Chandra’s Story: An Adult Education Student Journeys from Fear to Gratitude

This article presents the story of Chandra (her real name), a middle-aged, Guyanese-American woman attending an adult education center in the Northeast United States. Chandra grew up in extreme poverty in Guyana, and was taken out of school at age eight to help meet the family’s basic needs. At age 22, she immigrated to the United States in hopes of better opportunities. Through narrative methods, Chandra’s story is constructed from 34, narrative and expository, written texts that she composed for a literacy tutoring program, as well as three, in-depth, oral interviews. The result is a moving account of Chandra’s childhood in Guyana, immigration and acculturation in the United States, and her determination to continue her education despite the obstacles she has faced

Sometimes the Perspective Changes : Reflections on a Photography Workshop with Multicultural Students in Italy

This article describes and evaluates an 8-week photography workshop, FotoLab, conducted in Italy at an afterschool-tutoring program for students acquiring Italian as an additional language. Seventeen students, age 8-17 and originating from 9 countries, participated. Co-facilitated by three international educator-researchers, FotoLab\u27s purpose was to promote self-expression, collaboration, and visual literacy. Through a qualitative inquiry of the FotoLab curriculum, photographs and videos, field notes, and student questionnaires, this article reflects on themes of multiculturalism and multilingualism, collaboration, and visual literacy within a sociocultural animation framework. While expressions of cultural and linguistic identity emerged, findings emphasize the challenges and benefits of teamwork and shared learning. Participants expressed growth in their ability to create and interpret images, a perception affirmed in weekly presentations of their photographs and in a culminating, community event. Overall, outcomes highlight the flexible and dynamic nature of sociocultural animation as an effective practice for multicultural-multilingual contexts

Chandra\u27s Story: An Adult Education Student Journeys from Fear to Gratitude

This article presents the story of Chandra (her real name), a middle-aged, Guyanese-American woman attending an adult education center in the Northeast United States. Chandra grew up in extreme poverty in Guyana, and was taken out of school at age eight to help meet the family’s basic needs. At age 22, she immigrated to the United States in hopes of better opportunities. Through narrative methods, Chandra’s story is constructed from 34 narrative and expository written texts that she composed for a literacy tutoring program, as well as three in-depth oral interviews. The result is a moving account of Chandra’s childhood in Guyana, immigration and acculturation in the United States, and her determination to continue her education despite the obstacles she has faced

Writing Development of Spanish-English Bilingual Students With Language Learning Disabilities

This chapter addresses Spanish-speaking, English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States (U.S.) who are sequential bilinguals; that is, oral and written English is acquired as a second language (L2) at school. Within this population, substantial variation exists with regard to individual students’ language and literacy learning experiences. The specific focus here is the writing patterns of ELLs with atypical language development, who often present with multiple complexities in authenticating their language learning profiles in both Spanish and English

Does My Identity Speak English? A Pragmatic Approach to the Social World of an English Language Learner with Language Impairment

The case description provides a comprehensive picture of the complex social and linguistic factors that shape the social identity of an English language learner with the additional challenge of language impairment (LI). These issues were explored over 6 months with Fernando, an 8-year-old, Spanish-speaking male with LI in grade 3. A pragmatic, or practical, approach to problem solving was developed for two purposes: first, to obtain a multifaceted understanding of Fernando’s world at school, and second, to arrive at possible educational/clinical solutions that met a standard of cultural appropriateness and practicality. The patterns found that, contrary to teacher interpretations of Fernando as inattentive, he employed both perseverance and saving face strategies, which appeared to function as practices for preserving his self-esteem in different situations. These patterns led to specific recommendations for collaborative instruction and intervention that would better integrate and support Fernando’s social and bilingual learning needs while also meeting standards of cultural appropriateness and practicality

Putting Humpty Dumpty Together Again: What\u27s Right With Betsy

Betsy is a telling case of the struggles and victories of a youngster who has grappled with a language learning disability for most of her 17 years. Her story is a fitting way to conclude this volume because she represents how a child with motivation and resilience can confront the educational and interpersonal obstacles she has experienced. Her story, which predates the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is a metaphor for the ongoing debates in theory and practice about the meanings of a learning disability versus a language disability. Her chronicle also illustrates the value of cross-disciplinary cooperation in the service of a child\u27s language and literacy needs and crystallizes the research directions that evidence-based practices might take in melding together different research frames

The Meaning of Roots: How a Migrant Farmworker Student Developed a Bilingual- Bicultural Identity Through Change

Thousands of children and teens labor as migrant farmworkers across the United States. These youngsters, many who are immigrants, face challenges in completing their education and breaking the cycle of agricultural work. Such barriers are influenced by geographic instability, poverty, and sociocultural marginalization. Beyond these factors, and the focus of this article, is the challenge of bilingual-bicultural identity negotiation experienced by young farmworkers in and out of the educational context. This question is explored through the case study of Manuel (a pseudonym), a teen farmworker in Florida. Manuel emigrated from Mexico at the age of 12, and is a speaker of Spanish, Otomi (an indigenous language), and English. Although he recently completed high school, he struggled to adjust to life in the U.S. and acquire English. Manuel provided interviews and autobiographical writing in 2008, when he was age 14 (grade 8), and again in 2012, when he was 18 (grade 11). His parents, also migrant farmworkers, contributed an interview in 2012. A qualitative, thematic analysis was applied to the data. Themes that emerged included: resistance and acceptance of personal and cultural-linguistic change, the need to acostumbrarse (get used to it) with respect to these changes, the desire to salir adelante (get ahead) and the pathways to do so (e.g., finish school, learn English), and Manuel’s developing bilingualism and his shifting attitudes towards it. Overall, Manuel’s story offers deep insights into the realities in which the bilingual-bicultural social identity of a migrant farmworker student develops and interacts in and out of school settings

The Interface of Language Proficiency and Identity: A Profile Analysis of Bilingual Adolescents and Their Writing

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how adolescent English language learners\u27 (ELLs\u27) language and literacy experiences impacted their identities as bilingual writers

Service learning away and at home: Can students have a global experience in their own backyard?

Research has identified service learning (SL) as a high-impact instructional practice (Celio, Durlak, & Dymnicki, 2011; Warren, 2012) that both increases learning and offers a transformative experience (Kiely, 2005). Global SL additionally develops intercultural competence and encourages students to adopt critical perspectives on power, privilege, and structural inequalities (Hartman & Kiely, 2014). This begs the question: can students have a global SL experience without leaving home? This presentation reports on a qualitative study comparing the impacts of SL on Speech-Language Pathology students participating abroad versus at home. Data include structured written reflections from 31 students that participated in week-long, global SL programs in Guatemala (focus on special education and community health), and 38 students who took an SL course on campus. The on-campus students participated at an early childhood center in a low-income, urban neighborhood where most staff and clients are multicultural/bilingual. Comparative analyses (e.g., Bazeley, 2013) will be applied to student reflections, exploring emerging themes and patterns between groups (global vs. local), and developing data displays (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014). Findings will shed light on students’ engagement, learning, and intercultural development resulting from their engagement with diverse communities through SL, either away or at home