SYLLABUS

Professor Nancy H. Hornberger                                                       Room 334, 8-7957, nancyh@gse.upenn.edu

Mondays 2-4, Education 322                                                           Please call Lorraine at 8-8435 for appointments

                     

Course Aims

 

The goal of the course is to explore the wide range of issues affecting educational policy and classroom practice in multilingual, multicultural settings.  We will focus on selected US and international cases to illustrate more general concerns relating to learners’ bilingual / bicultural / biliterate development in formal educational settings.  The course is organized around the continua of biliteracy framework that offers a heuristic for understanding the influences on and processes of biliterate development. We begin at the macro level, looking at policy contexts and program structures, and move to the micro level to consider teaching and learning in the multilingual classroom.  Throughout, we consider how discourses and identities are interwoven in multilingual education policy and practice. We conclude with attention to the role of teachers, researchers, and communities in implementing change in schools.

 

Required Texts

Freeman, Rebecca D. (1998). Bilingual Education and Social Change. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.  ISBN 1-85359-418-0.

Hones, Donald F., & Cher Shou Cha (1999). Educating New Americans: Immigrant Lives and Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.  ISBN 0-8058-3134-7.

Hornberger, Nancy H. (1988).  Bilingual Education and Language Maintenance: A Southern Peruvian Quechua Case.  Berlin: Mouton.  ISBN 90-6765-357-8.

Hornberger, Nancy H., ed. (2003). Continua of Biliteracy: An Ecological Framework for Educational Policy, Research and Practice in Multilingual Settings.  Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.  ISBN 1-85359-654-X.

Menken, K. (2008). English Learners Left Behind: Standardized Testing as Language Policy. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Schwarzer, David. (2001). Noa's Ark: One Child's Voyage into Multiliteracy. Westport, CT: Heinemann.  ISBN 0-325-00279-7

Vásquez, O. A. (2003). La Clase Mágica: Imagining Optimal Possibilities in a Bilingual Community of Learners. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

 

Course Outline

Contexts of biliteracy: Diversity, policy, and discourse

9/8         Week 1.         Discourses of tolerance/intolerance: Biliteracy and U.S. policy

9/15       Week 2.         Assimilationism/pluralism: Multilingualism as ideology and practice

9/22       Week 3.         Beyond stereotypes: Asians in the US

Media of biliteracy: Bilingual, bidialectal, multidiscoursal, multimodal education

9/29       Week 4.         Language ideology, language maintenance, and education: Quechuas in Peru

10/6       Week 5.         Transitional, maintenance, enrichment models: Bilingual & bidialectal education

BREAK  

10/20     Week 6.         Teaching and learning bilingually: Translanguaging and multilingual classroom discourse            

Content of biliteracy: Available discourses in multiethnic / multilingual classrooms

10/27     Week 7.         Culturally relevant pedagogy: Immigrant and involuntary minorities

11/3       Week 8.         Pedagogical practices/Language and identity: Latinos in the US

11/10     Week 9.         Continua of biliteracy: Hybrid language and literacy practices

Development of biliteracy: Pedagogy and assessment

11/17     Week 10.       Multiliteracy and multiliteracies: Biliteracy development

11/24     Week 11.       Testing and program evaluation: Biliteracy pedagogy and assessment

Collaborating for change: Teachers, communities, and researchers

12/1       Week 12.       Teachers as change agents: Indigenous language education and literacy

12/8       Week 13.       Schools, parents, and local communities: Community funds of knowledge

12/15     Week 14.       Research and practice in education in multilingual settings: Conscientização

Resources on the web

http://brj.asu.edu/  (Bilingual Research Journal)

http://www.cal.org  (Center for Applied Linguistics)

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/clpp (Consortium for Language Policy and Planning, U of Pennsylvania)

http://www.international.ucla.edu/lrc/hlj (Heritage Language Journal)

http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl (Language Policy Research Unit, Arizona State University)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Multilingual_Literacy (Multilingual_Literacy)

www.ncela.gwu.edu (National Clearinghouse on English Language Acquisition), formerly

                www.ncbe.gwu.edu   (National Clearinghouse on Bilingual Education)

www.nabe.org  (National Association for Bilingual Education)

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jwcrawford  (journalist James Crawford's Language Policy homepage)

http://www.eastern.edu/publications/emme (Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education)

http://texasedequity.blogspot.com (Educational Equity, Politics & Policy in Texas – Prof. Angela Valenzuela)

ELLADVOC listserv – members only (ELL Research and Advocacy – join by going to http://users.rcn.com/crawj/Announcing.pdf>http://users.rcn.com/crawj/Announcing.pdf).

