As explained by Aleida Assman, the last two decades of the 20th century saw the development and consolidation of memory research, a diverse field including “neuronal, medical, and psychological as well as literary, cultural, social, and political studies” that investigate “how we live by our memories, how we are haunted by them, how we use and abuse them” (210). The boom in memory studies results from a widespread interest in the revisiting of the past generated, among other factors, by the postcolonial situation in which humans that have been deprived of their indigenous history and culture are trying to (re)write their own narratives and memories (210-211). The present thesis centers on the Anglophone Caribbean – where formal colonialism began to disappear in the 1960s – and aims at exploring the construction of memory as represented in a selection of three novels published by Caribbean women writers in the 21st century. These are Elizabeth Nunez’s Prospero’s Daughter (2006), Andrea Levy’s The Long Song (2010) and Joanne Hillhouse’s Oh Gad! (2012). The initial hypothesis of this study is that, in the corpus under consideration, memory is represented as a contact zone permeated by struggles between cultures in asymmetrical power relations. It is creatively constructed in multiple spaces and practices, and results from the attempt to (re)write Caribbean identities. In relation to the theoretical background supporting the analysis, this study is grounded in a selection of categories which includes Michel Foucault’s and Anibal Quijano’s theories of power, both based on the conception of power as a dynamic relationship involving conflict and struggle –, Mary Louise Pratt’s definition of the contact zone and Stuart Hall’s theories of cultural identities in general, and of Caribbean cultural identities in particular. The discussion of memory is anchored in Halbwachs’ concept of collective memory, Nora’s definition of the lieux de memoire, Jan Assman’s distinction between communicative and cultural memory, and Paul Ricoeur’s analysis of the pragmatic dimension of memory, among others.

Desde fines de la década de los 70, diferentes lingüistas han dedicado sus esfuerzos a refutar las observaciones del trabajo de Vidal de Battini titulado El español de la Argentina, de 1964. Trabajos como los de Acuña (1987), Malvestitti (1993), Acuña & Menegotto (1996), Virkel (2004), Fernández (2005), entre otros, se han esforzado por mostrar que el español hablado en las zonas rurales de la Patagonia presenta numerosas particularidades. A nivel prosódico, por ejemplo, distintos trabajos han señalado que en la región patagónica puede identificarse una entonación, melodía o cantito diferente del que se puede percibir en otras zonas del país.
Esta investigación se concentra fundamentalmente en el español hablado en distintas localidades y parajes asentados al pie de la meseta de Somuncura (es decir, en los valles y cañadones de la no mesada, en términos de Masera 1998), ubicada en la región centro-sur de la provincia de Río Negro. Utilizamos la expresión español de la meseta (en adelante, EspMes) para referirnos al español hablado en esta región. En el capítulo 1 ofrecemos una justificación más elaborada respecto de esta delimitación geográfica. Por el momento, quisiéramos apuntar simplemente que las localidades donde fueron registrados los datos se ubican en áreas rurales en las que, por razones históricas, sociales y culturales (Masera 1998), ha tenido lugar una situación de contacto lingüístico intenso antes y después de la llegada del Estado argentino a la región. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es describir y analizar los comportamientos prosódicos, sintácticos e informativos de oraciones en EspMes. A partir de estas descripciones, la presente investigación intenta determinar cuáles son los aportes de la prosodia, de la estructura informativa y de la sintaxis en la configuración del cantito identificado por la bibliografía. Nuestra hipótesis de trabajo puede enunciarse como sigue: la estructura prosódica y la estructura informativa están asociadas a los comportamientos sintácticos y el orden lineal en el que ocurren los constituyentes en las oraciones de EspMes. En otras palabras, argumentamos que los comportamientos sintácticos de algunas oraciones en EspMes están fuertemente ligados a la estructura entonativa o canto que mencionábamos anteriormente y al comportamiento informativo de las distintas áreas de la oración. La interacción de estos tres dominios de análisis configura lo que metafóricamente denominamos el canto de la meseta.

Affective/humanistic approaches help develop a positive attitude towards language learning, and thus promote language development. I have found in these approaches the underlying principles behind most of my classroom practices, feeling that they backed my beliefs about teaching and learning.
This dissertation intends to share specific experiences on how these ideas could be used with young learners and adults; in ESP and EGP contexts. There is no limit if we really want a change, if we believe that the foreign language classroom could be a territory for personal and professional growth.
I firmly sustain that there is no need to leave the cognitive aside when dealing with the affective but I can perfectly understand that we, teachers, might feel a little insecure as we have started to move on far less steady ground where we must handle the unpredictable, both affectively and cognitively. “It is unrealistic to suppose that methodology, curriculum design, and classroom management will be immune from the level of uncertainty avoidance prevalent in the wider society” (Grundy, 2001).
This paper starts by defining the terms “affect” and “approach”, i.e. why it is that we talk about “approaches” and what “affect” is in a language learning environment. We then turn to consider how the affective side of the learner started to be included within broader educational contexts and within foreign and second language learning.
We will look at affectivity from two sides: first, the language learner as an individual and second, as an active participant in socio- cultural situations (Arnold & Brown, 1999, p. 8). Among the individual factors that may affect learning, self- esteem, motivation and learning styles will be considered; among the relational factors affecting learning we will concentrate on cooperative learning as a means to promote and enhance language learning.
Teachers may find a detailed analysis of the principles underlying the affective/ humanistic approaches and some specific examples on possible activities or techniques they may wish to implement in their classes.