We can now refer to Clinton as Dr. Clinton Hendry. He successfully defended his thesis - Using Translation Tools for L2-Learning in a Self-Regulated Environment.
So what exactly does his thesis entail? What did he discover?
"Language learners often find themselves with insufficient opportunities for interaction, essential for successful language acquisition," explained Dr. Hendry. "My dissertation attempts to address this issue by investigating whether Google Translate and its translation, text-to-speech, and automatic speech recognition functionalities can be used for interaction for the purposes of learning Mandarin. In three studies, I determined that Google Translate can produce Mandarin speech in an intelligible manner, it can understand Mandarin language learners reasonably well, and that language learners overall enjoyed using Google Translate for language learning. Based on these findings, I argue that Google Translate can be used to provide additional opportunities for interaction for the purposes of Mandarin language learning and that learners will benefit from these opportunities. Basically, next time you want to practice your second language and you don’t have anybody around to listen, I recommend giving Google Translate a try. It’ll work better than you think."
Dr. Hendry was born and raised in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario and received his BA in English Rhetoric and Professional Writing from the University of Waterloo before moving to Beijing for five years to teach English for China Agricultural University and, later, the University of Waterloo. He moved to Montreal in 2015 to do his MA in Applied Linguistics and PhD in Education, both at Concordia University.
As many of you probably know, his role at SCS is Curriculum and Program Development Coordinator.
"Under the Assistant Dean of Curriculum and Program Development (MarÃa Sierra Córdoba Serrano, Dr.) and in close collaboration with our domains," he explained, "I coordinate and in some cases, lead key phases of new or revised program design and ideation. I am also the first point of contact of our new Curriculum Steering Committee."
What does the future hold for Dr. Hendry?
"For now, I plan to continue in my current role and learn as much as I can. Eventually, I hope to find a more senior position in program development in academia or industry.
And when he's not working?
"I spend as much time as I can with my son. "However," he added "when he's too busy to spend time with me, I exercise, read, cook, play guitar, and play video games. Aside from spending time with my son, I am not particularly good at any of those things."
Thank you Dr. Clinton Hendry for your refreshing, self-deprecating sense of humour.
Congratulations!