Revising our Curriculum/ Empowering Students: Teachers’ Preparation and Perceptions about Bilingual Writing

While emphasis on writing instruction has been a main concern in teaching Spanish to bilingual students in the U. S., it is an area in which very few theoretical advances have been made; in Mexico’s case the situation is even more challenging. Therefore, based on classroom observations, and individual interviews with both teachers and students, and on the collection of class syllabi, this paper seeks to describe the current state of affairs regarding Spanish and English writing instruction for bilingual students in both countries. The main objectives are: 1) the analysis and comparison of the diverse teaching methodologies that high school teachers use to teach Spanish and English writing; 2) the analysis of the effects that the specific observed writing instruction has on students’ perceptions about their own writing in both languages; and 3) the analysis of the perceptions that teachers have about their students’ writing

The multiple possibilities of interpretation in products of bilingual writing : André Brink’s Praying Mantis and Bidsprinkaan as a total text

CITATION: De Roubaix, L. 2014. The multiple possibilities of interpretation in products of bilingual writing : André Brink’s Praying Mantis and Bidsprinkaan as a total text. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 43:43-67, doi:10.5842/43-0-212.The original publication is available at http://spilplus.journals.ac.zaThis paper explores the concept of ‘bilingual writing’ by examining two products of André Brink’s bilingual writing process, namely Praying Mantis (2005) and Bidsprinkaan (2005). After a brief overview of Brink’s oeuvre, a theoretical perspective on bilingual writing is provided, along with a discussion of related concepts such as ‘translation’ and ‘self-translation’. Following the theoretical perspective, a stereoscopic reading of the two versions of the novel aims to show how multiple possibilities of interpretation are opened up by the use of two languages of production, and how the two versions, when read together, form a total text that travels beyond traditional conceptions of both writing and translating. In Praying Mantis and Bidsprinkaan, Brink employs magical realism to challenge various traditional boundaries, such as between reality and fiction, history and myth, etc. Situating both versions of the novel in a sphere of magical realism, where boundaries are constantly transgressed and where the even the ordinary is given “a sense of the extraordinary” (Brink 1998:31), Brink confronts his readers with different perspectives and provides them with an almost endless range of possibilities of interpretation that leads to various possible readings of the text. Not only is the magical as well as the real world opened up in the text, but also the magical and the real world as conceptualised in two different languages and cultural environments.Publisher's versio

A Comparative Study of Manoj Das’s Akasara Isara (Odia) and The Escapist (English)

There are very few bilingual writers of repute in the country and Manoj Das distinctly stands as a prolific writer who has carved a niche for himself in this arena. In fact, he is one of the greatest writers of the country, who has given a new direction to the bilingual writing and proved his brilliance through his great short stories and novels both in Odia and English languages with his creative genius. He is one of the widely acclaimed bilingual story tellers of the country whose writings have been accepted by the readers for their novelty of thoughts and flawless narration. Many prestigious literary awards like the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Shri and the Saraswati Samman and many more have been bestowed upon him. He is in fact one of the towering literary personalities in the Indian English fictions arena who has been instrumental in establishing a native identity. His in-depth analysis of human emotions and their universal appeal is something that is amazingly brilliant in his writings. He has been widely acclaimed and appreciated for his literary genius and creative brilliance. The present research article attempts a comparative study of these two novels which are unique with their thematic treatment as well as the subtle realities combined with powerful philosophical messages. His novel Akasara Isara (1997) which originally appeared in Odia and later translated by the author himself in English as The Escapist (2001) describes the human tragedy against the backdrop of an all-pervading destiny. The article discusses such issues of translation and bilingual writing. It also focuses on the cultural aspects

The Interplay of Language Awareness and Bilingual Writing Abilities in Heritage Language Speakers

