sharing needs for Spanish and Portuguese materials published in Latin America. The authors employed multiple technologies to expedite gathering, reconciling, and analyzing…

This article briefly describes Fred P. Ellison's ground breaking contributions in Brazilian literary studies in North America. Further, his key role in the development of Brazilian Portuguese language instruction is highlighted, along with the numerous scholarly connections he made in the the field of Luso-Brazilian Studies.

This article examines Octavio Paz's canonical study of Mexican identity, "El laberinto de la soledad", against the backdrop of the current political environment in the United States; it interrogates how we can make Paz's rich, ambitious text meaningful for today's undergraduates. How can we teach "El laberinto de la soledad" in…

We argue for an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach that we call the Integration of Research and Education in the Classroom, which highlights and crosses disciplinary boundaries to challenge each field's assumptions, limitations, conceptual and interpretive purview. We use a set of examples that center on problematizing various aspects of the…

Detailing the integration of Spanish language teaching in an authentic setting, this article contributes to empirical research on the positive value of community-engaged learning in foreign language pedagogy. "Reading to Play, Playing to Read" is an innovative model for community-engaged teaching that combines learning goals from…

This article reports on the integration of leadership studies into upper-level foreign language literature classes in German and Spanish in two undergraduate programs--a military university (USAFA) and a civilian university (UNC Charlotte). Taking into account ACTFL's [American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages] 21st Century Skills Map…

This citation analysis examines the use of Spanish- and Portuguese-language books and articles in PhD dissertations on Latin America at the University of New Mexico between 2000 and 2009. Two sets of data are presented: The first identifies the use of Spanish- and Portuguese-language books and articles across 17 academic departments; and the…

Teaching for cultural understanding has always posed many challenges regarding exactly what should be taught and how it should be presented. For instance: should students be taught a list of facts about another culture, which may lead to stereotyping? Should there be comparison between one's own and another culture, which may involve dealing with…

Through a combination of practical applications and theoretical underpinnings, this article explores the question of how to approach the teaching of Latin American Literature in the current period of globalization. Many theorists argue that we need new epistemologies in which to ground our pedagogy for the 21st century. Understanding the effects…

While it is generally accepted that literature fosters (inter)cultural learning, few qualitative studies have sought to understand in what ways interculturality is developed. This article investigates the development of Spanish L2 students' intercultural awareness through the reading of a short story entitled "Norma y Ester" by Argentine…

From 1999 to 2002, two university professors, one trained in language education and French and the other in Hispanic literature, undertook a comparative qualitative study of their parallel third-year reading course. Using a variety of data sources, most importantly extensive interviews, they documented their teaching beliefs, practices, and…

This manuscript presents a proposal for teaching Latino Caribbean heritage using as principal focus the novel and film "In the Time of the Butterflies." It discusses terms of literary works and their readings, the foundation of a Spanish caste system, African immigration, and political and economic aspects affecting Dominican American identity and…