10 Reasons to Publish with Channel View Publications / Multilingual Matters

In this post we give 10 reasons why we think you should choose us to publish your book!

• Independence
  Since we are independent we are able to publish books that we believe in and our publishing decisions are made by and for people with a knowledge of, and passion for, applied linguistics and tourism studies.
• Integrity
  We treat our authors, customers and staff with integrity as we answer to people who care about the areas in which we publish.
• Ethical
  Publishing with us is a positive choice to support an independent, ethical company, and a responsive, compassionate way of doing business.
• Continuity
  We are a small team and staff turnover is very low so you are likely to deal with the same person from proposal to publication and beyond.
• Personal
  All of us are involved in the decision to publish every book, and so whoever you speak to will know about you, your book, and why it’s important.
• Promotion
  We promote our books at specialist conferences and work with a wide range of international reps and booksellers to make sure our books are promoted all over the world.
• Accessibility
  We offer open access publishing and all our titles are available as consumer ebooks so that our titles are as affordable and accessible as possible.
• Supportive
  We are proud to help and support authors publishing their first book and to develop new talent and ideas.
• Innovative
  We are always on the lookout for new fields of research and take pride in the fact that we are often the first publisher to take a risk in a new and emerging subject area.
• Friendly
  We always enjoy meeting our authors, whether at conferences or online, and are always happy to discuss book ideas. Just get in touch!

If you would like to submit a book proposal to us, you can do so here. We look forward to hearing from you!

How is EFL Writing Teacher Education Shaped by Teachers’ Unique Local Contexts?

This month we published EFL Writing Teacher Education and Professional Development edited by Estela Ene, Betsy Gilliland, Sarah Henderson Lee, Tanita Saenkhum and Lisya Seloni. In this post the editors explain the importance of studying local contexts and how they shape the pedagogical landscape of EFL writing teachers.

What do geopolitics and socioeconomics have to do with the English classroom and the skill of teaching English language writing? In our recently published book with Multilingual Matters, EFL Writing Teacher Education and Professional Development, we go beyond the traditional boundaries of English writing education to investigate how diverse regions that are mostly underrepresented in the research literature shape the pedagogical landscape of EFL writing teachers. 

Well over a billion individuals speak English as a foreign language around the world today. There are millions of English language teachers globally, working in schools, language institutes, universities, online platforms, and private tutoring settings. It is important, therefore, to document EFL experiences of learning and teacher education and allow them to inform theories and practices of second language writing that are still US-centric. It is to these less represented narratives, research, and stories that we need to listen to gain a deeper understanding of local practices and eventually work to develop a sustainable and ecologically responsible writing curriculum. 

This timely collection sheds light on often-overlooked areas of the globe, exposing how local settings from Rwanda to Japan, Kazakhstan, and Argentina present distinct challenges and opportunities for EFL teaching and the training of EFL writing teachers. We hope to foster a deeper, more inclusive narrative of EFL writing education by weaving together the stories of practitioners and researchers from all backgrounds – one that respects and represents the diversity of voices contributing to this subject. 

Our book offers teacher reflections, action research, and models of resources that can be adapted to other contexts. Chapters illustrate how educators modify their approaches to fit within the educational, cultural, and political contexts in which they work. In doing this, they also challenge the status quo and overcome the challenge of having to be the main drivers of their own professional development. For example, teachers of minority students in China show how they move away from exam-focused instruction, negotiating the advantages and disadvantages of this shift. Teachers in Japan, Chile, and Algeria reflect on their personal journeys toward student-centered, real-world writing pedagogies. A teacher educator in Turkiye describes activities that engage learners in exploring written genres through creativity. Iranian English teachers reveal that given the political and educational environments in two eras of Iranian history, primary and secondary school students have limited opportunities to learn how to write for communicative purposes. These and many other chapters illustrate the breadth of innovation and investment teachers and teacher educators have made in EFL writing across the globe.

Our book invites academics, policymakers, and educators to take a more comprehensive look at the global scene of EFL writing instruction. It is an appeal to acknowledge and honor the various ways that educators worldwide are advancing the subject of EFL writing, frequently under challenging situations and with limited resources. 

For individuals fascinated by the complicated dance of teaching writing in various global contexts, our book provides a glimpse into EFL educators’ innovative and resilient practices worldwide. We invite you to go through these pages, as each chapter demonstrates the ingenuity and passion of teachers who shape the next generation of English authors. 

