Re-visioning English language arts practices and writing outcomes through the remaking of Cinderella

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-386
Author(s):  
Tat Heung Choi ◽  
Ka Wa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Low Level

Purpose – This paper, which originates in an English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classroom activity in Hong Kong, aims to explore English learners’ expressive and creative potential in writing by studying their work in the literary narrative genre. Design/methodology/approach – A group of upper secondary students (15-16 years of age) with limited English resources and competence was enlisted to remake a folktale with visual and written prompts. Findings – The writing samples demonstrate that these low-level EFL writers are able to refashion the narrative elements, and to communicate meanings for their own purposes. They exhibit logicality and problem-solving skills in their attempts to challenge and transform idea and to include themes of interest to them. There is also evidence of creative play with language in their use of dialogues and figures of speech. Research limitations/implications – These writing outcomes suggest the need to re-vision English language arts practices in increasingly diverse education systems. Genre-based instruction, with its emphasis on “writing to mean” as a social activity supported by learning to use language, could lead to widening EFL learners’ access to genre knowledge and to greater life chances. Practical implications – A linguistics-based pedagogy scaffolding less able EFL writers while they learn to build effective narratives is identified as a way forward. Originality/value – Although the idea of using narratives to engage EFL learners in writing is not entirely new, this paper contributes to the field by responding to low-level learners’ writing that goes beyond linguistic “correctness”, and developing strategies for supporting creativity and language play.

Without borders: youth debaters reimagining the nature and purpose of public dialogue

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-267
Author(s):  
Nicole Mirra ◽  
Debate Liberation League
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Literacy Practice ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Public Dialogue ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to analyze how a group of middle-school debaters integrated their identities and epistemologies into the traditional literacy practice of debate to advocate for more expansive and inclusive forms of academic and civic discussion. The adult and youth co-researchers of the Debate Liberation League (DLL) detail their creation of a critical debate praxis through the use of spoken word and translanguaging and illustrate how they sought to redesign a foundational activity of English Language Arts on their own terms. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon critical race and borderlands theories, the authors use critical ethnographic and participatory action research methods to explore how the DLL deconstructed the boundaries of what counts as public dialogue and offered an alternative model of what intergenerational and multi-voiced democratic discourse could look like in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms and beyond. Findings The findings demonstrate how DLL students broke down normative binaries of affirmative/negative and objective/subjective in their debate performances and introduced testimonios as evidence for civic claims to make space for their voices and reimagine deliberation. Originality/value This study foregrounds dialogic data generation through a collaborative, intergenerational research approach. It highlights the constructed nature of literacy “rules,” demonstrates youth expertise in reimagining ELA, and offers a pathway toward a more compassionate public sphere.

scholarly journals Writing Instruction That Makes a Difference to English Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (24) ◽  
pp. 77-96
Author(s):  
Juan J. Araujo ◽  
Carol D. Wickstrom
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Writing Instruction ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
High School English ◽  
Language Arts Teachers ◽  
Arts Teachers

This paper presents the actions of two high school English language arts teachers as they engage in writing instruction with adolescent English learners. Using a naturalistic, qualitative methodology we investigate the actions two high school English language arts teachers engage in to meet the needs of their students. Findings suggest that embracing the students’ resources, building on linguistic knowledge, taking time to choose the right books and activities, being explicit about writer’s workshop and accepting its frenetic pace because it meets the students’ needs, and using the act of writing as a thinking activity, were the actions that made a difference to promote student success.

scholarly journals English Language Proficiency and Content Assessment Performance: A Comparison of English Learners and Native English Speakers Achievement

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Suzi Keller Miley ◽  
Aarek Farmer
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Subsequent Performance ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Achievement Levels

As a result of the accountability requirements established in Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act (ESEA) legislation, English Learners (ELs) are expected to make progress in both content area academic achievement and English Language Proficiency (ELP). In Tennessee ELs progress is measured by administering WIDA-Access to assess English language proficiency, and Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) standardized assessments to measure content academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the performance levels of ELs who achieved the exit criteria on WIDA-Access state mandated English proficiency assessment and their subsequent performance on English Language Arts and Math TCAP assessments. Specifically, a comparison of EL’s achievement on TCAP was compared to the achievement on TCAP of non-ELs. Independent samples t-tests were performed on data from 302 elementary and middle school ELs and non-ELs that participated in WIDA-Access and TCAP assessments in 2015. Data analyses concluded that English Language Arts and Math TCAP scale scores were significantly different between ELs and non-ELs. Achievement levels in both English Language Arts TCAP and Math TCAP for ELs, who achieved the exit criteria on WIDA-Access, were lower than the achievement levels of non-ELs. Discussions of the findings in this study along with implications of using these assessments to measure ELs growth is provided in relation to the increased demands on measuring both the academic achievement and English language progress for ELs.

