UWI observes ‘Language Section Week’

Starting tomorrow and continuing through next Friday, the Language Section of the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy (DLLP) at the Mona campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI) will host its annual Language Section Week. The aim is to raise awareness – within and beyond the university – of the work it undertakes.

Students and staff across faculties at the UWI, tertiary-level academic-literacies practitioners and their students, as well as upper-secondary school teachers and pupils, particularly those in language arts and communication studies, are the main targets of the initiative.

Caroline Dyche, coordinator for the week, said: “2026 marks the third staging of Language Section Week. This year is unlike the two previous ones when in line with the primary outreach goal of developing the language sensibility and awareness of high school students, Language Section staff mounted workshops on the UWI Mona campus and in select high schools. In contrast, the focus this year is on tertiary-level educational practice and intersectional coherence.”

Language Section staff will, therefore, hold conversations with colleagues in selected departments about the developmental needs of their students in this area as well as about the role of artificial-intelligence tools in students’ preparation of written assignments.

“Attention will, therefore, be given to the interface between teaching/learning in specific disciplines and the development by the Language Section of students’ academic literacies via the various Language Section courses that students pursue, particularly the faculty-specific ‘Critical Reading and Writing in the Disciplines’ course requirements,” Dyche added.

The week opens with a corporate worship service tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at Boulevard Baptist Church. Interdisciplinary collegial conversations on ‘Aligning Academic Courses and Disciplinary Emphases’ will run from Monday to Thursday.

Student-centred activities – such as pop-up writing centres – will take place in the humanities, social sciences, and law on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, respectively. Writing centre offerings include information booths, writing-coaching services and proofreading/editing challenges or quizzes, with prizes and giveaways.

The main event, an online panel discussion on Friday, the penultimate day, will foreground classroom practice in upper-secondary and higher-education institutions. A panel of university lecturers based in Jamaica, Canada, and Australia will be “expounding on the influence of their formation in linguistics on the lens they apply to the teaching of academic literacies courses”. The virtual panel, from 4:30 to 6 p.m, will address ‘The Intersection between Linguistics and Academic Literacies Courses’.

The panellists are Charles Ball, associate lecturer, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Western Sydney University, Australia; Shalieka Burris, lecturer, Language Teaching and Research Centre, Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies, University of Technology; Tereka Brown, teaching instructor, Language Section, DLLP; Joseph Farquharson, senior lecturer, Linguistics Section, DLLP; and Tasheney Francis, professor, Languages Department, University of Manitoba, Canada. The discussant is Nicole Scott, lecturer, Department of Language, Literacy and Literature, The Mico University College, and Annife Campbell, teaching instructor and PhD candidate, Language Section, DLLP, will serve as moderator.

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