Julia Menard-Warwick

Intergenerational Trajectories and Sociopolitical Context: Latina Immigrants in Adult ESL

In this ethnographic study, I contrast the educational experiences of two Central American immigrant women in an English as a second language (ESL) family literacy program in the San Francisco Bay area in 2002. Based on life-history interviews and classroom observations, I argue that these learners’ second language and literacy development can only be understood within the larger sociopolitical context over time. To this end, I draw on participants’ life-history narratives to situate their experiences of studying English within the larger social history of immigration in California and within the intergenerational trajectories of education in their families. Specifically, these narratives illustrate participants’ perspectives on how their language learning opportunities have been mediated by such factors as their parents’ messages about education, their previous experiences of schooling, U.S. immigration policies, the 2001 economic downturn, and the availability of bilingual education for their children. I conclude by arguing that to meet the diverse needs and goals of learners in their classrooms, ESL educators need to incorporate into the curriculum the specific sociocontextual issues that these learners confront in their daily lives.

Comparing protest movements in Chile and California: interculturality in an Internet chat exchange

Abstract This paper is based on an analysis of chat transcripts from an English-language telecollaboration project between students at universities in Chile and California. This research found that the richest intercultural interactions involved events that could not have been foreseen: the immigrant rights demonstrations in the USA and the massive student protests in Chile in May of 2006. Through a discursive analysis of the chat transcripts in which participants compared these two protest movements, this paper elucidates the linguistic resources through which intercultural attitudes, knowledge, skills, and critical cultural awareness were constructed. Este estudio analiza transcripciones de chat seleccionadas de un proyecto telecolaborativo en inglés entre estudiantes universitarios en Chile y California. La investigación descubrió que las interacciones interculturales más profundas surgieron de asuntos imprevisibles: las manifestaciones en los Estados Unidos por los derechos de inmigrantes, y las protestas masivas estudiantiles en Chile en mayo de 2006. Basado en un análisis discursivo de las transcripciones de chat en las cuales los participantes comparaban los dos movimientos políticos, este ensayo elucida los recursos de lenguaje e interacción por medio de los cuales se construía la interculturalidad: actitudes, conocimiento, habilidades, y conciencia cultural crítica.

Chilean English teacher identity and popular culture: three generations

Abstract Recent discussions on English as an International Language have highlighted the important role played by English language popular culture for the identities and bilingual development of diverse global citizens who learn and use English. However, there has been little attention to connections between popular culture and teacher identity. In this article, based on life history interviews with Chilean English teachers, I draw on a Bakhtinian theoretical framework to illustrate similarities and differences between generations of teachers in their appropriation of English language popular culture. I examine discursive connections between these investments and their English teacher identities, outline teachers perspectives on popular culture and English language pedagogies, and conclude by discussing the links between pedagogy, bilingual development, and English teacher identities in an era of globalization.

English language teachers on the discursive faultlines : identities, ideologies and pedagogies

Acknowledgements 1. English Language Teachers in Sociohistorical Context 2. In Dialogue with Bakhtin 3. Language Ideologies in Chile and California 4. Representing Cultural Identities 5. Intercultural Case Studies 6. Cultural Pedagogies 7. Teaching on the Faultlines Appendix 1. Transcription Conventions Appendix 2. Teachers Information and Schedule of Data Collection Appendix 3. Interview Protocols Appendix 4. TESOLs Mission References

The Dad in the Che Guevara T-Shirt: Narratives of Chilean English Teachers.

Building on previous critical research regarding student resistance to English Language Teaching (ELT), this paper illustrates Chilean high-school English teachers use of narrative to make sense of ideological challenges from students. While the government of Chile is promoting English in connection with the nations export-oriented economic policies, this promotion of English has been resisted by leftist movements unrepresented within the current neoliberal “consensus;” coping with political resistance is a perennial challenge for English teachers. Through an analysis of dialogic voicing in narratives audiotaped during life-history interviews, the paper illustrates how Chilean English teachers make sense of their positioning within ideological struggles over the connection between ELT and global capitalism. Thus, this paper is a case study of how individuals invested in English as an international language cope with resistance to globalization within local contexts; I conclude by discussing the implications of my findings for ELT pedagogy and globalization studies.

