Modern Languages Commons^™

Latina Voice In Dialogue With Literacy, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study follows the literacy experiences of four Latina middle schoolers as they read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and compose home language narratives in their heritage voices. Both their vibrant ethnic cultures and other intersecting rays of identities are analyzed in the vein of their literate identities. Through analysis of their writing and speech, the girls present hybridized identities on the border between cultures and languages. Their position and identities in the social world of middle school are discussed and how transactions with literacy can dialogically influence those identities to enact critically conscious pedagogy.

Ideologías Y Políticas De Perpetua Ilegitimidad: El Caso De La Enseñanza De Lenguas En México, David Martínez-Prieto

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Based on data collected in central and southern Mexico, this article examines ideologies embedded in the language learning policies of this country. By qualitatively analyzing 72 interviews to 24 participants, field notes, and the author’s reflective journal, this research investigates the impact of language policies amongst teachers from three different states: Puebla (2017, 2019, 2021), Oaxaca (2018), and Tlaxcala (2020-2021). After comparing the situations of participants, I suggest that nativist, (neo)colonial and neoliberal ideologies—which are prevalent in language policies in Mexico—foster the perpetual delegitimization of language teachers.

(Re) Actualizing Culturally Sustaining Read Aloud Practices: Enriching Latinx Bilingual Learners’ Literacy Development, Isela Almaguer

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Focusing on culturally sustaining literacy practices, I sought to conceptualize the integration of culturally rich literature as inclusionary practices for the reading and literacy development of Latinx bilingual learners. It is forecasted that by 2036, Latinx students will make up a third of the nation’s 3 to 17 year old learners - our school age population (US Census Bureau, 2010). Recognizing the importance of engaging with culturally sustaining read alouds and the value in learners seeing themselves reflected in the stories allows for increased opportunities for engagement in the literature used in the read alouds. I steadfastly advocate for asset-based …

Bilingual Teacher Educators At An Hsi: A Border Pedagogy For Latinx Teacher Development, Alcione N. Ostorga, Christian E. Zuniga, Kip Austin Hinton

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

As a borderlands’ institution, we are developing a mission and vision for our HSI identity in the college of education, as well as in our university. We envision pedagogical practices embedded in our teacher preparation that are context specific to our bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural community; one that not only prepares PTs to effectively teach all students, but also promotes strong values for equity and social justice. For our Latinx PTs, this aim has two purposes: 1) to tailor our educational practices capitalizing on their unique strengths and addressing possible challenges in their professional development, and 2) preparing them to …

Becoming Transfronterizo Collaborators: A Transdisciplinary Framework For Developing Translingual Pedagogies In Wac/Wid, Marcela Hebbard, Yanina Hernández

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Given that pedagogical approaches that challenge dominant language ideologies are not yet well represented in WAC/WID scholarship, this chapter outlines a transdisciplinary framework for developing translingual pedagogies. The framework is built around the notion of transfronterizo/ a collaborators because before instructors can engage their students in exploring and challenging their views toward language, instructors must first critically interrogate their own. This interrogation must consider the unique political, social, economic, and linguistic exigencies of where an institution is located. The chapter concludes by showing that a transdisciplinary and translingual collaboration that is mutually transformative changes faculty collaborators in how they perceive …

“We Listened To Each Other:” Social-Emotional Growth In Literature Circles, Elena M. Venegas

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Literature circles undoubtedly foster literacy. Yet successful participation in literature circles requires social and emotional competence of students. This article presents findings from a study of a fifth-grade student who demonstrated social-emotional growth while participating in literature circles. Specifically, growth in intrapersonal and interpersonal skills such as self-management, social awareness, social metacognition, and empathy were evident. These findings suggest that literature circles not only foster literacy but also social-emotional learning.

Encouraging Languages Other Than English In First-Year Writing Courses: Experiences From Linguistically Diverse Writers, Alyssa G. Cavazos

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

First-Year Writing (fyw) courses are ideal writing spaces where students' diverse identities and language resources can flourish for specific rhetorical purposes. While research has focused on multilingual students' language and writing practices, little attention has focused on self-identified multilingual students' perceptions of language difference in fyw. Because fyw courses are an integral space in students' writing experiences and an ideal place to counter English-only ideologies, this article focuses on self-identified multilingual students' perceptions of how they negotiate language practices in academic contexts in higher education and how they perceive the role of languages other than English in fyw. Self-identified multilingual …

“Siento Que Siempre Tengo Que Regresar Al Inglés”: Embracing A Translanguaging Stance In A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Sandra I. Musanti, Alyssa G. Cavazos