 

 

Course organization and requirements

 

Please note: Students are expected to complete all course work within the semester.  If extenuating circumstances require you to take an incomplete, you must request permission from the instructor at least 2 weeks before the end of the semester.  To make up the incomplete, you must turn in your work at least 4 weeks before the end of the semester in which you wish to receive a grade.  If the work is not made up after 1 year, your incomplete becomes permanent.

 

Academic integrity: All students are expected to abide by the code of academic integrity throughout the course.  Academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabrication, and plagiarism will not be tolerated and will be reported to the University administration.

 

 

BOOK REVIEW AND CLASS ACTIVITY FACILITATION  (30 % of grade)

Students are required to review one of the books listed under Recently Published Books to Review below or another book of their own choosing (all those choosing their own book should check with me beforehand).   The review will be presented both orally and in written form.

    Oral presentation (15% of your course grade): Along with a group you are assigned to, you will give an oral presentation and conduct a short class session based on your book review.  Your group will have a portion of class time to structure your presentation and interactive classroom activity.  The oral book review presentations should include the following: a 5-minute summary and critique of the book you are reviewing, including explicit links to other books reviewed that day and to the week's theme; and a 20-30 minute structured, interactive class activity that helps to involve the class in the arguments / concepts / questions being raised by the book.

    Written review (15% of your course grade): The written review should be approximately 1000 words long and conform to publishable standards.  In preparing this review, you are expected to read some reviews in scholarly journals such as Anthropology and Education Quarterly; Bilingual Research Journal; Harvard Education Review; International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism; Language and Education; Language, Identity, and Education; Language in Society; Language Policy; Linguistics and Education; and TESOL Quarterly to familiarize yourself with the genre.  Also possibly Journal of Latinos and Education; or Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education: An International Journal, for some books (these last two are not especially language-oriented, though).  The written review will be due in class on Week 10. No late reviews will be accepted.  It will be graded for clarity, completeness, coherence, critique, and appropriateness for audience.  Please specify at the top of your written review the journal you have in mind as the audience.

    I encourage students to submit their book reviews for publication and over the years, a number have been published in this way (list posted on the course blackboard).

 

 

 

SYNTHESIS AND CLASS PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENT (70% of grade)

A crucial component of this course is the synthesis requirement that constitutes a tool for dialogue and interaction, both oral and written, with your peers and the instructor around the readings.

The synthesis process involves the following:

1)      Prepare a 500 word, double-spaced typewritten synthesis based on each week's core readings, following the guidelines below (#4).  The synthesis is due on the day the topic is covered in class.  No late syntheses will be accepted.

 

2)      During class, you will usually be asked to exchange syntheses with your peers, read and discuss together briefly.  The ideas and experiences thus shared will contribute to the discussion on the topic of the day.

 

3)      You will also be asked to comment on and award a grade to your peers’ syntheses, using a rubric based on #4 below.  All syntheses will also be reviewed and graded by the instructor or the course graduate assistant.  Syntheses will be marked according to the following scheme (see also rubric for grading syntheses):

                - the synthesis does not meet the minimum requirements

                √ the synthesis meets the requirement

                + the synthesis is exceptionally clear, focused, and persuasive.

 

4) Guidelines for writing the syntheses:

Please do not write summaries of the articles.  Choose a theme from the assigned readings and demonstrate how all or several of the readings illustrate the point or issue chosen.

Tell the reader how you are going to structure the synthesis; for example, identify the theme(s) you will be dealing with clearly from the outset.

Show how the themes are developed across texts; i.e. go beyond outlining what the various sources contribute to the theme (e.g. compare / contrast).