If this topic speaks to you, or if you have your tales about the problems and triumphs of teaching EFL writing, we would love to hear from you. Let us continue to learn from one another, forming a worldwide community of educators united in our dedication to developing proficient, confident writers across boundaries. 

For more information about this book please see our website.

If you found this interesting, you might also like Second Language Writing Instruction in Global Contexts edited by Lisya Seloni and Sarah Henderson Lee.

Exploring the Multifaceted World of Prescriptivism

This month we are publishing New Horizons in Prescriptivism Research edited by Nuria Yáñez‐Bouza, María E. Rodríguez‐Gil and Javier Pérez‐Guerra. In this post the editors explain the book’s key themes and consider future research directions.

How does the book approach the study of prescriptivism and what are the key themes it explores?

In this volume, prescriptivism is examined in a rich and varied manner, spanning historical perspectives and contemporary analyses. The chapters illuminate the role of language norms, social influences and speech communities in shaping prescriptive attitudes. This multifaceted approach is achieved by delving into various aspects of prescriptive practices, such as language norms in historical manuals and sociocultural values in literary texts and scripts. It also looks into how members of speech communities – of mainstream English, varieties of English and other languages –perceive the notion of ‘correct’ and ‘standard’ language.

How does this volume contribute to ongoing research in the field of prescriptivism?

New Horizons in Prescriptivism Research offers a fresh perspective to the study of prescriptivism by presenting innovative approaches and interdisciplinary themes. The research questions in the chapters address the main topics of the evolving landscape of the field and the authors’ insightful analyses offer valuable contributions to current trends, sparking new ideas and motivating further inquiry. Each part of the volume is concerned with different facets of prescriptivism. Part 1 traces the roots of linguistic prescriptivism in (historical) British and American English, and also examines the legacy of historical norms in contemporary language attitudes and usage. Part 2 reflects on the interdisciplinary nature of prescriptivism, with chapters combining linguistic assessment with literary enquiry in order to trace norms and language identity across genres, from poetry to TV shows. In Part 3, the authors look into prescriptivism in the context of New Englishes, touching on Indian English, Hong Kong English and Australian English. And Part 4 addresses the ideological stance of prescriptivism in languages beyond English, broadening the geographical coverage and paving the way for future comparative analyses in other national languages, such as Icelandic, Greek and Dutch.

What is the future of research on prescriptivism?

The future of research on prescriptivism is rich and diverse, with wide scope for scholars to continue scrutinising its complexities. In a globalised and digital world, prescriptive language use and language attitudes continue to evolve, attracting increasing attention. Interdisciplinary collaborations and cross-cultural perspectives will broaden our knowledge of prescriptivism in various linguistic, literary and social contexts. In this regard, this volume provides glimpses of future trends in the field by revisiting the principle of suppression of optional variability in the selection of a standard form, by exploring the diversity of strands of prescriptivism which have been institutionalised by various social forces and in varied linguistic or literary contexts, by tracing the process of linguistic democratisation as opposed to strict prescriptive norms, or by offering new readings of the ways in which social relations are constructed based on how errors and stigmatised features are perceived.

What is the main takeaway from this book?

In essence, this book invites readers to embark on a journey of exploration. The diverse range of perspectives and analyses here presented help to elucidate the complex relationship between language norms, social change and the choices made by individuals. Collectively, and addressing historical practices as well as contemporary attitudes, the chapters investigate the social role of prescriptivism, its portrayal in literature and its values in speech communities. By presenting innovative approaches and varied methodologies, the volume enhances our understanding of the significance of prescriptivism in shaping language history and society. It reflects the dynamics of the field with stimulating insights and avenues for deeper inquiry.

For more information about this book please see our website.

If you found this interesting, you might also like Language Prescription edited by Don Chapman and Jacob D. Rawlins.

10 Tips for Teaching and Using Multimodal Activities with Multilingual Writers

This month we are publishing Digital Multimodal Composing by Matt Kessler. In this post, the author gives us some advice for leveraging multimodal writing activities to teach multilingual students and learners of additional languages. 