The thing about work: gendered narratives of a transnational, trilingual Mexicano

Through narratives taken from life history interviews with an indigenous Mexican male immigrant in California, this paper examines the connection between masculinities and the learning of dominant languages associated with access to economic opportunities. In portraying the tellers engagements with work and education in both countries, these life history narratives index the way changing social contexts have caused him to emphasise different masculinities at different times in his life. Specifically, this paper explores the way a serious work injury led the teller to place new emphasis on learning English and computer skills in order to reconstruct a kind of ‘technical masculinity’ that he had previously found little scope for in the United States.

In "Sociocultural In-Betweenness": Exploring Teachers' Translingual Identity Development through Narratives.

Abstract In this article, we investigate second/foreign language teachers’ translingual identity development through a narrative approach to their life histories. While several studies have investigated how teachers’ intercultural experiences shape their identity formation and pedagogies, we explore not only the impact of teachers’ identity on their practice but also highlight the influences of language teaching itself on teacher identity development. In this process, an emergent theoretical framework of translingual practice becomes particularly useful in interpreting our participants’ “sociocultural in-betweenness,” that is, the capacity and disposition to co-construct meaning across languages and language varieties (Canagarajah 2013b: 3). We aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of this framework by capturing how our two focal participants’ translingual practice emerged, developed, and changed in relation to their identities through a range of intercultural experiences in their life time. As they eventually became language teachers, we also explore their perspectives on language and culture, especially in terms of how they see their interculturality manifesting in their classroom practices, as well as how their pedagogies simultaneously shaped their teacher identities. Our findings have pedagogical implications in regards to narrative knowledge construction in language teacher education.

“Tiffany Does Not Have a Solid Language Background, As She Speaks Only English”: Emerging Language Ideologies Among California Students

Californians often take for granted a split between ethnic and linguistic identities, expecting immigrants to maintain strong ethnic identities while becoming monolingual in English. However, recent immigration has led to increasing diversity at California universities, with no majority ethnic group and many students bilingual. This study explores the language ideologies of diverse university students through an analysis of 100 essays written by undergraduates in an introductory Linguistics class. Specifically, the study asks what language ideologies are constructed when California students write about the language backgrounds of other people, and whether these ideologies appear connected to the writers own backgrounds. Results show strong tendencies for students, regardless of ethnolinguistic background, to support home language maintenance as an index of ethnic pride and loyalty. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these results for the pedagogy of introductory Linguistics classes.

The Translingual Identity Development of Two California Teachers: Case Studies of Self-Authoring

ABSTRACT While recent literature advocates a translingual approach to pedagogy, the implications of such an approach for teacher identity development has been little explored. This article presents case studies of two English-dominant California teachers who learned Spanish: a Filipino-American teacher of Spanish, and an Anglo-American teacher of ESL. Both teachers were interviewed as they began teaching and again three years later, as they increasingly acquired leadership roles in ethnically-diverse educational institutions. Theorizing identity development as a process of self-authoring, and breaking new ground within this paradigm by including the now-experienced teachers’ analytical voices as co-authors to this article, we explore the discursive resources and practices they appropriated in their early years of teaching as evidenced in their narratives, as well as the ways that their emerging translingual identities enabled participation across linguistic and social barriers.

Translingual practice in L2 Japanese: workplace narratives

ABSTRACT Translingual practice is an emergent theoretical perspective which emphasizes the capacity and disposition for meaning-making across linguistic boundaries. Following on studies of globalized workplaces that have focused on lingua franca English, this article explores translingual practice as represented in interview and blog narratives recounted by multilingual, multiethnic young adults hired by Japanese schools and companies for their English proficiency. In these metapragmatic narratives of interactions with supervisors and coworkers, participants portray themselves surmounting communicative challenges through investment in L2 Japanese, and especially through pragmatic accommodation to local norms. In this way, they avoid maintaining widespread ideologies that delegitimize Japanese L2 speakers.