• University Teacher (Interdisciplinary Studies)

telephone: 01387702023
email: Jane.Cavani@glasgow.ac.uk

Biography

Jane obtained her joint honours MA degree in French and Hispanic Studies from the University of Glasgow, graduating first class in 1990 with distinctions in spoken French, Spanish and Portuguese, and obtaining the Herkless Prize for the most distinguished female graduate in the Faculty of Arts. She spent time teaching English at the Université de Caen in Normandy before returning to Glasgow University to teach French language, literature and civilisation.

Jane then worked within the Institute of Education at the University of Stirling where she was a Research Fellow in the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (Scottish CILT), before returning to the University of Glasgow in 1999 as one of five original foundation lecturers employed on the inauguration of the Dumfries Campus in that year.

Research interests

Jane has conducted research in varying fields related to the study of Modern Languages: French literature and politics, in particular the poetry of the surrealist-turned-communist writer Louis Aragon and the writings of his Russian-born wife Elsa Triolet; genetic criticism and manuscriptology; twentieth century French history and sociology; foreign language acquisition, in particular language learner attitudes and motivation.

Her interests are now located in the field of education, in particular higher education. She is currently undertaking qualitative, narrative research into academic identity construction and management.

Undergraduate

• Level 1: French for Beginners (i) - complete beginners' language course
• Level 1: French for Beginners (ii) - beginners/intermediate language course
• Level 1: Spanish for Beginners (i) - complete beginners' language course
• Level 1: Spanish for Beginners (ii) - beginners/intermediate language course
  NB French and Spanish run in alternating sessions
• Level 1: Text and Communication - guest lecture on translation theories
• Level 4: Honours Dissertation in Primary Education
• Level 4: Education in its Wider Contexts  

In past sessions, she has also contributed to the Level 3 course in Existentialism, and delivered a Level 3 literature in translation course, as well as two lecture courses to first years students at the main campus in Glasgow: one on twentieth century French history and another on the francophone detective writer Didier Daeninckx.

Publications

Jane has published on the poetry of Louis Aragon in both Britain and France.

She has also co-authored research studies on language learning in Scottish schools for both the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department and Glasgow City Council Education Department.

In 2001 her case study of school language learner motivation was included as a chapter in the CILT publication, Reflections on Practice: Motivation.

Her conference paper on Elsa Triolet and the Prix Goncourt 1944, was presented at a conference held at the Dumfries Campus and published in 2004 in the work entitled Prix Goncourt 1903-2003: essais critiques (Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang AG, 2004).

She also contributed a co-authored chapter on Dumfries Campus student profile to a 2005 publication outlining the inception of the University of Glasgow in Dumfries, Below the Belt (Dumfries: Crichton Publications Series).