With continued advancements in digital technologies, the practice of being a language teacher and a language learner has fundamentally changed. In particular, in both academic and professional settings, students are now expected to be able to produce digital genres such as social media posts, slideshow presentations, infographics, portfolios, digital posters, and more. Notably, such digital genres require the use of multiple modes beyond text, including the purposeful use of images, colors, graphs, and audio. To better prepare students to succeed in this digitized world, here are 10 tips teachers might consider for leveraging multimodal writing activities with both language learners and multilingual students:

1. Be aware that multimodality – which refers to the simultaneous use of multiple meaning-making resources such as text, images, sound, and gestures – is an important and common practice in today’s world.
2. Don’t avoid multimodal activities in your classroom by focusing only on traditional literacy skills such as reading and writing.
3. Recognize that pushing students to develop multiliteracy skills is not only crucial for their future success, but also for their current success.
4. View multimodal activities as a means of translanguaging, or the systematic use of two or more languages so that students can both understand and be understood.
5. Learn what your students’ needs are in terms of the digital genres that they will need to produce in the future.
6. Consider teaching those genres that many students will likely encounter such as slideshow presentations, infographics, and digital posters.
7. Take the time to train your students on how to use the tools or platforms they will need in order to successfully complete the activity.
8. Set clear expectations about the specific modes (e.g. text, images) that students need to use when creating their assignments.
9. Experiment with different activities, and consider implementing those activities in-class, out-of-class, or a combination of the two to meet your needs and the time you have available.
10. Help spur students’ motivation to invest in the activity and to perform well by making their final work publicly available (e.g. a blog available to the broader public).

Matt Kessler, University of South Florida

kesslerm@usf.edu

For more information about this book please see our website.

If you found this interesting, you might also like Multimodal Literacies in Young Emergent Bilinguals edited by Sally Brown and Ling Hao.

The Language Journey of Korean-English Bilingual Children

This month we published Korean-English Bilingualism in Early Childhood by Sunny K. Park-Johnson. In this post the author explains the importance of the longitudinal nature of the study.

When studying bilingual language development in early childhood, we often rely heavily on snapshots: these data come from just a day or two of their lives. Sometimes we see children in labs for a study, and then we never hear from them again. That is why a longitudinal study is so important. Following children’s language development across time gives us a perspective that is both expansive and specific, capturing moments in development that we sometimes miss in snapshots.

This book does just that. We get to see two-and-a-half years’ worth of data, observed monthly, that provides a rich picture of four Korean-English bilingual children’s language journey. The children in this book are acquiring both Korean and English during early childhood, a rich time of language development that has many nuances, small changes, and subtle shifts. And because the data is collected in the child’s home, we’re able to capture naturalistic, spontaneous language “in the wild”.

The longitudinal study is also important because it compares children to themselves over time. We know there is much individual variation between children; by observing children’s development longitudinally, the comparisons are within the child’s own self. This inherent consistency is immensely valuable when studying the picture of children’s language development.

The book takes readers through the development of morphology and syntax of Korean and English separately, then discusses code-switching and interplay between the two languages. Then, as an epilogue of sorts, there is a chapter that reports on an interview with two of the children, who are now young adults. It is a unique experience to hear from the very same participants a decade later as they reflect back on their bilingualism and language journey.

Perhaps most importantly, as a Korean-English bilingual myself, I was welcomed into the lives of these families: not just as a researcher, but as an extended family member. Thus, the book has an insight, context, and weight that goes beyond grammar; it is imbued with the responsibility and care of an insider that understands and loves the community. The value of those relationships cannot be understated.

For more information about this book please see our website.

If you found this interesting, you might also like Multimodal Communication in Young Multilingual Children by Jieun Kiaer.

Getting Inside “Measuring Second Language Pragmatic Competence”

This month we published Measuring Second Language Pragmatic Competence by Rod Ellis, Carsten Roever, Natsuko Shintani and Yan Zhu. In this post Rod introduces us to the book.

There is a background to the writing of any book which often goes unstated. In my blog post I’d like to take you inside the book by telling you a bit about why and how it got to be written. I will explain who the authors are, what motivated the writing of the book, what research it was based on and what I see as the uses of the book.

How did I come to work with my co-authors on this book?

The real starting point was a research study I completed more than fifteen years ago investigating the measurement of second language (L2) grammatical knowledge. This research drew the distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge of an L2 and involved the development of a set of tests designed to provide separate measures of these two types of grammatical knowledge. The results of this research project were reported in a book called  Implicit and Explicit Knowledge in Second Language Learning, Testing and Teaching published by Multilingual Matters in 2009. My idea was to extend this earlier research by investigating whether it was also possible to develop tests that would provide separate measures of implicit and explicit L2 pragmatic knowledge (i.e. the knowledge we use to communicate smoothly and appropriately).

