Studying a World Language: An Interactive Guidebook

Dr. Bobby E. Hobgood is the Director of the Language Resource Center in the Department of Languages and Culture Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his role, he supports the integration of technology by both faculty and students in the study of languages and world cultures. He also serves as a Faculty Peer Mentor, supporting faculty across campus in the integration of Active Learning Strategies, and a Quality Matters Associate Fellow. He offers webinar series, book talks, and face-to-face workshops on a range of curriculum issues focused on pedagogy to engage learners.

Dr. Hobgood began his career as a high school French teacher before working in higher education to pioneer an online professional learning network for educators across the state of North Carolina.  He has taught undergraduate foreign language methods and currently teaches Advanced Methods for Foreign Languages and Advanced Pedagogy for TESL as a completely online course in the Graduate School.  He also teaches Elementary French in the Department.  Dr. Hobgood received his Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He received his Masters of Arts in Teaching degree from the School for International Training and his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Dr. Hobgood is a certified Quality Matters reviewer and serves as a Quality Matters Associate Fellow at UNC Charlotte.  Dr. Hobgood is the 2020 recipient of the Laura Thomas Award for his accessibility efforts in the renovation of the Language Resource Center, awarded by the North Carolina Association of Higher Education and Disability. He is the 2017 recipient of the Educator of Excellence award for the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT), for which he currently serves as the President. In 2016, he was awarded Honorary Lifetime Member for the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina.  He serves as a Faculty Consultant for Vista Higher Learning.

Adriana Laza Medina is an associate professor of Reading Education in department of Reading and Elementary Education Department in the Cato College of Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Medina has over 25 years of teaching experience at the elementary, middle school, and high school level, as well as at the college and university level. As a teacher, Dr. Medina taught 7th and 8th grade English, Reading, and Language Arts. As a teacher educator, she has taught undergraduate and graduate classes on Teaching Reading to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners, Diagnostic Assessment and Instruction in Reading, Middle/Secondary Reading and Writing, Teaching Reading to Intermediate Grade Learners, Investigating the Reading Curriculum, Reading Comprehension, Language Arts, and Integrating Reading and Writing in the Content Areas.

Dr. Medina enjoys learning languages and exploring different cultures. She leads her department’s teacher education study abroad program and serves on several committees on internationalization and global education at UNC Charlotte. Dr. Medina received her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University. She earned her master’s degree in Reading Education from Florida International University and her doctorate in Reading from University of Miami.

Dr. Medina’s research interests include global education, students who struggle with literacy, teacher education, and educational program evaluation. She has contributed chapters in books and has written articles with regards to her areas of interest. Her current research projects are focusing on teacher efficacy with vulnerable populations, guiding young readers to literacy, the effects of pre-service teachers’ experiences on their teaching of diverse learners, literature and global education, and how to study world languages.