Translanguaging Framework for Deaf Education

In this conceptual article, the authors introduce the Translanguaging Framework for Deaf Education (TFDE), drawing upon two perspectives on language and learning: crip linguistics and critical translanguaging space. The TFDE is a retheorization of the Language Zone, a pedagogical framework for supporting language learning in deaf education, and is designed to support educators to approach language use and users from an asset-oriented perspective. In line with this stance, the TFDE validates the linguistic resources deaf students bring to the classroom and encourages students’ full use of their communicative repertoires for meaning making, while also working to expand their linguistic resources and increase communicative flexibility. Examples of translanguaging pedagogical practices with deaf students, such as coming to a shared understanding, building metalinguistic knowledge, and honing communication for external audiences, are explained and illustrated through classroom scenarios with deaf students. Readers are also provided with tools for critically analyzing the social context to ensure accessible and equitable language environments for deaf students and to protect spaces for the use of minoritized languages such as ASL

Systemic Functional Linguistics, Teacher Education, and Writing Outcomes for U.S. Elementary English Learners: A Review of the Literature

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the pedagogical applications of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) for improving writing instruction for elementary English learners (ELs) in the United States. However, there are few syntheses of the existing scholarship, particularly with regard to student outcomes. This article reviews the empirical scholarship from the last decade, considering how teacher training in SFL theory and pedagogy impacts writing and disciplinary learning outcomes for ELs. Four central themes emerged from this review, highlighting the potential for SFL-informed pedagogies to support elementary ELs in (1) composing genre-specific texts, (2) mastering academic language and literacy skills, (3) learning across academic disciplines, and (4) developing critical language awareness. We close with a discussion of the implications of these findings, limitations in the existing scholarship, and future directions of this work. </div

Strengthening and Sustaining Dual Language Education in Catholic Schools

The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, we seek to make a case for the promise of dual language programs to enhance Catholic schooling and enrich educational opportunities for Latinx students. Second, we offer insights into the current landscape of Catholic schools with dual language programs, drawing upon data from a national survey conducted by University of Notre Dame researchers in 2020. Through our presentation of the findings, we consider characteristics of current program models and identify areas of success, challenges, and opportunities for future growth. We conclude with a discussion of the possibilities for strengthening and sustaining dual language education in Catholic schools

Sustaining Critical Approaches to Translanguaging in Education: A Contextual Framework

Translanguaging remains a timely and important topic in bi/multilingual education. The most recent turn in translanguaging scholarship involves attention to translanguaging in context in response to critiques of translanguaging as a universally empowering educational practice. In this paper, seven early career translanguaging scholars propose a framework for researching translanguaging “in context,” drawing on the Douglas Fir Group\u27s (2016) transdisciplinary framework for language acquisition. Examining translanguaging in context entails paying attention to who in a classroom wields power, as a result of their greater proficiency in societally valued languages, their more “standard” ways of speaking these languages, their greater familiarity with academic literacies valued at school, and/or their more “legitimate” forms of translanguaging. In our framework for researching translanguaging in context, we propose three principles. The first principle is obvious: (1) not to do so apolitically. The other two principles describe a synergy between ethnographic research and teacher-researcher collaborative research: (2) ethnographic research can assess macro-level language ideologies and enacted language hegemonies at the micro- and meso levels, and (3) teacher-researcher collaborations must create and sustain inclusive, equitable classroom social orders and alternative academic norms different from the ones documented to occur in context if left by chance

Beyond Bilingualism: A Linguistically Expansive Orientation to Two-Way Immersion

This article explores the possibilities of a linguistically expansive orientation to two-way immersion (TWI), a bilingual model that has traditionally adopted a “double monolingual” approach to bilingual learning/ers. To illustrate an expansive perspective, we present two case studies undertaken at the same bilingual school that explored strategies for fostering more flexible understandings of students’ linguistic repertoires. Findings from case study one reveal that student identities are more dynamic and contextually-oriented than typically understood within TWI, while also demonstrating that student sense-making can reflect the program’s narrow lens on bilingualism. Findings from case study two illustrate how, when teachers engage students in multilingual writing, meaningful contexts are created for encountering diversity and for expanding and evolving their linguistic repertoires. We argue that a linguistically expansive orientation invites teachers to move beyond language separation in TWI and, in doing so, make space for and affirm students’ dynamic languaging and dynamically lingual identities

Engaging Teachers in Genre-Based Pedagogy for Writing Arguments: A Case Study of Shifts in Practice and Understanding

This article reports on findings from the first year of a professional learning partnership aimed at supporting elementary teachers in improving their writing instruction for emergent bilingual students. Specifically, we present a case study of one fourth grade teacher\u27s writing instruction, exploring how an introduction to a functional approach to teaching argument writing contributed to shifts in practice and in her understanding of effective writing instruction for emergent bilingual students. The research team engaged in two cycles of data collection across 5 months, conducted before and after an introductory seven-hour professional development workshop on systemic functional linguistics (SFL) genre pedagogy, in order to document changes in how the focal teacher was enacting and conceptualizing writing instruction for emergent bilinguals. Findings revealed three central shifts in the teacher\u27s writing instruction: (1) from surface-level genre engagement to exploring functional relationships between genre stages, (2) from assessment-oriented writing instruction to learning activities grounded in authentic purpose and audience, and (3) from general language supports to targeted, contextualized writing scaffolds. This study builds upon existing scholarship by illustrating the potential of (even limited exposure to) SFL genre pedagogy to shift teachers\u27 writing instruction toward social semiotic perspectives of language and literacy. We also extend existing research by interrogating the institutional and ideological challenges teachers encounter when taking up SFL genre pedagogy and by offering some initial insights into the potential for engaging in SFL genre pedagogy in bilingual learning spaces