2015 Graduate Symposium Showcases M.A. Research

On Friday April 17, the EFL Department held its annual graduate symposium. Twenty-three graduate students presented research in literature, rhetoric-composition, and TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language). Topics ranged from case studies to research on pedagogical materials/approaches to explorations of literary works. Presentations by graduate students in literature offered innovative interventions into the critical discourse of such diverse topics as Tennyson’s In Memoriam, post-9/11 literature, the postcolonial, and queer theory. Rhetoric-Composition presentations included a rhetorical analysis of a Supreme Court decision, as well as a report on development of a discipline-specific writing guide. .TESOL graduate students reported on data-based longitudinal studies of the development of second language learners’ production and gesture use, as well as business administration faculty’s expectations of multilingual speakers’ writing

During a break between presentations, attendees munched on cookies as they congregated around poster sessions by TESOL students on pedagogical approaches to teaching flipped classrooms and expectations of multilingual students by School of Business faculty.

The pieces of original research presented revealed the depth of scholarship and diversity of topics achieved by students in the EFL graduate program.