Thursday Lecture Series “The Brown Bag”

The Thursday "Brown Bag" Lecture Series takes place on Thursdays from 12:00pm to 1:15pm.

Presentation slots for Spring 2025 are still available: those interested in presenting should contact Brown Bag Coordinator Christina Higgins at cmhiggin(at)hawaii(dot)edu.

Unless otherwise noted, all talks will be held in person in Moore 155A; a Zoom option is available for all in-person talks, with links sent to mailing lists the Monday of the week of the talk. Starred (*) talks are internal to SLS faculty, staff, and students.

The following dates and talks are tentative, and are updated regularly.

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Thursday, January 16

No talk scheduled

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Thursday, January 23

New MA Orientation

Dr. Nicole Ziegler, Associate Professor and Graduate Chair, UH: Mānoa

1. Navigating your MA progress

We will examine the MA advising form together and talk about optional tracks, core courses, seminar courses, and electives. Students will better understand what it takes to complete their degrees in a timely manner.

2. The relationship between language teaching and research
New students sometimes struggle to see connections between their interest in classroom teaching and research projects that they design and analyze in their courses; we will explore this and look at examples of research that are connected to teaching, as well as research on other topics in SLS that are not directly linked to classrooms.

3. Resources for academic and personal support

We will discuss the resources on campus that offer academic support (such as The Writing Center) as well as offices that offer counseling and other forms of support to students.

*This talk is internal to new SLS MA students.

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Thursday, January 30

Introducing a new longitudinal corpus of a Japanese child L2 learner of English in Hawai‘i

Dr. Yuki Hirose, Professor, University of Tokyo; Hironobu Tanaka, PhD Student, Gunma University; Dr. Theres Grüter, Professor, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

In this Brownbag talk, we will introduce the UH-UTokyo Child Second Language Acquisition Database (UH-UT CSLAD), a now freely available corpus that contains video-recordings and transcripts of spontaneous speech from a Japanese-speaking boy who temporarily relocated from Japan to Hawai‘i at age 7 years 10 months, when his mother came to UH for her sabbatical. We will provide an overview of how the corpus was created, what it contains, and some suggestions for what it might be used for, with the goal of encouraging the SLS and UH community to consider how they may use this resource for their own research, teaching, or other purposes.

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Thursday, February 6

Tools, platforms, and resources for research

This semester, we will feature several brownbag meetings that are intended to demonstrate tools, platforms, and resources for conducting research, led by students and/or faculty who have used these resources in their own work. In this week's brownbag, Yoonseo Kim and Rickey Larkin will introduce these resources and briefly illustrate how they have used them in their own work.

Resources for L1/L2 Korean and Gorilla Experiment Builder - Yoonseo Kim, PhD student

The Korean language exhibits regional variation and increasing diversity with the growing number of L2 learners, yet recognition of its varieties remains limited. This presentation will introduce AI Hub, a useful source for L1 and L2 speech samples. In addition, I will show how I made use Gorilla Experiment Builder to create a survey using data from AI Hub which examined L1 Korean speakers’ attitudes toward five L1 and four L2 Korean varieties across 11 dimensions.

Managing data: MaxQDA for qualitative research - Rickey Larkin, PhD student

MAXQDA is a qualitative data analysis software, similar to NVIVO, Transana, and Atlas.ti. In this talk, I will give an overview of the software, some use-cases, and how I utilize the software in my own research on language policy in the Philippines. Limitations and alternatives will also be discussed.

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Thursday, February 13

Introducing the Summer Programs at Ehime University, Japan; Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), China; and Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU), China

Dr. Chika Takahashi, Associate Professor, Ehime University; Dr. Dongping Zheng, Associate Professor, UHM

This presentation introduces three summer programs that offer prime opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students in Japan and China.

  1. Ehime University Summer Teaching Internship and Online Exhange Programs (Japan):
    Ehime University, one of UHM’s partner universities in Shikoku, Japan, is hosting a summer teaching internship program. Between early June and early August 2025, SLS students will have the opportunity to serve as English teaching assistants under the guidance of experienced instructors. This setup is ideal for those with limited teaching experience or those looking to diversify their teaching background, as it allows participants to develop practical skills in a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) setting.
    The session will provide an overview of Ehime University and its surrounding region, discuss program costs, outline expected experiences and benefits, and address frequently asked questions. Additionally, we are exploring the possibility of pairing students from Ehime and SLS for a language exchange. In this format, participants will support each other in improving their additional languages (e.g., English and Japanese) through pronunciation practice, essay writing, and cultural exchange. Interested students from Ehime will join the session to connect with potential partners, and we will set up Zoom breakout rooms to facilitate these connections.
  2. SWUFE Global Academy (China):
    Hosted by Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), the SWUFE Global Academy is an esteemed international summer academic program designed to foster global education and cultural exchange. Scheduled for June 4–13, 2025, this eight-day event marks its sixth consecutive year, celebrating the university's commitment to advancing top-tier disciplinary construction and promoting new finance strategies. The academy aims to enhance international cooperation and provide students with unparalleled opportunities for international exchanges.
  3. IMAU Summer Program (China):
    The Chinese Club has announced IMAU’s summer program at Inner Mongolia Agricultural University. Although registration is now closed—with 30 students already registered—Professor Song Jiang, the program coordinator, has confirmed that interested SLS students can be added to the waitlist, but please note that participants must be U.S. citizens. Additionally, the program includes a research project focusing on the Mongolian language and the linguistic landscape.

A Q&A segment will follow the presentation. For further details on all three programs, including information sheet, videos, flyers, please visit the Google signup form here: https://go.hawaii.edu/be6.

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Thursday, February 20

SLSSA’s BAMA Committee will be hosting the PEEPs Mixer at the next Brown Bag on February 20th. Free food will be provided, courtesy of SLSSA. After a brief talk by Dr. Graham Crookes on the importance of mentorship and building community, PEEPs will have an opportunity to chat and eat lunch with their PEEP (mentors/mentees).

Attendees are strongly encouraged to RSVP for the PEEPS Mixer before attending the Brown Bag. This will help us prepare the mentor/mentee pairings before the Brown Bag and ensure we have enough food for all attendees. Please RSVP for the mixer by filling out this Google Form.

What is the PEEPs program?

The SLS PEEPs program offers casual, supportive mentorship, connecting newcomers or junior members with experienced mentors like senior and grad students, faculty, and staff who can help answer any questions about academic and professional topics, and continue to strengthen the SLS community.

Mentors and mentees are only required to meet one time during the semester (although you are welcome to meet more!). Come meet your PEEP at our Mixer on February 20th at the SLS Department Brown Bag!

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Thursday, February 27

Open for presenters

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Thursday, March 6

Open for presenters (Conference Practice Talks)

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Thursday, March 13

Open for presenters (Conference Practice Talks)

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Thursday, March 20

No talk scheduled (Spring Break)

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Thursday, March 27

Open for presenters

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Thursday, April 3

Open for presenters

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Thursday, April 10

Open for presenters

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Thursday, April 17

Open for presenters

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Thursday, April 24

Open for presenters

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Thursday, May 1

Open for presenters

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