I decided therefore to put in an application for a Discovery Research Grant from the Australian Research Council, drawing on my experience of the earlier project. My own expertise lay in second language acquisition research but I recognized that I also needed expertise in L2 pragmatics. I approached Carsten Roever, who had published widely in L2 pragmatics, to see if he would be interested in joining in the project. Carsten was an ideal co-researcher because he also had experience in language assessment. Together we developed a research proposal, which was successful. We now had the funds we needed for the project.

Our original aim was to investigate different populations of L2 learners – both EFL and ESL. After designing a battery of tests, we started by collecting data from L2 university learners in China and Japan. To help in this we were joined by two other researchers – Yan Zhu, a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, and Natsuko Shintani, a professor at Kansai University in Osaka. Unfortunately restrictions arising from the Covid epidemic in Australia made it impossible to continue by collecting data from ESL learners.

The research team, then, comprised myself, Carsten, Yan Zhu and Natsuko. This team has remained with the project throughout and many of the chapters in the book involved all four authors.

Why was it important for us to take a psycholinguistic perspective?

By ‘psycholinguistic perspective’ I mean an approach that is founded on the psychological underpinning of linguistic rules and processes. In the case of language testing, this involves considering the mental processes involved when completing tests. While there are a number of different psycholinguistic perspectives, the one we drew on was based on the implicit/ explicit distinction. From this theoretical perspective, when learners complete a test they can draw on their implicit knowledge (i.e. knowledge that they have no conscious awareness of and can be accessed automatically) or their explicit knowledge (i.e. knowledge they are conscious of and that is only accessible slowly after reflection). The implicit/explicit distinction is a fundamental distinction in current thinking theorizing about an L2 but, surprisingly, it has not figured in research on the testing of L2 pragmatic competence. In fact, many of the popular ways of testing L2 pragmatics really only measure explicit processing and thus tell us nothing about learners’ ability to process their pragmatic knowledge implicitly even though, arguably, it is implicit abilities that are essential in everyday communicative situations.

All research needs to focus on how it can build on and extend existing research. By adopting a psycholinguistic perspective, we hoped to fill a gap in current research on the measurement of pragmatic competence.

How did we develop the tests that featured in the book?

The development of any test requires making decisions about what to test and how to test it. Our starting point was to decide what aspects of pragmatics to measure. A study of the L2 pragmatics literature led us to identify three aspects: metapragmatic awareness, implicature, and conversational structure. In deciding how to assess these aspects, we tried to design tests that would tap either learners’ implicit pragmatic processing abilities (i.e. responses made rapidly and without time for reflection) or explicit processing abilities (i.e. responses made without time pressure and that favoured reflection).  We ended up with two tests involving explicit processing, two tests more likely to favour implicit processing, and a test of the ability to comprehend irony where we were unsure of the kind of processing it would most likely elicit. These tests also differed in terms of whether they involve comprehension/perception or production.

The initial tests were designed by myself and Carsten Roever, piloted on a small group of ESL learners, revised, and then administered with the help of Yan Zhu and Natsuko Shintani in China and Japan respectively. One of our aims was to carry out a careful evaluation of the tests and there are chapters in the book that report the results of the evaluation of each test. Not unexpectedly, we did not find that all the tests worked as well as we had hoped! Subsequently, we redesigned some of the tests and used them in a final study where we investigated the effects of instruction on the development of the two types of knowledge.

What do we hope readers will take away from the book?

We envisage that the main readers of our book will be second language acquisition researchers interested in pragmatics. An abiding issue in SLA research is how learning is measured and we hoped that the tests we developed would help in designing studies that investigate how different conditions of learning impact on the kind of the learning that results. Two chapters in our book illustrate how the tests can be used in this way. In one chapter, we report a comparative study of L2 learners who completed a one-year study abroad and learners who received language instruction while staying in their home country. In another study, we used the tests to investigate the effects of different kinds of instruction on the acquisition of implicit and explicit L2 pragmatic knowledge.

We did not write the book for teachers. But the perspective that informs the book is one that teachers need to consider. Any time teachers set their students a test they need to consider what kind of knowledge the test is measuring.