Be selective about what detail you choose to include.

Explain carefully how the authors develop the theme, before you insert your own observations (i.e. interact with the authors’ views).

Demonstrate that you have done the reading, and that you have read, at least in respect to the theme(s) you have chosen to focus on, closely and critically.

Explain why the points you mention are interesting or exciting or why you agree or disagree.

Substantiate claims that you make yourself by indicating what you base them on, e.g. personal experience / observation.

Use referencing conventions correctly and consistently - if you do not know what these are, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).

 

5) You are required to write a total of 10 weekly syntheses over the course of the semester.  Please note that even when you do not write a synthesis, you are required to have done the assigned readings and you are expected to participate in class discussion.

 

Reading Outline

 

Core readings should always be done before the class meeting.  Week 1's core readings should be done as soon as possible after the class meeting. The reading load is heaviest in the weeks when whole books are assigned. You may want to plan ahead and spread the reading of these books across adjoining weeks.

Core readings marked with an * are reprints and are available in the course packet available for purchase.

Supplementary readings are also suggested for each week for those interested in following up on the topic, including references that may be among those cited in the day's lecture.

Those with little previous background on bilingualism may also want to read Colin Baker’s excellent introductory overview text, Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

I strongly encourage you to browse the newly published Encyclopedia of Language and Education  (N. H. Hornberger, general editor), especially volume 5 on Bilingual Education and volume 9 on Ecology of Language.

 

CONTEXTS OF BILITERACY: DIVERSITY, POLICIES, AND DISCOURSES

 

Week 1.        Discourses of tolerance/intolerance: Biliteracy and U.S. policy

Core readings

Hornberger, Nancy H. Continua (2003), chapters 1 & 2.

*Skilton-Sylvester, Ellen (2003). Legal discourse and decisions, teacher policymaking and the multilingual classroom:  Constraining and supporting Khmer/English biliteracy in the United States. In A. Creese & P. Martin (Eds.), Multilingual classroom ecologies: Inter-relationships, interactions, and ideologies (pp. 8-24). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Supplementary readings

Crawford, James (2006).  Official English legislation: Bad for Civil Rights, bad for America’s interests, and even bad for English (Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Education Reform).  Available on Crawford’s Language Policy website.

Garcia, Eugene E. (2002). Bilingualism and schooling in the United States. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 155/156, 1-204, including reviewers' commentaries and Garcia's response.

Hornberger, N. H., L. Harsch, B. Evans, & M. Cahnmann (1999). Language education of language minority students in the United States. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 15(1),1-30.

Macedo, D. (2000). The colonialism of the English only movement. Educational Researcher, 29(3), 15-24.

 

Week 2.        Assimilationism / pluralism: Multilingualism as ideology and practice

Core readings

*Fishman, J. (1982). Sociolinguistic Foundations of Bilingual Education.  Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingüe  9,1-35.

* Rampton, B., Harris, R., & Leung, C. (1997). Multilingualism in England. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 17, 224-241.

* Santa Ana, O. (1999). 'Like an animal I was treated': Anti-immigrant metaphor in US public discourse. Discourse & Society 10(2), 191-224.

* Hornberger, N. H. (2000). Bilingual education policy and practice in the Andes: Ideological paradox and intercultural possibility. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 31(2), 173-201.

Supplementary readings

Cummins, J. (1986). Empowering minority students: A framework for instruction. Harvard Educational Review 56, 18-36.

Hornberger, Nancy H. (1998). Language policy, language education, language rights: Indigenous, immigrant, and international perspectives. Language in Society, 27(4), 439-458.

Janks, H. (2000). Domination, access, diversity and design: A synthesis for critical literacy education. Educational Review, 52(2), 175-186.

Ruiz, Richard. (1984). Orientations in language planning. NABE Journal, 8(2), 15-34.

 

Week 3.        Beyond stereotypes: Asians in the US

Core readings

 BOOK: Hones, Donald (1999). Educating New Americans.

*Lee, Stacey J.  (1994).  Behind the model-minority stereotype: Voices of high and low-achieving Asian American students.  Anthropology and Education Quarterly 25(4), 413-429.