Teacher agency in English language arts teaching: a scoping review of the literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-152
Author(s):  
James S. Chisholm ◽  
Jennifer Alford ◽  
Leah M. Halliday ◽  
Fannie M. Cox
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Agency ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pedagogical Issues ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conceptual Clarity

Purpose This paper aims to examine ways in which English language arts (ELA) teachers have exercised agency in response to policy changes that have been shaped by neoliberal education agendas that seek to further advance standardization and the primacy of measurability of teaching and learning. Design/methodology/approach The authors posed the following research questions of related literature: Under what conditions, in what ways and to what ends do teachers exercise agency within ELA classroom teaching? Through five stages of systematized analysis, this scoping review of 21 studies maps the evidence base. Findings Structural, material, interpersonal and pedagogical issues both constrained and supported agency. Teachers covertly exercised agency to be responsive to students’ needs; in some instances, teachers’ agentive practices reinforced institutionally sanctioned methods. Teachers’ agentive action aimed to combat the deprofessionalization of the field, foster innovative curriculum approaches and challenge stereotypes about students. The authors also found a range of definitions of agency in the research, some of which are more generative than others. Originality/value This paper addresses a gap in the research literature by illuminating contexts, consequences and conundrums of ELA teacher agency. The authors documented the range of structural, cultural and material conditions within which teachers exercise agency; the subversive, collective and small- and large-scale ways in which teachers realize agency; and the potentially favorable or unfavorable consequences to which these efforts are directed. In doing so, the authors also problematize the range of definitions of agency in the literature and call for greater attention to conceptual clarity around agency in research. As literacy researchers illuminate work that disrupts the marginalization of teachers’ agency, this scoping review maps the field’s knowledge base of agency in ELA teaching and sets up a future research agenda to promote the professionalization of teaching and advocacy for English teachers.

(Responding to) Youth epistemologies to create a third space: a reclamation of learning in an English language arts classroom

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-316
Author(s):  
Keisha L. Green ◽  
Daniel Morales Morales ◽  
Chrystal George Mwangi ◽  
Genia M. Bettencourt
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Critical Ethnography ◽  
Third Space ◽  
Classroom Culture ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Classroom Space

Purpose This paper aims to focus on the construction of a third space within a high school. Specifically, the authors consider how youth of color engage the educational context of an 11th grade English language arts (ELA) class as a basis for (re)imagining their history, culture and themselves to construct counter-narratives away from framing their lived educational experiences as failures, deficient and depicted in “damage-centered” (Tuck, 2009) ways. The research engages the process and challenges of creating this type of space within a school setting, as well as examining the ways in which students envision these locations. Design/methodology/approach Critical ethnography centered the emphasis on youth engagement for social change, as well as the inquiry on how the classroom space was constructed, shared and navigated by the students and ourselves (Madison, 2005). In addition, the research design reflects critical ethnography through the use of prolonged participation in the field (nine and half months), a focus on culture (specifically school and classroom culture/climate) and a critical theory-based framework [hybridity, third space and youth participatory action research (YPAR)]. Findings Three major themes emerged from the data that demonstrate how instructors and students collectively engaged in a third space through the YPAR project. These themes include developing an ethic of care with students and among instructors, cultivating an atmosphere of social justice awareness and the contrast of the classroom space with the wider-Hillside Vocational High School environment. Originality/value The study engages the use of YPAR within a high school class that became a unique space for students to learn and develop. The ELA class did not just reflect adding the first space and second space together or merging the two. Instead, it seemed to demonstrate the creation of a new type of space or the development of a third space. In this space, students could bring and bridge their out-of-school and in-school experiences to develop new knowledge and ways of seeing the world.

"“La Vida de los Emigrantes”

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 400-418
Author(s):  
Theresa Ann McGinnis
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
New York State ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
Classroom Culture ◽  
Central American ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
Content Type

Purpose In September 2014, 1,200 unaccompanied immigrant youth, from a region of Central America known for high rates of violence and homicide, enrolled in a suburban school district of New York State. This paper aims to highlight the stories of the newly arrived Central American high school youth, as told through Bilingual (Spanish/English) digital testimonios completed in the English Language Arts classroom. The author examines how the telling of their stories of surviving migration offers a way for the youth to respond to political and emotional struggles. The author also explores how the youth become active participants in the telling of political narratives/testimonios. Design/methodology/approach Part of a larger ethnographic case study, the author adopts the ethnographic approaches of the new literacy studies. Testimonios as a research epistemology privilege the youth’s narratives as sources of knowledge, and allow the youth to reclaim their authority in telling their own stories. Findings The integration of critical digital texts into the English Language Arts classroom created a participatory classroom culture where the Central American youth’s digital testimonios can be seen as a shared history of struggles that make visible the physical toil of their journeys, the truth of their border crossings and their enactments of political identities. As a collective, the youth’s stories become part of national and global political dialogues. Originality/value At a time when immigrant youth struggle for rights, to further their education and to negotiate the daily experiences of living in a new country, this research offers a unique perspective on the politics of inclusion and exclusion for unaccompanied youth.

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