Journal of Southeast Asian Language Teaching
Volume 13, No. 1, 2007

Language Reports

The Southeast Asian language teaching community in the United States has organized itself into a number of organizations to support this work.  In each issue of JSEALT, we plan on presenting reports and information from some of these groups.  In this issue, we feature information on the Group of Universities for the Advancement of Vietnamese Abroad (GUAVA) and the Vietnamese Advanced Summer Institute (VASI). In addition, in this section we will present reports from language conferences and workshops of particular interest to our readers.  This issue includes a short report on the 2007 Conference on Southeast Asian Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics which was held at the University of Wisconsin.

Vietnamese Language Organizations

The Group of Universities for the Advancement of Vietnamese Abroad

“The Group of Universities for the Advancement of Vietnamese Abroad (hereinafter referred to as "GUAVA"), a consortium of institutions of higher learning in North America currently offering programs of instruction in the Vietnamese language, was formed at the University of Washington on August 1, 1993.  Current members of GUAVA are: Arizona State University, Cornell University,  Harvard University, Texas Tech University, Temple University, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Florida, University of Hawaii, University of Michigan, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Yale  University.

GUAVA members meet annually, usually in August, to discuss and plan the Vietnamese Advanced Summer Institute (VASI), and to exchange ideas and carry out projects and workshops on materials development and methodology, as well as on other professional interests. Last year (2006) the GUAVA annual meeting was held at San Diego State University, whose Language Acquisition Resource Center (LARC) conducted a two-day workshop on using technology in teaching foreign languages for the GUAVA members. This year the GUAVA annual meeting is to be held at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from August 11^th to 13^th.

GUAVA invites applications for membership from all other North American universities with an active interest in the teaching of Vietnamese. It also intends to extend its cooperative activities, where appropriate, to other institutions of higher education outside North America.  GUAVA will act as a network and clearinghouse for the following activities:

• Advising the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) with regard to the teaching of Vietnamese language courses.
• Planning and administering the Vietnamese Advanced Summer Institute Program (VASI) in Vietnam.
• Promoting the collection and archiving of Vietnamese language teaching materials; the establishment of minimum standards for various levels of Vietnamese language competency to facilitate interuniversity student exchange; the pooling of Vietnamese language teaching experience at the international level; and the dissemination of effective methodologies and curricula specifically relevant to the teaching of Vietnamese.
• Facilitating international student and faculty exchange in the field of language teaching.

GUAVA is a cooperative organization, and its objectives do not imply the imposition of specific methodologies, curricula, or materials upon any member institution.  Rather, GUAVA will make available a range of options and opportunities from which every member may choose to benefit.”

The Vietnamese Advanced Summer Institute

“The Vietnamese Advanced Summer Institute (VASI) is funded by a grant from the U. S. Department of Education and has been run by GUAVA since 1996. It is an intensive eight-week course of study in advanced Vietnamese to be conducted in Viet Nam with instruction provided by the Hanoi Vietnamese Language Center, under the auspices of the Hanoi University of Foreign Studies, and the Saigon Vietnamese Language School, under the aegis of the Viet Nam National Ministry of Education and Training.

Equivalent to a full year's academic work and providing benefits far beyond increased foreign-language proficiency, this overseas program will be offered to approximately twelve individuals selected nationally. Candidates are chosen on the basis of their need for and ability to absorb advanced training in Vietnamese, their readiness to benefit from in-country experiences, and their commitment and potential to become the next generation of Vietnamese language and area-studies scholars in the U.S. The communicative/interactive teaching approach, using authentic materials and carried out by experienced instructors, is enhanced by field trips to many famous sites across Viet Nam.”

The VASI-2007 is being held from June 18^th through August 10^th, 2007.  The website for VASI is located at http://streamingmedia.org/vasi/

Binh Ngo, Chair of Outreach for GUAVA and
Director, Vietnamese Language Program
Harvard University
binhngo@fas.harvard.edu

2007 COTSEAL Conference Report

The theme for the 2007 COTSEAL Conference on Southeast Asian Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics was "Methodologies and Learning Strategies for Students of Southeast Asian Languages.”

The 17^th annual COTSEAL conference was held during SEASSI on July 20^th and 21^st at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pyle Conference Center. Twelve individual papers were given, and a panel consisting of eight descriptions and/or demonstrations of classroom activities by SEASSI teachers was presented.  The conference was well attended, with more than 50 individuals from across the United States participating.  Related cultural events included a performance of Hmong dance which preceded the conference reception and dinner on Friday evening; another Hmong dance which was presented at the beginning of the luncheon on Saturday; and the SEASSI poetry reading on Saturday evening which many conference participants attended.  

The presenters and their conference topics this year included the following:

1.                  Maria Sheila Zamar, University of Hawaii-Manoa/SEASSI
Fun "Psych Tests" for the Language Classroom

2.                  Teddy Bofman & Paul Prez, Northeastern Illinois University          
The Ramakian: A Corpus Study with Pedagogical Implications

3.                  Amelia Liwe, University of Wisconsin-Madison/SEASSI
Cosmopolitan Reading in a Southeast Asian Language Class: A Critical Inquiry

4.                  Chi Trung Nguyen, De Anza College & San Jose State University
Language Learning and The Tale of Kieu

5.                  Elizabeth Pfaff Lavolette, University of Hawaii-Manoa
The Keyimage Method of Learning Sound-Symbol Correspondences:
A Diary Study of Learning Written Khmer

6.                  Rosarin Adulseranee, Northern Illinois University
"Pushing" Thai: Podcasting as Convenience and Language Acquisition Strategy for the "M-Gen"

7.                  Hoang Huu Ngo, Johns Hopkins University
The Grammatical Sentence and the “Communicative Sentence” in Vietnamese:
Which Should Be Taught?

8.                  Herbert C. Purnell, Biola University
Northern Thai (Tai Yuan) as a Third Language: Guiding Independent Learners

9.                  Frank Smith, University of Wisconsin-Madison/SEASSI
Video Podcasts: A Learning Tool that Starts After the Teaching Stops

10.              Patcharee Promsuwan, Nona Kurniani, Hannah Phan, Sokhary Khun, John Okell, Elisabeth Arti Wulandari, Fe Benavidez, & Theresia Rorik Wahyudhanti, SEASSI Panel
Language Games and Other Classroom Activities

11.              Christine Elliott, University of Wisconsin-Madison
An Exploration of Second Language Writing Systems and Word Recognition

12.              Sarah Grant, University of California-Riverside/SEASSI
Troi oi!  Is This Truly Beginning Vietnamese?

13.              Rhodalyne Gallo-Crail, Northern Illinois University
JSEALT FORUM:  An Exchange of Ideas and Commentaries on Southeast Asian Languages, Cultures and Language Teaching

The 18^th annual COTSEAL Conference on Southeast Asian Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics will be held in July of 2008.  Look for the Call for Papers in the next issue of JSEALT.

Lopao Vang
COTSEAL Conference Chair
orchidhomes@tds.net

Copyright © JSEALT 2005.  All Rights Reserved.