The Department of Modern Languages is welcoming Dr Ana Calindro, Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philology at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), for a two-month stay as part of the University’s Brazil Visiting Fellow Scheme.
The scheme supports the career development of early career university lecturers in Brazilian universities and promotes international research collaboration between the UK and Brazil through research projects with a Birmingham academic.
During June and July 2019, Dr Calindro will be based in the School of Languages, Cultures and Art History, where she will be hosted by Dr Alice Corr, Lecturer in Modern Languages, who specialises in comparative (Ibero-)Romance linguistics and co-ordinates the Linguistics in Schools Transatlantic Educational Network (LISTEN!) initiative.
Dr Calindro specializes in linguistic theory and analysis, syntax, diachronic syntax, historical linguistics and Portuguese as a second language. She is currently involved with various research projects investigating variation and change in the history of Brazilian and European Portuguese; theoretical linguistics in secondary education; combatting linguistic discrimination; and the grammar of Txapakura languages, an indigenous language branch of Brazil and Bolivia.
The visit supports Dr Calindro and Dr Corr’s project on best practice in grammar teaching and learning of modern languages in schools and universities, which focuses on the integration of insight and methodologies of theoretical linguistics to augment teaching and learning strategies for the acquisition of what teachers and learners perceive to be ‘difficult’ grammar points in Portuguese.
As part of the scheme, they will attend a reception event at the Brazilian Embassy in London on July 16, to celebrate the University’s engagement with Brazil, promote forthcoming events and opportunities, and highlight UoB’s Visiting Fellows Scheme. This will be hosted by the Brazilian Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Fred Arruda, and the Pro Vice Chancellor International at the University of Birmingham, Professor Robin Mason.