Exploring Linguistic Diversity From the Inside Out: Implications of Self-Reflexive Inquiry for Teacher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 581-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Z. Athanases ◽  
Leslie C. Banes ◽  
Joanna W. Wong ◽  
Danny C. Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Bilingual Students ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Majority Students ◽  
Inside Out ◽  
Reflexive Inquiry

With a burgeoning U.S. population of emergent bilingual learners and others who use nondominant language forms, the need for language knowledge among teachers is acute. Beginning from the inside out by examining one’s own complex language uses may be a first step toward envisioning and later developing classroom cultures that support diverse language forms for diverse purposes. In all, 262 undergraduate education students used self-reflexive inquiry, documenting ways they and others use language, through language inventories, surveys, and essays. Participants were majority students of color, half bilingual. Students reported awareness of rich diversity and nuances of language uses, purposes, and fluidity across contexts. Although students often used a formal/informal contrast to describe language uses, this distinction was complicated. Understandings of language surfaced in writing as students engaged with linguistically diverse peers and situated their linguistic repertoires in sociopolitical context. Drawing on results and students’ reflections on the writings as tools, we offer implications for teacher education.

Dichotomies, Dialects, and Deficits

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 341-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris K. Bacon
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Classroom Observations ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Diverse Populations ◽  
Surface Level

This study bridges the dichotomies between the study of multilingualism and multidialecticism to explore the mythologies surrounding what is often called Standard English (*SE). While literacy and teacher education have made progress toward preparing teachers to work with linguistically diverse populations, such preparation is usually geared exclusively toward multilingual learners. Through this study, I argue that the field must also prepare teachers for the dialectal diversity that characterizes U.S. classrooms but is often framed through racialized deficit ideologies. To fulfill this goal, this study outlines a module on multidialecticism embedded into a course on teaching multilingual learners. Drawing on survey data, participant reflections, and classroom observations, I explore the affordances and limitations of this module, asking how teachers’ conceptualizations of linguistic diversity developed over the course of the semester. Initial findings highlight participants’ reliance on surface-level structural features, commonality arguments, and cosmetic word exchanges in conceptualizing *SE. While varying degrees of complexity and sociolinguistic analysis emerged through participants’ engagement in the module, changes were generally minor cosmetic shifts through which underlying deficit ideologies were maintained. This study brings into question the extent to which the field has made progress in problematizing the *SE myth and concludes with suggestions for disrupting these *SE mythologies in literacy and teacher education.

Inclusion of L2 (Basque) learners in Dialogic Literary Gatherings in a linguistically diverse context

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882199414
Author(s):  
Maite Santiago-Garabieta ◽  
Rocío García-Carrión ◽  
Harkaitz Zubiri-Esnaola ◽  
Garazi López de Aguileta
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Dialogic Teaching ◽  
Collaborative Interactions ◽  
Diverse Context

The increasing linguistic diversity of the students in schools poses a major challenge for inclusive educational systems in which everyone can learn the language of instruction effectively and, likewise, can have access to contents, being language the necessary tool to the latter end. Research suggests that there is a robust connection between interaction and language acquisition. Therefore, there is a need to identify the forms of interaction that are most effective for that purpose. In this sense, a greater emphasis on dialogic teaching and learning that increases quality interactions among students may facilitate the learning process. The present study analyses the implementation of a dialogue-based educational action called Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLG) to promote teaching and learning Basque, a minority language, in a linguistically diverse context. Our research is an exploratory case study: 9 lessons were video-recorded and 2 interviews were conducted with a group of students and their teacher respectively. Results suggest that the DLG creates affordances for encouraging participation in collaborative interactions in the second language, promoting the inclusion of L2 learners, and fostering literature competence as well as a taste for the universal literature. We discuss the implications of these findings for second language learning.

Using Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Electronic Storybooks in ESL Teacher Education

2015 ◽  
pp. 209-237
Author(s):  
Ho-Ryong Park ◽  
Deoksoon Kim
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Lesson Plan ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Electronic Storybooks ◽  
Speakers Of Other Languages ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Task Based Instruction

In this chapter, a qualitative approach used to investigate the experiences and learning of 110 preservice teachers in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses when they read electronic storybooks for their school projects. During their online class, participants were asked to read one culturally and linguistically familiar electronic storybook (e-storybook), develop a reading lesson plan, and participate in two online discussions after reading four culturally and linguistically familiar or unfamiliar e-storybooks. After these discussions, the participants revised their lesson plans. The findings provide insight into what ESOL preservice teachers learn and the strategies they use in reading e-storybooks. The participants revised the original lesson plan based on these reading experiences and learned about their future students who will study English as a second language. The article concludes by discussing the influence of this online task-based instruction on ESOL preservice teachers' learning and technology use in teacher education courses.

