A study of the reading and writing experiences of four Laotian refugee adolescents from one family in an American secondary school

This study describes and interprets the reading and writing experiences of four recently arrived Laotian refugee adolescents from one family in an American secondary school. Through four extensive case studies, the study compares and contrasts how these individuals read and write on their own initiative and are taught to read and write at school, and what happens when the school agenda matches and mismatches their learning patterns. This study reveals how school structure re-enforces the marginalization of the ethnic minority students in their school life by ignoring what they know and who they are. With a focus on four minority students, the study calls for rethinking the teaching of literacy for marginalized students. The data were collected from September, 1990 to June, 1991, using a number of field methods such as participant observation and intensive and extensive interviews as well as non-interactive methods such as textual and transcript analysis. The research settings were mainly in classrooms at school, in the Laotian community and at the home of my informants. The descriptive narrative of the study presents the learning experiences of four individuals in an American school through their voices and from their perspectives. The results from this study suggest that school literacy connect with learners\u27 life experiences and their home literacy, and teacher be sensitive to students\u27 needs, their interests and their ways of knowing. In a multicultural society, school should be a place to integrate diverse cultural values of students and prepare the youngsters to work with each other by cultivating in them an appreciation of and a respect for each other\u27 differences. For minority students, especially the newcomers, school should be a place for them to experience the democratic values and learn to join the nation of a pluralistic world

Vygotsky and Marxism

To cut off Vygotsky from Marx is to look at him fragmentally and to separate his work from its theoretical basis. The very act is anti-dialectical materialism, the fundamental principle guiding Vygotsky\u27s research and shaping his analysis. A discussion of Vygotsky in the context of Marxism will help us reach an understanding of the theoretic framework of Vygotsky\u27s thinking. This understanding will lead us to a more profound interpretation of Vygotsky\u27s theory and approach. Hopefully this discussion will also help readers understand Marxist theory and methodology in some way. In this article, based on two of Vygotsky\u27s most known works among American educators: Thought and Language and Mind in Society (they are referred as Thought and Mind in the text), I will examine how Vygotsky applied Marxist principles to his study of human psychological development and present in what way he was a Marxist. In doing so, first of all, we have to review Marxist principles

Translanguaging space in a bilingual program in New York City Chinatown middle school

This study explores how translanguaging pedagogy was practiced in a New York City Chinatown middle school to engage emergent bilingual students (EBs) with diverse language literacy backgrounds in their study of the grade level social studies curriculum. The datawere collected overthe pasttwo decadeswhile we worked with classroom teachers in search of effective ways to improve EBs’ school performance. We revisited this data utilizing a translanguaging lens to reconceptualize this past work and reframe our analysis to deepen understanding of translanguaging teaching praxis. Therefore, this research not only seeks possiblewaystomeetchallengesintheeducationofEBsinU.S.schoolsbutalsoto add to a research method that looks back at past data as an approach to looking ahead in scholarship

Writing at School: Test-Prep Writing and Digital Storytelling

This article presents a study on two students’ from nonmainstream and working class backgrounds writing experiences in two different writing situations: writing for test preparation and writing for digital stories. The students’ writing behaviors, processes and products in these two settings are contrasted. The differences of the students’ writing experiences in this classroom during a four-month period suggest that it may be our teaching that trails behind the time rather than students from diverse backgrounds trailing behind in their school learning. The research findings point out that a test-driven teaching approach tends to limit students’ ability as learners and in contrast, the instruction that values students’ home literacies energizes students’ learning, reaches their potential, and ensures their school success. The article concludes by advocating change in our teaching and curriculum and stresses the importance of inviting students’ home literacies in our curriculum, valuing their interest in our teaching and preparing them to be literate citizens for the 21st century

Writing Instruction in China: Challenges and Efforts

This qualitative study examined the current writing instruction in 1-12 level education with the data collected in three Chinese cities. The data from the Interviews of teachers and teacher-educators at different levels and from classroom observations at upper elementary to high schools in three metropolitan cities across China provide insights into 1-12 writing instruction in contemporary China. To further reveal the efforts taken by writing teacher under China’s high-stakes testing culture, this paper also presented a case study of an exemplary 10th grade writing teacher, who took tremendous efforts in nurturing true readers and writers in his classroom under the test-obsessive culture in China

Ofelia García: A True Pioneer and Leader in Bilingual Education

This article traces my growth as a bilingual educator: how Ofelia García’s work has educated, humbled, and enlightened me. In this tribute to her retirement, I will focus my discussion on a few of Ofelia García’s publications that have had a great impact on me as a scholar. With her work I will examine my own scholarship development, which demonstrates my growth conceptually as a scholar in bilingualism and a teacher educator in bilingual education