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter centers on our reflections and pedagogical moves as two bilingual educators at a Hispanic-Serving Institution on the borderland region of South Texas, a predominantly bilingual and bicultural community. Specifically, the chapter documents how we embrace a translanguaging pedagogical stance. Translanguaging practices are identity markers and represent the complex ways bilinguals use their linguistic repertoire to communicate across contexts and to negotiate social identities (García & Li Wei, 2014; Martinez-Roldán, 2015). Drawing on García, Johnson, and Seltzer’s (2017) conceptualization of a translanguaging “corriente,” we describe our translanguaging stance and moves as we, respectively, design and teach two undergraduate courses: …

Advancing A Transnational, Transdisciplinary And Translingual Framework: A Professional Development Series For Teaching Assistants In Writing And Spanish Programs, Alyssa G. Cavazos, Marcela Hebbard, José E. Hernández, Crystal Rodriguez, Geoffrey Schwarz

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Considering the need for writing and language programs to develop translingual and transdisciplinary pedagogies for teacher development at the graduate level (Canagarajah, 2016; Williams & Rodrigue, 2016), the authors examine the design of a multilingual pedagogy professional development series for first-year Spanish and Writing teaching assistants (TAs). As designers of and participants in the series, the authors explore the benefits and challenges inherent in transdisciplinary and translingual conversations and discuss implications for teaching and research in language and writing instruction and teacher development. In order to advance transdisciplinary and translingual approaches as a new normal in composition studies (Tardy 2017; …

Comparing Native Speaker Ratings And Quantitative Measures Of Oral Proficiency In Ielts Interviews, Katherine Christoffersen

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research on second language acquisition has used various quantitative and qualitative measures to assess oral proficiency, yet there is little empirical research comparing these measures. Comparisons between quantitative measures and native speaker ratings are especially rare. Four of the most common quantitative measurements applied in L2 research include the type-token ratio as a measure of lexical diversity; the T-unit as a measure of syntactic complexity; the error-free t-unit as a measure of grammatical accuracy; and average speech rate as a measure of fluency. The present study compares these four quantitative measures of oral proficiency and one qualitative measure of oral …

On Attitudes Toward Spanish Varieties: A Bilingual Perspective, Julio F. C. Ciller, Carmen F. Florez

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study explores the attitudes of 25 English-Spanish bilingual speakers from Tucson (Arizona) towards their own variety and compares them with their attitudes toward monolingual varieties of Mexican (from Hermosillo) and Peninsular Spanish (from Murcia and Madrid). Our analysis points to a clear influence of the standard language ideology (MILROY, 2001) on shaping these attitudes, escalated by a tendency among bilinguals in diglossic societies to feel insecure about their own variety as a minority language, or towards a feeling of linguistic self-hatred.

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Este estudo explora as atitudes de 25 falantes bilíngues de espanhol e inglês de Tucson (Arizona) com …

Promoting Exploratory Talk With Emergent Bilinguals, Yvonne S. Freeman, Alma D. Rodríguez

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors explain their approach to teaching literatura infantil (children’s literature) in Spanish to bilingual teachers pursuing their master’s degree in bilingual education at a university in South Texas. In this Self-Study of Teacher Education Practice (S-STEP) research, the authors investigated how teachers can transform their practice and come to value their students’ abilities to interpret literature. They engaged the teachers in projects using quality children’s literature. The projects were carried out by graduate inservice teachers teaching Spanish/English bilingual students studying at different grade levels. Some teachers taught along the Texas/Mexico border and others taught in a large metropolitan school …

Work Placements In Doctoral Research Training In The Humanities: Eight Cases From Translation Studies, Anthony Pym, Gabriel Gonzalez Nunez, Marta Miquel-Iriarte, Sara Ramos Pinto, Carlos Teixeira, Wine Tesse

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research cooperation between academic and nonacademic institutions tends not to concern the humanities, where mutual financial rewards are mostly not in evidence. The study of eight nonacademic placements of doctoral researchers working on interlingual translation nevertheless indicates some degree of success. It is found that the placements lead to ongoing cooperation when the following conditions are met: 1) the nature of the placement is understood and relations of trust are established; 2) mutual benefits are envisaged; and 3) there are prior arrangements for receiving visiting researchers. A placement can be successful even when one of the last two factors is …

Reflexiones Sobre Lenguaje, Cultura Y Equidad En La Enseñanza De Matemáticas En Una Escuela Primaria Bilingüe De Estados Unidos, Sandra I. Musanti, Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis, Mary E. Marshall

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Esta investigación cualitativa explora las prácticas y percepciones de dos maestras (K-1), así como los asuntos de equidad implícitos en la integración curricular de problemas de matemáticas contextualizados para adecuar la enseñanza de estudiantes latinos que están aprendiendo inglés como segunda lengua. Este estudio se basa en tres enfoques: el enfoque cognitivo guiado de la enseñanza de matemáticas, el lenguaje y la cultura como recursos pedagógicos, y la enseñanza de matemáticas para la equidad. La investigación se desarrolla en el contexto de una iniciativa de desarrollo profesional situado entre maestras bilingües e investigadoras en una escuela primaria del suroeste de …