What are we working on next?

The tests provide the tools we need to investigate the pragmatic competence of L2 learners and how learning conditions shape the kind of learning that take place. We are already embarking on two other studies investigating this. In one study (involving myself and Scott Aubrey), we are comparing the pragmatic competence of students in Hong Kong and Shanghai universities to see if there are differences in these groups of learners. In the other study with Natsuko Shintani, we are investigating how the interactive experiences of Japanese students on a study abroad shape the kind of pragmatic abilities they develop.

Rod Ellis

For more information about this book please see our website.

If you found this interesting you might also like Assessing Speaking in Context edited by M. Rafael Salaberry and Alfred Rue Burch.

How Do Young People Consume Books?

We recently welcomed Lily, a sixth-form student, to the office for some work experience with us. While she was here, she did a project for us about how she and her peer group consume books and explored the use of different formats through one of our titles, Spanish So White, which is available in hard copy, ebook and audiobook. In this post, she talks about the ways in which A-Level students consume and utilise reading material, particularly nonfiction.

A-Level students’ use of nonfiction

The majority of the consumption of nonfiction writing by sixth-form students is, undoubtedly, for studying rather than for entertainment. Most students seek out very little study-related reading material of their own volition, and there is limited access to academic material in the school. 

Sixth-formers generally constrain themselves to the textbooks they are allotted by the school. Personally, I am in the minority in that I have received journals/magazines/academic writing in addition to my textbook for my Economics A-Level studies. I am also currently reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot – a nonfiction novel in paperback – to contextualise and better understand content in the A-Level biology curriculum.

Most of the required academic or nonfiction material is paperback textbooks, occasionally provided additionally as an ebook by a teacher. Typically, paperback textbooks are lighter and more accessible (such as in a classroom) than a hardback, as well as more memorable than an ebook.

Fiction for study purposes

Sixth-formers’ consumption of fiction for studying is still limited. In general, the majority of this reading is for arts or humanities such as history and English literature. For example, to further engage with required English literature A-Level texts, I have read a selection of poetry, 19th century European novels, and 20th century American literature. All of these I have read in paperback.

Personally, I am more inclined to purchase an ebook to read for entertainment (although my contemporaries tend to read borrowed paperbacks). This is because digital formats are more accessible and faster to read; I own almost double the number of ebooks than hardbacks or paperbacks, yet the majority of my nonfiction is in paperback.

Spanish So White

Within my sixth-form community, there is little exploration of life outside of individuals’ personal bubbles. This is partially due to a lack of motivation or inspiration, but also due to limited accessible academic writing about the wider world. 

The book Spanish So White by Adam Schwartz has expanded my contextual and historical understanding of learning or speaking Spanish. As an aspiring Spanish learner, it has changed my perspective on how I have accessed or been taught the language.

While my preference for a paperback edition of a book still stands (especially for nonfiction, as it is more comprehensible to follow the intended layout and structure), the audiobook encouraged a more measured pace. Hearing the spoken Spanish which Schwartz had written about was a useful way to connect with the book.

The ebook of Spanish So White was still a useful resource, but it was more challenging to pace the reading and fully appreciate the ‘pause points’. To me, the physical book is more memorable, as I can associate photos with subheadings. The book has, thus, left a more lasting impression on me than it perhaps might have if I’d only accessed a digital format.

Lily McKay

World Book Day 2024

Last year for World Book Day we talked about our favourite book characters in this post, so this year we turned to the CVP mums to see what the next generation are reading!

Rose

I dread the day when my son (currently eight… and A HALF – he will make this clear to anyone who asks) says he doesn’t want me to read to him at night. Reading for him clicked about a year ago – before then, he was very reluctant and said all books were BORING. Naturally I questioned if he was, indeed, my son, as reading is my passion and my whole academic and professional career has revolved around this love. However, having undertaken a research project on reluctant boy readers as part of my PGCE in Secondary English, I knew not to push him. Lots of parents I’ve talked to have said they are concerned that their children will only read Lego comics, Minecraft manuals and Pokemon cartoons but I’ve always felt that if they are reading anything at all, the battle has been won! No, my son wasn’t independently reading The Lord of the Rings at age six but he is now confidently (and happily!) reading on his own. He loves Tintin, anything by Tom Fletcher and is obsessed with The Guinness Book of World Records   We have just started The Hobbit – to his dad’s absolute delight – he’s been waiting to read this to him since he was born!

