The Department of Romance and Classical studies is very pleased to celebrate Martiniano Etchart, Lauren Stahl, and María Laura Zalazar, this year’s M.A. graduates in Spanish as a Second or Bilingual Language. Each graduate was asked to submit some information for this feature, so that we may celebrate their accomplishments.
Martiniano Etchart
Originally from Argentina, Martiniano (he/him/his) is a recent MSU graduate from the M.A Program in Spanish as a Second or Bilingual Language. He is an EFL teacher as well as a former Fulbright scholar, who has been teaching Spanish in the U.S. since 2018.
In addition to teaching Spanish 200- and 300-level courses at MSU, Martiniano has been actively involved within the Spartan community. He has been a member of the Department of Romance and Classical Studies Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, served as a department steward to the Graduate Employees Union (where he also got involved in the International Graduate Student Committee), as well as the Co-chair for the Graduate Student Association TROPOS. Martiniano is also the recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Assistant of Spanish Award for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Martiniano is interested in studying how a non-native language –mainly Spanish- is acquired in the language classroom context, and how learners’ individual differences affect this process. Thus, his research interests lie primarily in the areas of Instructed Second Language Acquisition and Task-Based Language Teaching. In his research, he intends to address students’ linguistic and social backgrounds, and aspects related to their emotions, perceptions, and/or attitudes towards the language being learned.
During his time as an MSU graduate student, together with Dr. Paula Winke and Dr. Meagan Driver, Martiniano has been working on a research project that examines levels of grit in foreign and heritage language learners of Spanish before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This upcoming summer, he plans to further develop this study through his role as the first, inaugural Fellow at the “Second Language Acquisition Knowledge and Production Lab” that Dr. Winke directs in the Department of Linguistics and Languages at MSU.
In the following Fall Semester 2021, Martiniano will leave Michigan to join the Second Language Acquisition Doctoral Program at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he will also closely collaborate with the UW-Madison’s Department of Spanish & Portuguese. Martiniano is very excited for these future steps and is truly thankful to all the faculty, staff, and students he crossed paths with at Michigan State University. He hopes to maintain his connections as a new Spartan Alumnus while he stays on the other side of Lake Michigan.
Lauren Stahl
Lauren Stahl previously graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications before entering the Master of Arts program in Spanish as a Second or Bilingual Language. Her research interests include child language acquisition and the sociology of languages, especially language choices made by bilinguals. She is also interested in language policy and planning, with goals including the creation and modification of more inclusive and representative language learning programs programs that can be used in early education programs for bilinguals. She has a deep interest in how race and language intersect, and the implications of language/race ideologies on identity.
After graduation, Lauren will be focusing on her teaching and has accepted a job in Gainesville, Georgia teaching middle and high school Spanish. In the future, it is her goal to pursue a Ph.D. or an Ed.D.
María Laura Zalazar
Laura (she/her/hers) has graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Spanish as a Second or Bilingual Language. During her time at MSU, she taught introductory and intermediate Spanish courses and she was the Graduate Assistant coordinating the Spanish Writing Center. She also served as the secretary for GSA-TROPOS and the student representative for the Department Advisory Committee during the Fall 2020 semester.
Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina and prior to becoming a graduate student, Laura graduated with a BA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. For five years, she worked as a Teacher of English in various institutions ranging from elementary to adult education in Greater Buenos Aires.
In 2018, Laura was awarded a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship grant that took her to teach Spanish in the US. She went to Amherst College, Massachusetts, where she was both a Teaching Assistant of Spanish and a cultural ambassador. During her year at Amherst, she took courses on L2 Spanish teaching methodologies and second language acquisition at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Laura is primarily interested in second language acquisition. Her research interests include bi/multilingualism, second and heritage language development with a focus on reading and writing, teacher education, and language assessment. Next Fall 2021, Laura will join the Spanish Linguistics PhD program at Georgetown University where she expects to deepen her knowledge on second language adquisition and continue to grow as a scholar.
