On Friday, March 29, the Department of Modern Languages hosted our 12th Signatures Lecture Series, featuring Dr. Andie Faber, Assistant Professor of Spanish. The Signatures Lecture Series is an annual faculty lecture that gives Modern Languages professors the opportunity to showcase their research to the department, college, and greater university community.
Dr. Faber’s talk, “Fostering Multilingualism for the 21st Century through an Ungrading Pedagogy,” was based on her latest research, which explores student motivation and how to best support and foster it through autonomy, competence, and relevance in 3rd and 4th semester Spanish courses that implement ungrading assessment practices.
Dr. Faber presented on the ways that traditional grading practices undermine many of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes we aim to promote in our language classes and how alternative assessment practices support learning for beyond the university walls. She collected and analyzed student reactions to these practices and the lessons they learned through this process, after having implemented ungrading practices in K-State’s Spanish III & IV sequence.
Additionally, Dr. Faber advocates for aligning language classes with critical skills, goals, and values that are necessary for success in the 21st-century. For example, some of the most highly sought after competencies in the workplace are centered on Communication, Critical Thinking, Teamwork, Professionalism, and Equity & Inclusion. As such, language instructors might re-think, or think critically, about what types of activities, assessments, and grading practices we use in the language classroom, and how can better prepare our multilingual students to be successful in any career, not only in a university course for which they will receive a grade.
This year’s Signatures Lecture was organized by Dr. Ben McCloskey, Associate Professor of Classical Studies & History, and Dr. Raelynne Hale, Teaching Assistant Professor of Spanish. They organized and publicized the lecture across campus, and also organized a public reception with cookies and coffee preceding the event.
After Dr. Faber’s lecture, all Modern Languages faculty, Graduate Teaching Assistants, and students were invited to relax and have some fun together at the K-State Union Bowling Center!
K-State Modern Languages 