Supplementary readings

Lee, Stacey J. (1996). Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth. New York: Teachers College Press.

McKay, Sandra L., & Wong, Sau-ling (Eds.). (2000). New Immigrants in the United States: Readings for Second Language Educators. NY: Cambridge University Press.  Chapters 7-11.

Reyes, A. (2006).  Language, identity, and stereotype among Southeast Asian American youth.  Lawrence Erlbaum.

Walker-Moffat, Wendy (1995).  The Other Side of the Asian American Success Story.  San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

 

 

***BREAK*** NO CLASS MEETING

 

MEDIA OF BILITERACY: BILINGUAL, BIDIALECTAL, MULTIDISCOURSAL, MULTIMODAL EDUCATION

 

Week 4.        Language ideology, language maintenance, and education: Quechuas in Peru

Core reading

BOOK: Hornberger, Nancy H. (1988).  Bilingual Education and Language Maintenance.

*Martin-Jones, Marilyn (2007).  Bilingualism, education, and the regulation of access to language resources.  In M. Heller (Ed.), Bilingualism: A Social Approach.  Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 161-182.

 

 

Week 5.        Transitional, maintenance, enrichment models: Bilingual  & bidialectal education

Core readings

*Hornberger, N. H. (1991).  Extending enrichment bilingual education: Revisiting typologies and redirecting policy.  In O. García (ed.), Bilingual Education: Focusschrift in honor of Joshua A. Fishman.  Volume 1.  Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 215-234 (and references 311-339).

* Freeman, R. (2000). Contextual challenges to dual-language education: A case study of  developing middle school program. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 31(2), 202-229.

*Anderson, G., & Irvine, P. (1993). Informing critical literacy with ethnography. In C. Lankshear & P. McLaren (Eds.), Critical Literacy: Politics, Praxis and the Postmodern (pp. 81-104). Albany, New York: SUNY Press.

*Malcolm, I. G., & Sharifian, F. (2005). Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue: Australian Aboriginal students' schematic repertoire. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 26(6), 512-532.

Supplementary readings              

Christian, Donna, & Genesee, Fred (Eds.) (2001). Bilingual Education. Washington DC: TESOL.

Torres-Guzmán, María. (2002). Dual language programs: Key features and results. NCBE Directions in Language and Education, 14, 1-16 [online at ncela.gwu.edu]

 

 

Week 6.        Teaching and learning bilingually: Translanguaging and multilingual classroom discourse

Core readings

Hornberger, Nancy H. (2003).  Continua, Chapters 3, 4, 5.

*Martin-Jones, M. (1995).  Code-switching in the classroom: Two decades of research.  In Lesley Milroy & Pieter Muysken (eds.), One Speaker, Two Languages.  Cambridge University Press, pp. 90-111.

*García, O. (2007). Foreword: Intervening discourses, representations and conceptualizations of language. In S. Makoni & A. Pennycook (Eds.), Disinventing and reconstituting languages (pp. xi-xv). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Supplementary readings

Creese, A., & P. Martin (Eds.) (2003). Multilingual classroom ecologies: Inter-relationships, interactions and ideologies. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Heller, Monica, & Martin-Jones, Marilyn (Eds.). (2001). Voices of Authority: Education and Linguistic Difference. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Martin-Jones, M., & Saxena, M. (1996). Turn-taking, power asymmetries, and the positioning of bilingual participants in classroom discourse. Linguistics and Education, 8(1), 105-123.

Pennington, M. C. (1999). Framing bilingual classroom discourse: Lessons from Hong Kong secondary school classes. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2(1), 53-73.

Poon, A. Y. K. (1999). Chinese medium instruction policy and its impact on English learning in post-1997 Hong Kong. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2(2), 131-146.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENT OF BILITERACY: AVAILABLE DISCOURSES IN MULTIETHNIC / MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOMS

 

Week 7.        Culturally relevant pedagogy: Immigrant and involuntary minorities

Core Readings

*Jacob, Evelyn  & Jordan, Cathie (Eds.) (1993). Minority Education: Anthropological Perspectives pp. 3-13, 27-51, 83-111 [Jacob & Jordan; Erickson; Ogbu]