My daughter is four and is all about reading bedtime stories to her teddies. She sits in bed with a pile of her books and retells them to her rapt audience. Many of her favourites she knows verbatim through me reading them to her, but the others she interprets via the illustrations and sometimes I think she creates better narratives than the original stories themselves! She’s mastered her alphabet and is blending and recognising three letter words now and it’s lovely to see how proud and excited she gets when she helps me read her stories – it’s magical to think of the world that is opening up to her. She also loves it when my son reads to her; their favourite bedtime book is The Eyebrows of Doom by Steve Smallwood and my son’s impressions of the dastardly eyebrows are absolutely hilarious – but certainly not conducive to a calm and quiet bedtime!

Anna

Sadly my 12 year-old is too old for having books read to her (or so she thinks!) But I’m currently enjoying reading The Explorer by Katherine Rundell to my younger daughter – all of her books are favourites in our house. We’ve also recently enjoyed the Grimwood series by Nadia Shireen. I love reading aloud, so I’m now a very enthusiastic volunteer to read to other people’s children.

Elinor

I am currently reading The Wild Robot Protects, the third book in the Wild Robot series, with my son. It tells the story of how Roz the wild robot leaves her island home to try and save her friends and family from the poison tide that is creeping across the ocean, damaging everything in its wake with its toxic particles.

I tend to read short stories with my daughter rather than chapter books and we have been enjoying stories from Tales of Adventurous Girls which she got for Christmas.

What is The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies and How Can It Be Used?

We recently published The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies by Magaly Lavadenz and Elvira G. Armas. In this post the authors explain what the Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL) is and why it’s important.

What were the origins of the book?

Originally, we knew that we wanted to develop a tool to support culturally and linguistically diverse students’ learning – specifically English Learners – through understanding their teachers’ professional practices to inform education systems. We spent many hours in over 300 Pre-K-12th grade classrooms across 22 sites and captured anecdotal notes to create vignettes and highlights of classroom practice, including video footage from select classrooms. Once we had developed and tested the tool, we created a three-day institute to share the key principles of the science and practice of observation and the research background and context for The Observation Protocol for Academic Literacies (OPAL). We used video and written vignettes that we collected and created processes to practice scoring and capturing anecdotal notes with the OPAL. After about 10 years of Institutes, we decided to work towards converting these lived experiences into a book format.

What is OPAL and how can it be used?

The OPAL is a classroom observation tool comprised of four research-based domains and 18 indicators. The OPAL is intricately woven into each chapter of our book, with four chapters dedicated to learning about how to “look for” evidence in each domain with clear vignettes and snapshots from real Pre-K-12 classrooms. We share the research literature to foreground the empirical literature that informed the OPAL and the skill of objective observation. We end the book with many examples of how, along with other OPAL users across the educational continuum, we have used the OPAL to support teachers, identify priorities in professional learning, and inform research.

Why is the book so needed?

There is so much “unpacking” to do when it comes to EL teachers’ practices and we don’t believe in formulas. Our book helps to unpack pedagogical gems gleaned from the research and reflected in the OPAL instrument to help sharpen our focus on ELs across any type of instructional setting. The OPAL offers a compass to gain a deeper understanding of effective teaching and learning for ELs to tailor teaching methods responsive to students’ linguistic, academic, and social-emotional needs. By embracing the OPAL protocol, educators, researchers, and institutions can collectively contribute to the cultivation of a robust community of practice that is elevated through personal and collective professional reflection.

What do you hope readers take away from the book?

We wanted to transform our in-person OPAL Institutes into a resource that can be more broadly used, from preservice to inservice teachers, professional development and for administrators who can make policy decisions for how teachers can support each other through peer observations, learning and resource allocation. This includes time for critical reflection on the education of English Learners to promote deep learning and development of academic literacies among students.

What is your next academic project after this one?

One of the next projects that our team is working on and which we’re so excited about is focused on Adolescent Superdiversity. We want to break apart the notion of a monolithic definition of English Learners and subtypologies by uplifting the voices of superdiverse adolescent youth across the state. We have been meeting with these youth and they have many important and compelling ideas and insights to share, from which we can all learn!

What books – either for work or for pleasure – are you reading at the moment?