5 Multilingualism in Teacher Education in Germany: Differences in Approaching Linguistic Diversity in Three Federal States

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-103
Author(s):  
Lisa Berkel-Otto ◽  
Antje Hansen ◽  
Svenja Hammer ◽  
Svenja Lemmrich ◽  
Tobias Schroedler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Federal States

The impact of cultural and linguistic diversity on hospital readmission in patients hospitalized with acute heart failure

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-129
Author(s):  
Michael Seman ◽  
Bill Karanatsios ◽  
Koen Simons ◽  
Roman Falls ◽  
Neville Tan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Acute Heart Failure ◽  
Hospital Readmission ◽  
Limited English Proficiency ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazard ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Hospital Administrative ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Aims Health services worldwide face the challenge of providing care for increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations. The aims of this study were to determine whether CALD patients hospitalized with acute heart failure (HF) are at increased risk of rehospitalization and emergency department (ED) visitation after discharge, compared to non-CALD patients, and within CALD patients to ascertain the impact of limited English proficiency (LEP) on outcomes. Methods and results A cohort of 1613 patients discharged from hospital following an episode of acute HF was derived from hospital administrative datasets. CALD status was based on both country of birth and primary spoken language. Comorbidities, HF subtype, age, sex and socioeconomic status, and hospital readmission and ED visitation incidences, were compared between groups. A Cox proportional hazard model was employed to adjust for potential confounders. The majority of patients were classified as CALD [1030 (64%)]. Of these, 488 (30%) were designated as English proficient (CALD-EP) and 542 (34%) were designated CALD-LEP. Compared to non-CALD, CALD-LEP patients exhibited a greater cumulative incidence of HF-related readmission and ED visitation, as expressed by an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) [1.27 (1.02–1.57) and 1.40 (1.18–1.67), respectively]; this difference was not significant for all-cause readmission [adjusted HR 1.03 (0.88–1.20)]. CALD-EP showed a non-significant trend towards increased rehospitalization and ED visitation. Conclusion This study suggests that CALD patients with HF, in particular those designated as CALD-LEP, have an increased risk of HF rehospitalization and ED visitation. Further research to elucidate the underlying reasons for this disparity are warranted.

How do teachers use picture books to draw on the cultural and linguistic diversity in their classrooms?

2013 ◽  
pp. 44-50
Author(s):  
Marilyn Blakeney-Williams ◽  
Nicola Daly
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Group Work ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Culturally And Linguistically Diverse ◽  
Book Selection ◽  
Cultural And Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Diverse Classroom

Picture books are ubiquitous in Western early childhood and primary settings. This article explores how picture books are being used in culturally and linguistically diverse settings, by describing and exploring the practice of two New Zealand teachers who use picture books extensively in their classrooms. Findings from interviews, observations, reflections, and collaborative workshops indicate the power of picture books within a diverse classroom population and the importance of several factors: the personal resonance of picture book selection, exploration of language structures and vocabulary, and the importance of using group work in activities across the curriculum in response to picture books.

Narrative in ‘societies of intimates’

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Stirling ◽  
Jennifer Green
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Linguistic Typology ◽  
Narrative Style ◽  
Rich Diversity ◽  
Social Features ◽  
High Degree

When the Australian writer Richard Flanagan accepted the 2014 Man Booker Prize for fiction, he said that “As a species it is story that distinguishes us”. While the prize was given for a literary work written in English, Australia and the surrounding regions are replete with a rich diversity of oral traditions, and with stories remembered and told over countless generations and in many languages. In this article we consider both the universality and the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic diversity of various forms of narrative. We explore the question of what a linguistic typology of narrative might look like, and survey some of the literature relevant to this issue. Most specifically, we ask whether some observed differences in narrative style, structure, or delivery could derive from social features of the communities which produce them: their social density, informational homogeneity, and the high degree of common ground they share.

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