[English] Enska á meistara- og doktorsdegi 29. október

[Elmar Freyr Kristþórsson]

On Friday 29th of October the masters students and doctorate students day
will be held for the second time. All in all 28 students from different
subjects in the school of humanities will present various projects in 7
lectures.

We would especially like to draw your attention to the following lecture.
The full schedule can be found on <http://www.hug.hi.is> www.hug.hi.is

LECTURE III - ENGLISH
ROOM 207 - AT 13.30 – 14.30

LECTURER:  Hulda Kristín Jónsdóttir, doctorate student

13.30 - Árný Aurangasri Hinriksson, doctorate student in english
Politics of dispossession: A postcolonial after effect of the “Divide and
Rule” policies of the British Administration as seen in 8 selected novels
from Sri Lanka written after Independence.
My presentation will examine the politics of dispossession of Sri Lankan
ethnic Tamils as depicted in eight novels written by resident as well as
expatriate novelists in English.  I will be examining the narratives on the
lines of Homi K. Bhabha’s conception of the “unhomely” in which he suggests
that “the recesses of the domestic space becomes sites for history’s most
intricate invasions.  In that displacement, the borders between home and
world become confused”.

13.50 - Anna Jeeves, doctorate student in english
Secondary School English: Student Perceptions of Relevance
This study explores the question of perceived relevance of secondary school
English studies in Iceland. Little work has been done on the role and nature
of relevance in language learning and its relationship to recognized
concepts such as motivation and attitudes, autonomy, self-concept,
international orientation, and identity.

The focus in this research is on the experience of students and young
people, and on acknowledging the voices of language learners themselves.
Through semi-structured interviews, beliefs and attitudes of secondary
school students towards English and English secondary school studies are
investigated, along with the perceived relevance of these studies to their
present and future identity as English users, and their language needs
outside the classroom. Interviews with university students and young
employees explore a retrospective view of beliefs of how secondary-school
English studies have proved relevant to their individual situations.

In this presentation, analysis of interviews with secondary school students
will be discussed and a four-faceted model of relevance in English-language
learning put forward. This model exposes the diverse role of English at
secondary schools in Iceland. It suggests a wide spectrum of actual present
and anticipated future relevance, and a very real English-language identity
among young Icelanders today.

14.10 - Letetia B. Jónsson, MA-student in english
The Importance of Multicultural Literature
The central focus of this paper addresses the importance of multicultural
literature within the context of accommodating cultural diversity in
Icelandic children’s books. In order to evaluate the significance of
multicultural literature the discourse considers: this evolving canon of
literature, ongoing debates in defining multicultural literature and
recognition of the need to educate both immigrant and Icelandic students of
the other, as a means to avoiding the danger of a single story.

The paper extends the discourse by conducting a study of compulsory school
teachers to establish teachers’ awareness of the concept of multicultural
literature as an extension of multicultural education. The results of the
study indicated questionable teacher preparedness in light of increasingly
culturally diverse Icelandic schools. A chronic lack of multicultural
literature specifically designed for the early readers, aged eight to twelve
years, was noted. Most strikingly was the inadequate training guideline
available for teachers, coupled with modest uptake of whole-school training
initiatives in multicultural education.
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