Writing research has generally focused on teachers’ diverse notions of writing that justify their... more Writing research has generally focused on teachers’ diverse notions of writing that justify their teaching and assessing practices. Following Leki’s 1996 article Good writing: I know it when I see it, the purpose of this naturalistic research was to understand three newly arrived international students’ conceptions of argumentative writing in order to attempt to unpack the complex factors leading to those conceptions. The findings of this study provide an idea of the struggle and complexity of the writing process, especially as it relates to academic argumentative writing. Additionally, the findings support a model of researching literacy (Lea & Street, 2006) that goes beyond skills and socialization, but that allows the analysis of negotiation of agency, identity, and authority in an integrative view of writing. Exploring students’ notions of writing can better inform second language theory on how students learn, what aspects are relevant to them, what elements from one class are t...
La Tecnología en la Educación Virtual Emergente, 2022
As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which ... more As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which direct instruction activities and homework are done in reverse order or “flipped.” In this model, the traditional learning experience is inverted in which instructors assign lectures to be completed outside of class time for individual review as homework, and reserve classroom time for guided and independent practice. This paper explores the ways in which English as a foreign language teachers can utilize the flipped classroom instructional strategy to maximize student engagement and learning. By addressing three questions: what is it, how it works, and how it is done; this paper examines the current trends in research that will help English as foreign language teachers promote an active learning environment, engage learners at their own pace, and create individualized learning experiences for each student.
La Tecnología en la Educación Virtual Emergente, 2022
As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which ... more As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which direct instruction activities and homework are done in reverse order or “flipped.” In this model, the traditional learning experience is inverted in which instructors assign lectures to be completed outside of class time for individual review as homework, and reserve classroom time for guided and independent practice. This paper explores the ways in which English as a foreign language teachers can utilize the flipped classroom instructional strategy to maximize student engagement and learning. By addressing three questions: what is it, how it works, and how it is done; this paper examines the current trends in research that will help English as foreign language teachers promote an active learning environment, engage learners at their own pace, and create individualized learning experiences for each student.
By framing this discussion in a literature review and through the lens of multiliteracies, this p... more By framing this discussion in a literature review and through the lens of multiliteracies, this pedagogical presentation offers several ideas to encourage ELT professionals to harness the popularity of texting and to promote critical awareness of language use among digital platforms through integration of textese and situated academic and social collaboration via SMS into their curriculum. The latter behaviors will become integral to student persistence in higher academic arenas. This presentation explains ways that texting helps develop English language skills in authentic, modern ways.
This study examines why young Mexican bilinguals use vernacular language traits in online social ... more This study examines why young Mexican bilinguals use vernacular language traits in online social media. Using an ethnolinguistic approach, I conducted interviews and employed discourse analysis of the Facebook feeds of members of a bilingual network, in which they make use of vernacular language varieties typically attributed to African American speakers. Findings show that at least one young woman uses these vernacular English features to support feminism and present herself as equal to men. This rhetorically motivated use forges a sense of belonging outside a particularly entrenched category of woman (e.g., old fashioned) and challenges the hierarchy and language ideologies imposed by men and older women. I argue that Mexican bilinguals (male or female) who use such vernacular features are not identifying as African American or as part of any specific ethnic group. Rather, they are constructing pan-ethnic identities in opposition to whites.
This study explores students’ reflections on a digital project in an advanced ESL composition cla... more This study explores students’ reflections on a digital project in an advanced ESL composition class in the US using a framework of multimodality. The goal of this study is to examine the role that including a multimodal digital literacy project in a composition class had in complementing and facilitating an argumentative research assignment. Findings demonstrate that including a multimodal digital project before assigning an argumentative research paper both facilitates an understanding of the writing process as well as develops a sense of multimodality in student writing by prompting them to see new ways to add modes of communication into their text-based projects. The paper argues that, as writing becomes increasingly multimodal and digitally mediated, the field of second language composition needs to incorporate digital literacies into its repertoire for higher levels of writing to foster advanced academic writing skills with authentic tasks that prepare students to become competent writers in a digitally mediated society.
This chapter examines parents’ changing language ideologies in a mid-sized town in the sierra bet... more This chapter examines parents’ changing language ideologies in a mid-sized town in the sierra between Veracruz and Puebla in eastern Mexico. New language ideologies have emerged here along with the increasingly transnational atmosphere of the town. This orientation to transnationalism is linked to increased numbers of not only migrants to the U.S., but also of returnees from the U.S. Parents now place great importance on the acquisition of both oral skills and literacy in English, although at varying levels of intensity. They want schools to emphasize spoken English because they believe that doing so will bring their children employment opportunities at home and abroad. They also, however, want their children to learn to read, and especially to write, English. This desired English literacy is more pragmatic and utilitarian for the workforce, both at home and abroad, than one that conforms to traditional norms for grammar, spelling, and other prescribed rules.