This paper investigates how language awareness influences the writing abilities of bilingual heritage language speakers. The study includes 175 bilingual 9th and 10th graders with Italian, Greek, or Turkish as their L1 and German as an early L2. The analysis is based on a corpus of narrative and argumentative texts in L1 and L2 and a language awareness test to explore semantic, pragmatic, and textual knowledge that was administered in both languages. We found that the students’ writing abilities in both languages were highly interdependent and there was a significant correlation between achieving high scores in the heritage language test and achieving equally high (or even higher) scores in the L2 test. The results further point to a significant correlation between metalinguistic awareness and writing abilities. However, there was a higher correlation between metalinguistic awareness and text level scores in the heritage language, which shows that writing abilities in this language are more dependent on metalinguistic awareness than in the language of schooling. Moreover, differences were found between the respective language groups and different school types. Based on these results, it is argued that the fostering of language awareness ought to be implemented more intensively in the language classroom

Escribiendo para desahogarme: Release and Resistance in a Middle School Bilingual Writing Workshop

This dissertation examines a teacher’s language ideologies, their impact on curriculum modifications and bilingual Latinx middle schoolers’ storytelling, to understand how a bilingual pedagogy builds on their cultural and linguistic resources. This qualitative study was conducted in a sixth grade writing workshop class in New York City as the focus teacher taught the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Personal Narrative Unit of Study. The first two findings center on the factors that influence a teacher’s stance on language practices and bilingual pedagogy, and how these contributed to curriculum modifications that included using students’ full linguistic and cultural repertoires, integrating culturally relevant texts, modifying pedagogical approaches, and sharing teacher demonstration writing. The third research finding focuses on the role of writing as release and revealing of language practices when a bilingual pedagogy is implemented. The study also found that a bilingual pedagogy revealed the tensions experienced by students as they face pressures, pride, and shame connected to their language practices when negotiating various aspects of their identities. This study has implications for language policy, teacher preparation and professional development, partnerships across institutions to support educators’ and students’ language ideologies and writing journeys, and pedagogy that embraces bilingual students’ identities and stories

“Jugando en Serio” and other works

In the critical introduction of this thesis, I explore how the different choices we make as creative writers affect the targeted audience of a work. I focus on the endless battle between genre writing and literary writing, in hopes of there being a style of writing that can utilize the best of both. I write about the issues and themes of the works in this thesis that come close to being nonfiction. Finally, I highlight how stylistic choices in bilingual writing can change or destroy potential audiences. These are aspects that have shaped the creative writing included in this collection. Some of my work utilizes genre elements to achieve their purpose, others rely too heavily on personal experiences, two are in Spanish, and the title work is a hybrid of both languages

An Overview of Immigration Issues in Education: A Brief History and Contemporary Issues

Immigration to the United States has long existed as a part of an American tradition. While debates centering on immigration issues are often politically driven, we hope to highlight and examine immigration from an educational context. In this paper, we first provide a brief synopsis of policy measures affecting different immigrant groups. Then, we discuss major challenges of the immigrant experience from a perspective of departure and arrival. Finally, this overview offers a broad context for national and local responses to immigrant students and communities.Educatio

Digital Literacies to Develop Biliteracy: A Case Study of Latino Students Exploring Multimodal Writing in English and Spanish

Schools in the United States are witnessing a rich ethnic and linguistic diversity in their student corpus. Languages spoken by these children vary from state to state; however, Spanish is the second language most spoken after English (Office of English Language Acquisition, 2015). As a nation, there is a tremendous potential for these students to become biliterate or academically proficient in Spanish and English. Furthermore, with the advent of the 21st century, the educational setting is experiencing an increased interest in the integration of technology in education and students are prompted to become digitally literate. The aim of this exploratory qualitative study is to describe how emergent bilingual second-grade students utilize their full linguistic repertoire when using digital literacies in their academic writing, in English and Spanish. Furthermore, this study investigates how multimodal writing facilitates the development of biliteracy. The study revealed four findings. First, Latino students utilize bilingual practices, such as metalinguistic awareness and translanguaging to construct texts. Second, emergent bilinguals use online collaboration and modes of meaning to develop their voice and writing while engaging in multimodal writing. Third, multimodal writing supports the development of vocabulary and spelling. Fourth, multimodal writing empowers bilingual students