Cynthia Groff

Effective Programs in Middle and High School Mathematics: A Best-Evidence Synthesis

This article reviews research on the achievement outcomes of mathematics programs for middle and high schools. Study inclusion requirements include use of a randomized or matched control group, a study duration of at least 12 weeks, and equality at pretest. There were 100 qualifying studies, 26 of which used random assignment to treatments. Effect sizes were very small for mathematics curricula and for computer-assisted instruction. Positive effects were found for two cooperative learning programs. Outcomes were similar for disadvantaged and nondisadvantaged students and for students of different ethnicities. Consistent with an earlier review of elementary programs, this article concludes that programs that affect daily teaching practices and student interactions have more promise than those emphasizing textbooks or technology alone.

I Am Not a Francophone: Identity Choices and Discourses of Youth Associating with a Powerful Minority.

ABSTRACT Taking a broad interest in the linguistic, educational, and identity issues relevant to young people, this article examines the experiences and discourses of linguistic minority youth in the French-dominant context of Québec City. Our analysis is based on qualitative interviews conducted with 10 young people who speak a language other than French at home and who chose to study in English at the postsecondary level. Beyond exploring the local impact of language policies, we focus on the identity choices these youth make in positioning themselves and the discourses that they appropriate in describing their sociolinguistic context. Findings suggest that tensions between linguistic groups in Québec are perpetuated through discourses that distance one group from another, including discourses of closed-mindedness and superiority. What the students in our study appear to be doing is rejecting a minority identity by invoking national and international scales through their discourses, scales in which English is dominant.

Conclusions: The Ecology of Language and Biliteracy in the Kumaun and Beyond

This concluding chapter uses the ecology of language metaphor and the continua of biliteracy to highlight significant themes from the ethnography and their connection to broader themes, including the contexts of and relationships among languages, language learning and language use for teaching and learning, and local values and identities. The influence of language on community relationships parallels the ecological relationships among the languages themselves. The value of multilingualism is expressed nationally and locally as acceptance of diversity within a united community. Yet power relations cannot be ignored. Is there really unity in diversity? Discourses vary depending on the lens or depending on what scale is being considered. Practical and theoretical implications are drawn for policy, pedagogy, and research—for young women as they experience and negotiate multiple discourses in their communities.

Language and Ethnography: Conducting Research in the Kumaun

This chapter presents a thorough description of a young researcher’s attempt to navigate methodological options in conducting ethnographic research focused on language, including theoretical and experiential influences on the methods, the details of what the methods looked like on the field and during analysis, and practical influences that called for adjustments in the original plan. Along with traditional ethnography, the research methodology is influenced by language policy studies, the ethnography of communication and principles of “empowering research,” including components of action research, participatory research methods, and attention to methodological rich points in ethnographic research. Details on the general procedures and the various phases of research help to further contextualize the research and provide a model for organizing observations, interviews, field notes, recordings, translation, and analysis.

Introduction: Ecological Metaphors, Minority Voices, and Language Education in the Kumaun

This chapter introduces the ethnographic study presented in the book, including its conceptual foundations and goals. The ecology of language metaphor is situated in its developing literature base, highlighting the importance of human agency and the connection between language policy and language ideology. A thorough description of the relationships among languages and their social environment in a given context, reflecting an ecological perspective, involves attention to the agency of local actors and the policies, discourse, and ideologies that surround them. Conceptual influences from educational anthropology, sociolinguistics, and development studies are presented, including the continua of biliteracy, language ideology, language planning and policy, the disinvention of language, the valuing of minority voices, as well as the language and education situation relevant to linguistic minorities in India.

Lakshmi Ashram and the Kumaun: Young Women and Gandhian Educators in Their Linguistic and Educational Context

This chapter introduces a group of Kumauni young women, Govindi and her peers, within their educational context, a unique Gandhian girls’ school known as Lakshmi Ashram. I also situate Kumauni linguistically and in relation to the language’s status and vitality. I describe the research setting, starting from the micro level and extending to the macro level: from Lakshmi Ashram, to the town of Kausani and the government high school there, to the nearby village of Dholara, to the Kumaun region in which these are situated, and finally describing the Kumauni people and language. In this way, I present the various influences on the lives of Kumauni young women, particularly as they pertain to the intersecting themes of language, education, and empowerment.

Empowerment, Moving Forward, and Alternative Values in Education

This chapter explores situated views about what constitutes a good life, describing key terms related to development and empowerment as they are locally used and explained. The concepts of “moving forward” rather than “being backward” are understood and described differently in mainstream society than at Lakshmi Ashram. Alternative values promoted and lived out at Lakshmi Ashram include high thinking, self-confidence or self-sufficiency, and collaboration or community. The stories and aims of Kumauni young women demonstrate their negotiation of the various discourses and their actions, despite limitations, to take hold of future opportunities, influenced by the village and Ashram communities of which they are a part and by the changing world around them. At the Ashram, the focus is more on internal than external empowerment and development.

Language Use and Language Labels in Community: Bhasha and Boli

This chapter analyzes local Kumauni understandings about language and dialect, which are best captured in the Hindi words bhasha and boli. A bhasha is distinct from a boli in that it has the form, the function, and the official status of a language. Yet, a boli or spoken variety also has value within its context. The varied use of these labels reflects a linguistic fluidity that seems quite natural to Kumauni young people and speaks to the emerging literature on the disinvention of language. Implications for community and identity include Kumaunis’ ability to claim both Hindi and Kumauni as their own, referring to either as mother tongue. This chapter provides, in some ways, a local response to the national-level language issues raised in Chapter 3.

Language Ecology in the Kumaun: The Value of Each and Relationships Among Them

This chapter addresses the value of multilingualism and the value of each of the relevant languages in the Kumaun, as expressed by the Kumauni people with whom I interacted. English is valued as international language, Hindi as national language, Sanskrit as root language, and Kumauni as “our” language. I explore the role of each language and the relationships among them, including the demand for English, the reasons given by young women for learning English, and the alternative perspective demonstrated at Lakshmi Ashram. Kumauni is valued in its place: “It should be kept alive. It should not be thrown out.” The importance of the sociocultural environment for language use choices, language acquisition, and language maintenance in community also emerged in my conversations in the Kumaun.

National-Level Language and Education Policies in India: Kumaunis as Linguistic Minorities

Known to be a diverse country of multiple cultures and multiple languages, India has faced the challenge of dealing with this resource called diversity. This chapter provides an overview of national-level language and education policies relevant to linguistic minorities and thus to Kumaunis. Language policies, both explicit and implicit, are evident in the Indian Census and Constitution as well as language-related education policies, including the Three-Language Formula and national recommendations related to medium of instruction. These policies accommodate Indian multilingualism and yet in some ways ignore diversity, grouping together many linguistic minorities and relying on linguistic categories that are arguably inventions from colonial times. Another layer of language planning involves the implementation of these policies and the actual use of language in the classroom, including translanguaging.