Communication technologies aid transnational communities in maintaining their relationships and s... more Communication technologies aid transnational communities in maintaining their relationships and strengthening their identities across borders. For example, by using digital media, communities can transcend both place and time to enter social spaces where they co-create shared experiences. This article explores how transnationals who do not belong to one single social network employ language and online participation in the micro-blogging site, Twitter, to co-create a chronotope, an imagined space that transcends geography and temporality, and in doing so, signal their belonging to a Mexican community. Using an online-discourse approach, I examine the participation of Mexican immigrants and children of Mexicans living in the US in an online viral cultural event: XV de Rubi, a celebration that marks the fifteenth birthday of a girl coming of age. I show that individuals use Twitter to co-construct an imagined experience in which they perform, negotiate and police ‘Mexicanness’. This article argues for more inclusive understandings of transnationalism that account for the ways in which people use the affordances of social media to enact cultural practices, keep in touch, forge ethnic identities, and display their sense of belonging to a wider Mexican culture.
Abstract Since the 1980s, when the field of second language writing (SLW) began to establish itse... more Abstract Since the 1980s, when the field of second language writing (SLW) began to establish itself as a discipline in its own right, much has been learned about SL writers and their writing. However, there has been relatively little focus on teachers of SLW, including their experiences with teacher agency. In the study reported here, we focus on a group that is even less examined: graduate teaching assistants assigned to teach writing courses in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. More specifically, we look at three international graduate teaching assistants and their teacher agency, which we explored through their participation in a small professional learning community and in relationship to their quest to develop expertise as SLW teachers. Our findings illustrate how understanding of teacher agency can be enhanced by making connections between expertise and agency, particularly adaptive expertise.
ABSTRACT Return migration from the United States to Mexico has been increasing in the last decade... more ABSTRACT Return migration from the United States to Mexico has been increasing in the last decade. Research reports that many returnees, who are English dominant, drop out of school to look for work in call centers and transnational companies (Anderson, 2015). Others pursue higher education in English-based programs such as those for becoming English language teachers (Rivas Rivas, 2013). This article explores what role language ideologies have in the decision making of three returnees to pursue a degree in English language teaching (ELT) and how such language ideologies inform the participants’ bilingual identities and teaching practices. Findings suggest that while some ideologies held by participants and hiring entities in Mexico, such as linguistic imperialism and linguistic purism, give students an advantage in the workforce, they also generate a sense of otherness that can create barriers to social integration and implicit effects on how they view their language teaching capacities and practices.
Writing research has generally focused on teachers’ diverse notions of writing that justify their... more Writing research has generally focused on teachers’ diverse notions of writing that justify their teaching and assessing practices. Following Leki’s 1996 article Good writing: I know it when I see it, the purpose of this naturalistic research was to understand three newly arrived international students’ conceptions of argumentative writing in order to attempt to unpack the complex factors leading to those conceptions. The findings of this study provide an idea of the struggle and complexity of the writing process, especially as it relates to academic argumentative writing. Additionally, the findings support a model of researching literacy (Lea & Street, 2006) that goes beyond skills and socialization, but that allows the analysis of negotiation of agency, identity, and authority in an integrative view of writing. Exploring students’ notions of writing can better inform second language theory on how students learn, what aspects are relevant to them, what elements from one class are t...
La Tecnología en la Educación Virtual Emergente, 2022
As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which ... more As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which direct instruction activities and homework are done in reverse order or “flipped.” In this model, the traditional learning experience is inverted in which instructors assign lectures to be completed outside of class time for individual review as homework, and reserve classroom time for guided and independent practice. This paper explores the ways in which English as a foreign language teachers can utilize the flipped classroom instructional strategy to maximize student engagement and learning. By addressing three questions: what is it, how it works, and how it is done; this paper examines the current trends in research that will help English as foreign language teachers promote an active learning environment, engage learners at their own pace, and create individualized learning experiences for each student.
La Tecnología en la Educación Virtual Emergente, 2022
As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which ... more As a type of blended learning, the flipped classroom model is an instructional strategy in which direct instruction activities and homework are done in reverse order or “flipped.” In this model, the traditional learning experience is inverted in which instructors assign lectures to be completed outside of class time for individual review as homework, and reserve classroom time for guided and independent practice. This paper explores the ways in which English as a foreign language teachers can utilize the flipped classroom instructional strategy to maximize student engagement and learning. By addressing three questions: what is it, how it works, and how it is done; this paper examines the current trends in research that will help English as foreign language teachers promote an active learning environment, engage learners at their own pace, and create individualized learning experiences for each student.
By framing this discussion in a literature review and through the lens of multiliteracies, this p... more By framing this discussion in a literature review and through the lens of multiliteracies, this pedagogical presentation offers several ideas to encourage ELT professionals to harness the popularity of texting and to promote critical awareness of language use among digital platforms through integration of textese and situated academic and social collaboration via SMS into their curriculum. The latter behaviors will become integral to student persistence in higher academic arenas. This presentation explains ways that texting helps develop English language skills in authentic, modern ways.
