Linguistic Justice: Critical Language Awareness, Translingualism, and Linguistically Responsive Pedagogy in the College Writing Classroom
February-March 2022.
This seminar explores three key theories of the last ten years that should be shaping our approach to multilingual writers and the diverse populations we teach. Building on Shawna Shapiro’s 1/22 talk and follow-up workshop on Critical Language Awareness, we will read more about these overlapping concepts and consider their implications for instructors teaching WR 111, WR 112, WR 120, WR 15x, and even upper-level WIN courses. We will discuss issues of feedback, attention to grammar, plagiarism, and class participation as we strive for linguistic justice for all students.
Note that BU Wheelock will be hosting April Baker-Bell, author of Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy (Routledge, 2020) on Tuesday 2/1 (also on Zoom), and we will be reading a chapter from her book a week later in Session 2. Sign up for her talk separately on the Wheelock events page if interested.
Session 1: Translingualism as a Lens and Challenge
Readings for Wednesday 2/2:
- Williams, Julia, and Frankie Condon. “Translingualism in composition studies and second language writing: an uneasy alliance.” TESL Canada Journal, vol. 33, no. 2, 2016, pp. 1-18.
- You, Xiaoye. “The Yin-Yang of Writing Education in Globalization.” In Reconciling Translingualism and Second Language Writing, eds. Tony Silva and Zhaozhe Wang. New York: Routledge, 2021, pp. 150-159.
- Zhang-Wu, Qianqian. “(Re)Imagining Translingualism as a Verb to Tear Down the English-Only Wall: ‘Monolingual’ Students as Multilingual Writers.” College English, vol. 84, no. 1, 2021, pp. 121–137.
Session 2: Linguistically and Racially Inclusive Writing Classrooms
Readings for Wednesday 2/9:
- Lee, Eunjeong, Jennifer T. Johnson, and Brooke R. Schreiber. “Introduction: Why Linguistic Justice, and Why Now?” In Brooke R. Schreiber, Eunjeong Lee, Jennifer T. Johnson, and Norah Fahim, eds., Linguistic Justice on Campus: Pedagogy and Advocacy for Multilingual Students, Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2022, pp. 1-16. [provided to participants]
- Baker-Bell, A. “‘What’s Anti-Blackness Got to Do Wit It?’” In Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020, pp. 11-38.
- Perryman-Clark, Staci M. “Who We Are(n’t) Assessing: Racializing Language and Writing Assessment in Writing Program Administration.” College English, vol. 79, no. 2, 2016, pp. 206-211.
Session 3: Linguistically Responsive Writing Instruction for Social Justice
Readings for Wednesday 2/16:
- Gere, Anne Ruggles, et al. “Communal Justicing: Writing Assessment, Disciplinary Infrastructure, and the Case for Critical Language Awareness.” College Composition and Communication, vol 72, no. 3 2021, pp. 384-412. ProQuest. Web. 22 Jan. 2022.
- Tomaš, Zuzana, and Shawna Shapiro. “From Crisis to Opportunity: Turning Questions about ‘Plagiarism’ into Conversations about Linguistically Responsive Pedagogy.” TESOL Quarterly, vol. 55, no. 4, 2021, pp. 1102-1113.
- Zhang-Wu, Qianqian, and Maria Brisk. “‘I Must Have Taken a Fake TOEFL!’: Rethinking Linguistically Responsive Instruction Through the Eyes of Chinese International Freshmen.” TESOL Quarterly, vol. 55, no. 4, 2021, pp. 1136-1161
Session 4: CLA, Asset-Based Approaches, and Writing in the Disciplines
Readings for Wednesday 3/2 (note skipped week):
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- Kurzer, Kendon. “Looking Beyond Grammar Deficiencies: Moving Faculty in Economics Toward a Difference-as-Resource Pedagogical Paradigm.” In Brooke R. Schreiber, Eunjeong Lee, Jennifer T. Johnson, and Norah Fahim, eds., Linguistic Justice on Campus: Pedagogy and Advocacy for Multilingual Students, Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2022, pp. 198-213. [provided to participants]
- Moore, Jason Moore, and Mary Schleppegrell. “A Focus on Disciplinary Language: Bringing critical perspectives to reading and writing in science.” Theory Into Practice, vol. 59, no. 1, 2019, pp. 99-108.
- Shapiro, Shawna. “‘Words That You Said Got Bigger’: English Language Learners’ Lived Experiences of Deficit Discourse.” Research in the Teaching of English, vol. 48, no. 4, 2014, pp. 386-406.
Further Reading
- Britton, Emma R., and Rebecca Lorimer Leonard. “The Social Justice Potential of Critical Reflection and Critical Language Awareness Pedagogies for L2 writers.” Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 50, 2020, 100776.
- Jenkins, Jennifer. English as a Lingua Franca in the International University: The Politics of Academic English Language Policy. Routledge, 2014.
- Lippi-Green, Rosina. “The Standard Language Myth.” In English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States, 2nd ed., Taylor & Francis Group, 2011.
- Shapiro, Shawna, and Rebecca Lorimer Leonard, eds. Critical Language Awareness for L2 Classrooms and Curricula: A Selected Bibliography.
- Suggested readings/viewings by April Baker-Bell for her 2/1 talk:
