Speaking of Language

Dick Feldman is director of the Language Resource Center at Cornell University, and has been so for nineteen years. Dick is retiring in a couple of months, so in this episode of Speaking of Language, we discuss some bigger-picture ideas, such as the importance of having a unit dedicated to technology support in language learning. We talk about teachers’ attitudes towards technology, and what the f...

In this episode, we sit down with  Meejeong Song , senior lecturer and coordinator for the Korean language program at Cornell University. We talk about the wide set of teaching schools that she utilizes for her classes, from facilitating teacher/student interaction via web-based audio, to coordinating travel abroad programs in which students are learning Korean while immersed in the rich culture o...

What is the connection between art and language classes? Dick Feldman from the Cornell Language Resource Center talks to  María Luisa Parra , Senior Preceptor in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. They discuss how visual art can function as a link to culture that can build a deeper connection to, and fluency in, language. “Considered as “windows” into other cultures’ perspe...

Where do you call home? In this episode, we speak to Alice Wu, an intercultural consultant at Cornell University. Alice is the creator of a series of films about Global Nomads and Third Culture Kids: people who have spent their developmental years living in multiple countries, building relationships to many cultures “while not having full ownership in any” (David Pollock). Alice discusses the chal...

We all know there are two types of human languages: “dead” ones and “living” ones.  But what would happen if a dead language came back to life, if contemporary people started speaking it, and teaching it?  In today’s episode we interview Professor  Michael Fontaine , professor of Classics and Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at Cornell.  He himself is a Latin speaker and teacher. ...

Last week, Dick Feldman and  Chris Kaiser  talked about the benefits of a distance-learning program that can unite learners of a less-commonly taught language across locations. Today, Dick speaks with  Adeolu Ademoyo , who is approaching fifteen years of teaching Yoruba at Cornell University, as well as to students at Columbia and Brown via videoconference. An experienced and adventurous instructo...

In this episode, Cornell LRC director Dick Feldman speaks with Christopher Kaiser of Columbia University. Chris is the Program Manager of the  Shared Course Initiative , which connects less commonly taught language classrooms at Columbia, Cornell, and Yale using high-definition videoconferencing. The two discuss the challenges and advantages of offering these classes, and reflect on lessons learne...

In a perfect world, we would be corrected all the time, and our output would be completely accurate. Unfortunately, our ability to process correction and produce language at the same time is limited. Certainly, our ego and other factors may get in the way. On this episode of Speaking of Language, Dick Feldman, director of the  Language Resource Center at Cornell University , tackles the complex is...

Dick Feldman explores the concept of intercultural competence. What is it, and what does it have to do with language learning? Why is it important to require students to study a language?

In today’s episode, LRC director Dick Feldman speaks with  Susan Gass , Distinguished Professor from Michigan State University department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages. The two discuss pair work and how students acquire and build language skills when conversing with each other, regardless of any mistakes their partners make. Susan Gass is a senior researcher in t...

On this episode, we take a step back and ask the question: are there good and band language students? Do some people have a knack for languages that gives them some sort of advantage? We chat once again with the director of the Language Resource Center at Cornell University, Dick Feldman.

Today we talk about a familiar language, English, and its place in the world. Dick Feldman, director of the Language Resource Center, discusses how non-native English speakers deal with some of the complexities of the language.

One recent project at the Language Resource Center has been to archive a substantial number of vintage, language-related tapes, many of which were recorded at Cornell. Dick Feldman, director of the Language Resource Center, talks about the process of dealing with this rare material.