Exploring Equity and Methodological Advancements to Transform Academic Discourse, Teaching, and Research
a conference sponsored by The Department of Education of the School of Education & Information Studies (SEIS) and the SEIS Language, Literacy, & Learning Collaborative (LLLC)
Two days of papers and commentary bringing together researchers and practitioners across the prek-16+ educational spectrum with a range of epistemologies and methodological approaches to address social, linguistic, and racial equity and the “gate-keeping” role of language as it functions in classrooms and academic accountability testing.
Promoting Just and Humanizing School-Relevant Language Instruction: Empirical Arguments and Examples from Practice
Dr. Emily Phillips Galloway (Vanderbilt University); Dr. Paola Uccelli (Harvard University
In this paper, the authors argue that it matters not only the content or the curriculum but also how educators learn and teach through language most profoundly. Expanding on previous work, Galloway and Uccelli explicitly unpack the implications for teaching and learning by focusing on developing critical rhetorical flexibility (CRF) for all through a broader Pedagogies of Voices instructional approach.
Featured Presentations
On the Necessity (and Insufficiency) of Ethnographic Perspectives: Towards an Inter-scalar Approach to Research on “Academic Language”
Dr. Ramón Martínez (Stanford University)
While indispensable as a tool for contextualizing classroom language use, Martinez suggests that ethnography alone is
insufficient for elucidating academic language in school-based settings. Specifically, he argues for looking across multiple scales of linguistic analysis to apprehend the complex, nuanced, and contradictory ways academic language is learned, produced, and perceived in schools. ****link to video below - presentation starts at 1:32:30****
Linguistic Justice: Considering Linguistic Variation of Black Children in Teaching and Learning
Dr. Julie Washington (University of California Irvine); Dr. Iheoma Iruka (University of North Carolina)
In this paper, Washington and Iruka posit that an important starting point for supporting teaching and learning requires that educators and practitioners be provided with knowledge of the characteristics of AAE and an expansive and inclusive framework about factors influencing the early language of African American children. With attention to implicit racism and bias that may contribute to under performance and encouragement to view their linguistic capital as an asset to both teaching and learning, it may be possible to change both attitudes and outcomes.
Academic Language and English Learners: Perspective from Alaska
Dr. Ève Ryan (University of Alaska); Giovanna Arnaq Wilde (University of Alaska)
In this paper, Ryan and Wilde offer perspectives from Alaska on academic language, specifically regarding Alaska Native English Learners (ANELs). They provide background information on the linguistic landscape of Alaska and then discuss considerations for the academic language construct, including the importance of non-linguistic communication and the danger of confounding decontextualized language with decontextualized pedagogy. To conclude, they discuss ways to indigenize our approach to language assessment, including using socioculturally responsive assessments, favoring formative approaches to assessment, and placing culture and community at the center of the validation process. ****link to video below - presentation starts at minute 3:53****
Thorny Issues with Academic Language: A Perspective from Scientific Practice with Implications for STEM Education
Dr. Scott Grapin (University of (Miami); Dr. Lorena Llosa (New York University)
This paper aims to highlight thorny issues with Academic Language (AL) from the perspective of scientific practice. Grapin and Llosa highlight two thorny issues with AL: (a) the idealization issue and (b) the paradigm issue and propose some possible ways forward concerning each issue toward the ultimate goal of advancing our collective efforts as a community of researchers and practitioners. ****link to video below - presentation starts at minute 1:25:33****