This study examines why young Mexican bilinguals use vernacular language traits in online social ... more This study examines why young Mexican bilinguals use vernacular language traits in online social media. Using an ethnolinguistic approach, I conducted interviews and employed discourse analysis of the Facebook feeds of members of a bilingual network, in which they make use of vernacular language varieties typically attributed to African American speakers. Findings show that at least one young woman uses these vernacular English features to support feminism and present herself as equal to men. This rhetorically motivated use forges a sense of belonging outside a particularly entrenched category of woman (e.g., old fashioned) and challenges the hierarchy and language ideologies imposed by men and older women. I argue that Mexican bilinguals (male or female) who use such vernacular features are not identifying as African American or as part of any specific ethnic group. Rather, they are constructing pan-ethnic identities in opposition to whites.
This study explores students’ reflections on a digital project in an advanced ESL composition cla... more This study explores students’ reflections on a digital project in an advanced ESL composition class in the US using a framework of multimodality. The goal of this study is to examine the role that including a multimodal digital literacy project in a composition class had in complementing and facilitating an argumentative research assignment. Findings demonstrate that including a multimodal digital project before assigning an argumentative research paper both facilitates an understanding of the writing process as well as develops a sense of multimodality in student writing by prompting them to see new ways to add modes of communication into their text-based projects. The paper argues that, as writing becomes increasingly multimodal and digitally mediated, the field of second language composition needs to incorporate digital literacies into its repertoire for higher levels of writing to foster advanced academic writing skills with authentic tasks that prepare students to become competent writers in a digitally mediated society.
This chapter examines parents’ changing language ideologies in a mid-sized town in the sierra bet... more This chapter examines parents’ changing language ideologies in a mid-sized town in the sierra between Veracruz and Puebla in eastern Mexico. New language ideologies have emerged here along with the increasingly transnational atmosphere of the town. This orientation to transnationalism is linked to increased numbers of not only migrants to the U.S., but also of returnees from the U.S. Parents now place great importance on the acquisition of both oral skills and literacy in English, although at varying levels of intensity. They want schools to emphasize spoken English because they believe that doing so will bring their children employment opportunities at home and abroad. They also, however, want their children to learn to read, and especially to write, English. This desired English literacy is more pragmatic and utilitarian for the workforce, both at home and abroad, than one that conforms to traditional norms for grammar, spelling, and other prescribed rules.
Communication technologies aid transnational communities in maintaining their relationships and s... more Communication technologies aid transnational communities in maintaining their relationships and strengthening their identities across borders. For example, by using digital media, communities can transcend both place and time to enter social spaces where they co-create shared experiences. This article explores how transnationals who do not belong to one single social network employ language and online participation in the micro-blogging site, Twitter, to co-create a chronotope, an imagined space that transcends geography and temporality, and in doing so, signal their belonging to a Mexican community. Using an online-discourse approach, I examine the participation of Mexican immigrants and children of Mexicans living in the US in an online viral cultural event: XV de Rubi, a celebration that marks the fifteenth birthday of a girl coming of age. I show that individuals use Twitter to co-construct an imagined experience in which they perform, negotiate and police ‘Mexicanness’. This article argues for more inclusive understandings of transnationalism that account for the ways in which people use the affordances of social media to enact cultural practices, keep in touch, forge ethnic identities, and display their sense of belonging to a wider Mexican culture.
Abstract Since the 1980s, when the field of second language writing (SLW) began to establish itse... more Abstract Since the 1980s, when the field of second language writing (SLW) began to establish itself as a discipline in its own right, much has been learned about SL writers and their writing. However, there has been relatively little focus on teachers of SLW, including their experiences with teacher agency. In the study reported here, we focus on a group that is even less examined: graduate teaching assistants assigned to teach writing courses in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. More specifically, we look at three international graduate teaching assistants and their teacher agency, which we explored through their participation in a small professional learning community and in relationship to their quest to develop expertise as SLW teachers. Our findings illustrate how understanding of teacher agency can be enhanced by making connections between expertise and agency, particularly adaptive expertise.
ABSTRACT Return migration from the United States to Mexico has been increasing in the last decade... more ABSTRACT Return migration from the United States to Mexico has been increasing in the last decade. Research reports that many returnees, who are English dominant, drop out of school to look for work in call centers and transnational companies (Anderson, 2015). Others pursue higher education in English-based programs such as those for becoming English language teachers (Rivas Rivas, 2013). This article explores what role language ideologies have in the decision making of three returnees to pursue a degree in English language teaching (ELT) and how such language ideologies inform the participants’ bilingual identities and teaching practices. Findings suggest that while some ideologies held by participants and hiring entities in Mexico, such as linguistic imperialism and linguistic purism, give students an advantage in the workforce, they also generate a sense of otherness that can create barriers to social integration and implicit effects on how they view their language teaching capacities and practices.
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