Magaly is reading The Power of Language: Multilingualism, Self and Society (2023) by Viorica Marian. Elvira is reading Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning (2023) by Gholdy Muhammad.

Magaly Lavadenz and Elvira G. Armas

For more information about this book please see our website.

If you found this interesting, you might also like Professional Development through Teacher Research edited by Darío Luis Banegas, Emily Edwards and Luis S. Villacañas de Castro. 

Uplifting Indigenous Mexican Languages and Identities in Schools

We will soon be publishing Culturally Responsive Schooling for Indigenous Mexican Students by William Perez and Rafael Vásquez.  In this post the authors set the stage for their book and discuss its importance.

Last June, Griselda Zarate, a young Indigenous Mexican-origin student, spoke to Spanish-language television about the racial discrimination she and her sister faced while attending the Santa Rita Union School District in Central California USA. The racism that students like Griselda face often spreads by other Mexicans and manifests by language-shaming for the way Indigenous Mexicans speak. Popular culture ridicules Indigenous languages as dialects, holding unequal power relationships against Spanish and English. As a result of these aggressions, the school district passed a resolution to prohibit the disparaging terms “Oaxaquita/o” and “Indito” which translate to “little Oaxacan” and “little Indian” referring to the widely held belief that Indigenous people from Mexico’s Guerrero and Oaxaca states are racially inferior. The district will also establish the first Indigenous Mixtec after school program so that children can have access to learning their language.

California is considered the state with the largest concentration of Indigenous Mexicans. By one estimate, about 800,000 Oaxacans have settled in Southern California and are mostly Zapotec peoples. These communities come from diverse cultures and often speak at least one of the 68 Indigenous languages of Mexico. Despite their rich social, cultural, and linguistic practices, they face many challenges in healthcare, the labor force, education, and other institutions due to historically lived discrimination.

After decades of living among and working with Indigenous communities in Los Angeles, we decided to conduct a study in Southern California with over 150 Indigenous youth from three groups: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and P’urhépechas. We wanted to find out what happens to Indigenous students who attend schools but largely go unnoticed, or when noticed, face scrutinization. In our book, Culturally Responsive Schooling for Indigenous Mexican Students, we ask: how do Indigenous students experience school, given the traumas many have faced in Mexico for being labeled Indigenous, for speaking Spanish ‘with an accent’ due to the ‘inhibiting’ Indigenous ‘dialects’ they speak, or for coming from ‘underdeveloped’ communities and where society regards them as intellectually ‘inferior’? And how can schools be responsive and address the need to leverage Indigenous students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds to make meaningful connections to their schooling experiences so they can achieve equitable educational opportunities?

To answer these questions, we looked at students’ multilingualism from the perspective that languages interact with each other and the places they are spoken. Since many Indigenous youth experience language across and in between borders, we introduce a transcultural and translingual approach to illustrate the dynamic and intersectional processes that Indigenous youth engage to construct their identities and linguistic practices in social and educational settings. We emphasize adolescents’ agency in actively negotiating and constructing their identities and the influence of their non-Indigenous Mexican peers and teachers. Despite the verbal abuse youth face, the development of transcultural practices often serves to reinvigorate a sense of who they are and creates strategies to actively debunk anti-Indigenous beliefs. Therefore, the book intends to inform supportive environments that affirm Indigenous identities and languages, foster critical consciousness, and value the transnational experiences of Indigenous Mexican youth.

Studying Indigenous educational experiences and the critical issues these students face is significant to developing innovative approaches in Latinx cultural and linguistic heterogeneity and intra-group ethnic/racial relations. Educational researchers and policymakers will find the book of tremendous value, as it is the first book to our knowledge that examines the academic pathways and identities of Indigenous Mexican students. The findings of this study have the potential to inform local, state, and national policies affecting Indigenous migrant students. Adolescent development scholars will also find the book useful since few studies have been done examining migrant Indigenous youth identity development. We hope that our book contributes to education justice initiatives so that Indigenous students are invisible no more.

Please let us know your thoughts.  We’d like to hear from you.

Rafael Vásquez (rafael.vasquez@cgu.edu) and William Perez (william.perez@lmu.edu)

For more information about this book please see our website.

If you found this interesting, you might also like Overcoming the Gentrification of Dual Language, Bilingual and Immersion Education edited by M. Garrett Delavan, Juan A. Freire and Kate Menken.