19 research outputs found
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Debates in SLA studies: Redefining classroom SLA as an institutional phenomenon
When language is systematically unavailable to some, it is important that we not limit our explanation to the traits of the persons involved; it is equally essential that we take into account the interactional circumstances that position the people in the world with a differential access to the common tongue. (McDermott, 1996, p. 283
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Fast capitalism, school reform, and second language literacy practices
This 2-year qualitative study explores the ironies of educational reform in the United States as experienced by three second language learners attending a school attempting to transform itself into a high-performance elementary school in California\u27s Silicon Valley. Drawing on the concept of “fast capitalism” in a globalized economic work order (Gee, Hull, & Lankshear, 1996) and the tools of critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1989), the findings from this investigation reveal that the discourses of school reform in the United States visibly and invisibly placed second language learners in new highly vulnerable positions. In what follows I provide an analysis of this vulnerability by relating the experiences of three families and their attempts to enrol and stay enrolled in the school of their choice. Next, I provide a critical analysis of the discourses of reading and writing instruction and of a text produced by a focal student named Alma in this context. This analysis highlights the ways in which classroom literacy practices inadvertently constrained the efforts of second language learners to acquire academic literacies and ultimately legitimated the school\u27s decision to declare Alma “not Web material.” The implications of this study relate to better understanding classroom SLA from a historical, institutional perspective and to supporting teachers and policy makers in addressing the needs of second language learners in a time of rapid social and economic change
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Teacher education in changing times: A systemic functional linguistics (SFL) perspective
Teachers\u27 work is changing rapidly worldwide but is rarely a topic of sustained focus in the literature on teaching English as an additional language. Despite this lack of robust scholarly attention, ESL, bilingual, and content specialists working in primary, secondary, and tertiary contexts contend with the demands of changing demographics and educational policies. For example, in the United States, No Child Left Behind legislation has highlighted the need to provide English language learners (ELLs) with access to content-based instruction and to make schools, especially those serving economically struggling communities, accountable for addressing the education of nondominant students. These goals, while on the surface laudatory, have been undercut by a lack of attention to teachers\u27 professional development and commitment to quality native-language instruction. Consequently, many teachers have had little or no preparation for providing the assistance that second language (L2) learners need to understand how academic language works in the types of texts they are routinely required to read and write in school. This lack of attention to how academic English works in disciplinary texts has contributed to the persistent achievement gap between majority and minority students, a gap that only widens as students enter high school (Enright, this issue). In response, as Enright makes clear, there are calls for greater attention to academic language development in literacy studies and teacher education. Therefore, this article describes how L2 literacy researchers and teacher educators in the United States are using Halliday\u27s (1996, 2007) theory of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) to support ESL and content teachers in scaffolding disciplinary knowledge and explicitly teaching how academic English constructs disciplinary ways of knowing, doing, and being in school
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Charter schools and bilingual education: A case study of teachers negotiating policy-making roles
The purpose of this ethnographic study is to explore the connection between some educational reform initiatives represented by charter school legislation and the professional experiences of bilingual educators. I examine the interactions that took place between teachers and administrators in a newly formed bilingual charter school using a sociocultural perspective of teachers’ professional development. This perspective suggests that teachers’ beliefs and practices are shaped by the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which they have been educated
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Getting past See Spot Run
Describes case studies of three elementary schools\u27 instructional practices for English-language learners. Finds deficient English-language learner programs in two schools, but an innovative instructional program in one of the schools wherein English-language learners are integrated into multiage classrooms taught by English as a Second Language and bilingual specialists. Also describes efforts to support professional growth of teachers
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Institutional ethnography
Institutional ethnography (IE) is a method of inquiry that describes institutional situations in detail and analyzes how people\u27s actions and interpretations make these situations recognizable as particular kinds of institutional contexts (Smith, 2005)
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A case for professional development schools
Discusses professional development schools (PDSs), focusing on their use in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning. Examines the context of the PDS movement and describes a successful ESL PDS at Trent Academy, an elementary school in a low income, high crime area of Los Angeles that formed a partnership with a state university
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Multiliteracies
Multiliteracies is a term coined by scholars who met to reconceptualize literacy and literacy pedagogy in the mid1990s in New London, New Hampshire. This group, called the New London Group (NLG), convened to respond to changing communication technologies, issues of power, and the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity in a globalized world. As a result, they wrote an influential article that argues for pedagogy that centers on supporting learners in using multiple languages and modes of meaningmaking as available designs in constructing and interpreting multimodal texts and as a way of negotiating multiple identities and power dynamics in a rapidly changing world. This entry provides an explanation of the terms multiliteracies and available design. Next, it describes pedagogical practices based on these terms. It concludes with a discussion of how the NLG\u27s contribution has been critiqued and developed by others